I’ve spent the last several years writing about the “next generation” of IP management systems. However, I find myself penning this post under the realization that in 2010 we have certainly made it through and past the “next generation” to something altogether more evolved. I find that we no longer need to convince people of the merits of workflow-based thin-client technologies that provide more holistic approaches to IP management (again, beyond docketing). But now we find ourselves asking what competencies are critical to master in an environment where we’ve overcome many technological hurdles.
I think there are many key capabilities we should be looking for from our system providers. But, as I’ve pointed out many times before, IP technology, more than anything else, must be manifest of its processes. So, before we address specific technological feature-sets, let’s review the process paradigms that must ever drive them.
Four key competencies drive the IP Management system paradigm: Workflow, Automation, Collaboration, and Knowledge Management. Seeking these competencies often occurs in the order listed – pursue a strategy that mitigates daily process and information inefficiencies, while developing the structures for advanced information mining and cohesive portfolio management at the more strategic levels of the organization.
Workflow
- Leverage staff – codify policies and procedures and let the system route, manage, and even audit business processes.
- Apply workflows to prosecution processes (filings, actions, reviews, approvals, work product) and among firmwide systems (New Business Intake, Conflicts, Records, Billing).
- Delegate – in a commoditized practice, leverage is crucial. Use workflow to delegate work and establish rules for the staff so that you can remove yourself from the process until necessary.
- Paperless processes – Workflow-based systems automate and manage the routing of information throughout the enterprise. Create digital file wrappers associated with your docket matters and create efficient processes that reduce or eliminate your reliance on paper and manual processes.
Automation
Lawyers already keep the majority of the information needed for filings, transmittals and letters in the IPM system, so use it to automate the generation and timing of work product. Don’t re-invent the wheel with work product – establish boilerplates and template that both automate the work and mitigate risk. Automate these core competencies:
- Document Assembly
- Matter Modeling
- Electronic Data Exchange
Collaboration
- Codify institutional knowledge and share it with colleagues, clients, and partners. Provide access to critical, context-sensitive information and capture both the practitioner’s and client’s desktop
Knowledge Management
Knowledge management gives practitioners the power to:
- Leverage critical information and act swiftly and measurably
- Define, manage, control and analyze institutional knowledge
- Capture every knowledge perspective – internal, clients, agents, PTO, governing bodies.
In the next installment of my series on the next Next Generation IP Management systems, I’ll review some specific technologies we hope to exploit to truly transform the way we work.
