We’ve discussed in several articles why your IP intelligence should come at the forefront of innovation. We’ve talked about why IP intelligence is a necessary part of your corporate strategy. We looked at reasons to keep IP intelligence within the business sector of your company and not just the legal department. All of these things are crucial to growing and protecting your business.
But what steps should you take to make these things reality? How can you go about developing a business intelligence process with IP analytics?
First, start by looking at your own patent portfolio. If you don’t understand what you have—from a business perspective and not a legal one—then a complete analysis of your IP holdings should be first on your list.
State Your Goals
What are your goals with regards to intellectual property? Do you want to explore patent monetization, create barriers to entry, or pursue competitor infringement litigation? Would you like to identify potential acquisitions, revamp your business strategy, or eliminate waste within your patent program?
These goals are all quite different, and they’ll be even more so for each individual company. However, without a solid understanding of your goals, you can’t develop an actionable process to reach them.
Assess Your Core Competencies
How are you already using IP intelligence to drive your corporate strategy? Is your company stellar at acquiring patent families that drive you ahead of competitors, but not so great at identifying waste within your patent holdings? Maybe you understand the technology landscape as it is but fail to determine where you might go from here.
Whatever your needs may be, research available solutions to fill in the gaps. One missed opportunity could cost you millions, and one missed gap could bring about that missed opportunity.
Decide to Make or Buy
Many companies are so focused on creating their own innovations that they miss big opportunities to acquire intellectual property. The acquisition might have led to open doors on the innovation front, as well as avoidance of litigation down the road. If you’re not actively looking for opportunities to both make and buy, you could cost your company millions.
So, how can you choose between the two? You can consider several different factors, such as:
- The cost of purchase, and whether it would be less expensive to make
- The lack of internal expertise, and whether acquiring would bring with it the necessary knowledge
- The need to integrate various internal functions, and whether that would be possible with purchased IP
- The ability to turn around the product quickly
- The lack of competent suppliers
- The desire to maintain a multiple-source policy
- The need for secrecy to protect proprietary algorithms
After considering these and other factors, the choice should become clear. Just remember it won’t be the same choice every time you’re weighing “make” and “buy.”
Design Your Process
With your goals in mind, it’s time to draft the processes that will use your core competencies, your make or buy decisions, and any outside resources you’ve selected.
Yes, developing a corporate strategy through IP intelligence does require a process. It is this process, repeatable and reliable, that will help you avoid risk, monetize your IP, beat your competitors, and perhaps even disrupt your market. Without a process, you’ll simply be in reaction mode at all times.
Monitor and Refine
Just as you can’t simply react to patent intelligence within your company, you also cannot set a process for growing your business through IP and then forget it. Monitoring your progress is essential, so that you can make improvements and changes as needed.
Without these improvements, you’ll find yourself down the line with wasted dollars due to lack of patent maintenance, patent litigation, and loss of revenue to competitors.
To learn more about how IPVision can walk with you through the development of a business intelligence process using IP analysis and intelligence, give us a call. We’ll work with you on each of these steps, giving you the competitive edge you need to beat out your competitors once and for all.
