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Make your portfolio stronger with Tradespace
How the next evolution of IP management systems is going beyond simple management
Your IPMS doesn’t have to fill you with dread, thanks to the new generation of these technologies. Whether your business is growing or changing, or if you’re just plain fed up with your current system, you can now expect more from your IP management software — and the vendor behind it.
IP Management Systems: Then vs. Now
Legacy IPMSs
Most IP teams find their legacy IPMS providers to be a source of frustration. Implementation horror stories abound, with details like schedule creep, unexpected bills, and technical failures so bad the project stops. Then there’s using the systems, which at best takes months of training. At worst, it doesn’t end up happening — IP teams would rather hack solutions together with something home-grown than go through the pain.
Tradespace’s IPDMS
Tradespace, however, has been built with modern software from the very beginning to give teams the IP management tools they deserve. It does everything traditional IPMSs do — manage portfolios, track deadlines, and organize documentation — but with clean design and pain-free implementation. On top of those advantages, Tradespace also helps teams improve their IP too, by making invention disclosure something inventors want to do and then making patent evaluation more substantive.
Intuitive IPMS design on par with modern technology
Legacy IPMSs
Legacy IPMS interfaces look like they were designed in the early 2000s, because most of them were. Think cluttered dashboards with dozens of icons, confusing navigation that requires an advanced degree, and workflows so complex you forget how to run a simple report if you don’t use the system daily. It’s the difference between trying to search on Yahoo’s busy old homepage versus Google’s clean, intuitive interface.
Tradespace’s IPDMS
Modern IPMS design should feel familiar from the moment you log in. With Tradespace, your team won’t need month-long training sessions or certifications just to manage day-to-day tasks. The interface is clean, the workflows make sense, and if you don’t use a feature for weeks, you can still figure it out when you come back. Your inventors and IP team deserve software that works the way they think, not software that forces them to think the way it works.
Managing IP vs. building better portfolios
Even when legacy IPMSs are being used to their full capacity, they were only ever designed to maintain and optimize existing portfolios versus actively building stronger ones. But newer IPMSs like Tradespace were created to help teams develop IP as well, turning IPMSs into IPDMSs that do more than just manage what they already have.
No-surprise implementations that get you on your new IPMS fast
Legacy IPMSs
Traditional IPMS implementations are notorious for turning into expensive disasters. You budget $40K annually, then get hit with a surprise $150K implementation bill. Your vendor promises two months, but the project drags on for a year while they hardcode custom workflows into their legacy architecture. Many implementations fail so spectacularly that teams just give up halfway through.
Tradespace’s IPDMS
Tradespace runs on a modern platform that makes configuration fast and straightforward — no months of custom coding required. You’ll get transparent pricing upfront, realistic timelines that we actually stick to, and implementation at the speed of modern software. Because when you’re already taking a leap to improve your IP management, the last thing you need is your new vendor destroying your credibility with leadership through implementation disasters.
Increasing and improving invention disclosure with your IPMS
Legacy IPMSs
Here’s the reality: your IPMS doesn’t matter if your inventors won’t engage with it. Legacy systems make disclosure submission such a painful process that inventors avoid it entirely, leaving valuable IP undiscovered in lab notebooks and email threads. The best portfolio management in the world can’t help you if you’re not capturing the innovations happening in your organization.
Tradespace’s IPDMS
Tradespace makes inventor engagement actually enjoyable by removing the friction from disclosure submission. When your system is intuitive and user-friendly, inventors want to participate in the IP process rather than avoid it. The result? More disclosures, better quality submissions, and fewer missed opportunities for protecting valuable innovations.
Deepening and accelerating disclosure evaluation with your IPMS
Legacy IPMSs
Traditional IPMS platforms excel at storing documents and tracking process steps, but they fall short when it comes to helping you make strategic decisions. They’ll manage your workflow for evaluating a disclosure, but they won’t give you insights to determine whether that disclosure is worth pursuing. You’re left making critical IP investment decisions with the same limited information you’ve always had.
Tradespace’s IPDMS
Modern IPMSs go beyond document management to provide real decision intelligence. Tradespace helps you evaluate disclosures more thoroughly and efficiently, giving you the insights needed to make smarter choices about your IP investments. Instead of just managing the process of making decisions, you get the tools to make better decisions — turning your IP management from a necessary administrative function into a strategic competitive advantage.
Ebook
The 5 Steps to Creating a Strategic IP Plan
Like many things in IP strategy, most people will agree that strategic planning is a good idea. The struggle usually lies in how to do it. Here’s our 5-step strategic planning process for ensuring business alignment and portfolio quality.
The true cost of legacy IPMSs: Inefficiency, heartache, and limited functionality
The sticker price of an IPMS you don’t love is just the beginning. Beyond the annual licensing fees, you're paying hidden costs in lost productivity, frustrated teams, and missed opportunities. Consider the opportunity costs of teams of paralegals feeding data into systems that demand constant maintenance, inventors who avoid disclosure because the process is too cumbersome, and IP managers who can't replicate basic reports without calling support.
Then there's the vendor relationship tax. Legacy IPMS providers have become inflexible monopolies that treat customers like inconveniences rather than partners. They refuse reasonable requests, spring surprise costs on you mid-project, and deliver implementations so problematic that you're worse off than when you started. The real cost isn't just what you pay them — it's what you lose in team morale, leadership credibility, and innovation capture while you're stuck managing their shortcomings instead of managing your IP.
IP management and development with Tradespace
Developing better IP is possible with next-generation IP management systems that improve the quality and strategic value of new patents you file. This requires earlier involvement in the innovation process, better invention capture, more strategic filing decisions, and enhanced patent quality through better drafting and prosecution in addition to well-managed IP. Tradespace delivers these development capabilities with its automatic disclosure creation and smart patent evaluation process.
Together, these features transform portfolio construction by enabling IP teams to get involved earlier in the innovation cycle. When disclosure barriers are lowered through automated processing, inventors submit more disclosures, and IP teams can guide innovations toward stronger patent protection before concepts are fully mature. This prevents costly mistakes like triggering patent bars through public disclosure or losing patent races. Then, IP teams can make even better patenting decisions with more of the information they need, which can in turn be passed along to R&D teams for even closer collaboration and greater understanding of IP.
