7 Reasons to Implement an IP Practice Management System for Your Firm
A globalized and increasingly competitive economy has forced many IP firms to reconsider how they manage their IP practice. IP practice management systems offer a systematic opportunity for firms that wish to improve efficiency, reduce risk, and increase overall client satisfaction. Below are seven reasons why IP firms should implement an IP management system.
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Improve Accuracy >
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Empower Your Attorneys >
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Increase Productivity >
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Meet Changing Client Needs >
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Increase Security >
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Streamline Processes>
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Increase profitability >
Improve Accuracy
Implementing a robust IP practice management system can significantly improve the accuracy of your data. Staff members spend unnecessary time double-checking data to maintain quality, especially when client-specific workflow and reporting requirements make it harder to standardize.
Some firms use traditional docketing systems for statutory deadline tracking. Still, their rules and reminders are only sometimes considered reliable, and tools to configure workflow to match firm policies still need to be improved.
Process and deadline compliance will often depend on one or a few experienced staff. Without a robust system, firms may have trouble verifying foreign associates' compliance with changes in country laws. Implementing an IP practice management system will improve accuracy by streamlining processes and providing rules to track risks and provide alerts. Staff can use exception reports to identify areas for data or process improvement.
Empower Your Attorneys
Given the nature of the legal profession, attorneys can quickly become inundated with client communication and bogged down by tedious, spreadsheet-based processes. With the power of IP practice management software, however, these professionals are equipped with more efficient tools that enable them to work swiftly and with a heightened sense of confidence. Such efficiency also allows the attorneys to free up critical time in their schedules to divert attention to tasks requiring a heavier hand.
Furthermore, using this type of software empowers attorneys with an incredible wealth of knowledge available at their fingertips. These resources allow professionals in the law field to not only provide more excellent service to their clients but also establish themselves as thought leaders in the industry. These actions, in turn, can lead to greater trust among existing clients and an increased likelihood of attracting new business.
Increase productivity
Clients are pushing IP firms to embrace fixed-fee structures, and firms are looking to do more in less time. An IP practice management system automates low-margin, high-risk activities and frees up resources to engage with higher-level clients. Integrated document and email management allows firms to go paperless and reap the many benefits of such a migration.
A robust system introduces consistent workflow to enforce standard firm policies and procedures for consistent, predictable operations, with the flexibility to cater to specific client and attorney needs. By implementing a secure, web-based system with tools for related art, IDS management, and time and billing, an IP firm gives its entire staff the ability to work more efficiently inside and out of its office.
Meet changing client needs
The IP legal world constantly shifts according to client needs and applicable laws. IP management systems help outside counsel firms keep up with these evolving challenges by enhancing client engagement with online client services, thereby elevating the firm's service level. Maintaining engagement and accuracy of IP data will improve client confidence in their outside counsel and even protect the firms from encroachment by competitors.
Effective reporting has a dramatic impact on client perception. Attorneys using older systems might need help to produce presentable reports for clients, even about routine status updates. Someone must often pull data from disparate sources to compile reports, a process that can yield omissions or errors that reflect actual liability by the firm and informal "soft docket" items that confuse and concern clients. Modern firms empower their business users to develop their reports and deliver tools for the IT group to build ever richer and more actionable dashboards and mobile apps, ultimately helping to meet their clients' changing needs.
Increase security
IP is the most valuable information a client can give their outside counsel. Organizing, managing, and securing these assets is vital to ensuring positive relationships between both parties. An IP management system provides a central location for IP assets and securely stores and categorizes these assets. Embracing a unified system improves the firms' information security posture by shrinking the "attack surface area" of intellectual property.
IT leaders can lower the likelihood of exploitation by reducing process steps, printers, unmanaged emails and attachments, data stores, and file servers. Additionally, if the unified IP platform is hosted in the cloud, the firm benefits from having the entire platform managed in a secure, audited, and compliant data center.
Streamline processes
IP management systems allow firms to manage all IP portfolios centrally and streamline complex processes by eliminating traditionally manual, repetitive tasks. With pre-populated fields of commonly used forms, easy access to data, and frequently used tools-not to mention the ability to manipulate firm-specific systems- IP firms will see prior management processes streamlined and simplified.
Increase profitability
Automating tracking, databases, and outdated management solutions allows firms to focus on operations more likely to lead to higher profits. Dashboards and easily navigable tools let these professionals quickly view reports and spot areas that require improvement. Moreover, an advanced IP management system streamlines operations that may have wasted unnecessary time in the past.
By repurposing time spent on tedious activities, firms can increase overall profitability among their departments. Eliminating inefficiencies frees professionals in the firm to accomplish more within the working day, leading to higher quality services for preexisting clients and more time to work with newer ones.
IP management systems provide several benefits to firms that wish to systematize IP strategies, fully manage client and firm IP assets, and increase profitability. Integrating an IP management system into your firm's processes will provide opportunities to better manage your clients' IP assets and increase revenue.
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