Why IP professionals are going cloud-based

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Why IP professionals are going cloud-based

By Equinox

Are you missing out on the benefits of a cloud-based IP management system?

With huge advantages to accessibility, recoverability, and security, cloud-based software has quickly become the standard across the tech world. In the IP industry, on-premise systems are still widely used, but the case to adopt a cloud-based alternative is growing at pace.

Let’s take a step back and define the difference between on-premise and cloud-based systems.

What’s the difference?

An on-premise system is one operated by a server in your building. It likely needs to be supported by devoted IT professionals who can keep the server and system up and running.

Alternatively, a cloud-based system is operated by servers in a central location provided by a tech company. These are predominantly accessed through a web browser, meaning that you don’t need to download and update a hefty program onto your laptop, allowing you to access your system’s data from anywhere with an internet connection. You don’t need as much IT resource within your team as the provider smoothly handles maintenance for you. It’s easier to access a cloud-based system when you’re off-site, and it has distinct advantages in security.

Both have their advantages, but cloud-based options are considered the future of software. IP management software is no different. Let’s explore why.

Cloud-based systems are highly accessible

You can easily access a cloud-based system from anywhere with an internet connection. So, whether you’re hard at work in the office or logging on from a client’s office, you can access the information, tasks, and functionality you need to keep your processes moving.

This is invaluable if you travel for work or need to respond to an urgent work enquiry; you don’t need to worry about returning to your office to log into your system. You can deal with any issue as soon as you hear about it, without causing delays.

For smaller organisations, on-premise systems are too costly to consider. Not only does it require a significant financial investment to establish an on-site solution, but the long implementation time means you don’t see the benefits of this investment for a long period. When our subscribers get started with Equinox, they can quickly configure their system to meet their unique needs and get their team trained in a much faster time frame than an on-premise system. This is much more accessible for smaller organisations and means they can hit the ground running.

Hundreds of organisations worldwide use Equinox to manage intellectual property. Their teams can go on international trips, visiting clients, conferences, and colleagues while always staying on top of their portfolio. The cloud-based solution delivered by Equinox makes this significantly more convenient for the subscribers we serve, be they working from their city center office, a client’s board room, or their own kitchen table.

Cloud-based systems are dependable

Regardless of how good your system is, you’ll encounter some tech problems sooner or later.

When you do, you want them solved quickly to minimise disruption to your organisation. With an on-premise system, you hold responsibility for maintaining, upgrading, and repairing the infrastructure. This can be costly in money, time, and energy: all resources that could be better spent on value-adding tasks.

With a cloud-based system, your provider is responsible for keeping it running smoothly.

At Equinox for example, we use Microsoft Azure to host our services to subscribers worldwide. With servers hosted from data centres across the world, we can avoid disruption from power outages, network outages, or weather conditions— if something effects one of our servers, we can switch across to host on another and keep our subscribers working with minimal interruption.

If something needs fixing, our highly experienced team can leap into action and find solutions quickly. The IT support team maintaining an on-premise system might be highly skilled, but solutions will be delayed because your provider may have to come to your office physically. Alternatively, our team can fix most problems online and have you back to normal in no time.

By handing responsibility for the technical side of your IP system over to a team of experts, your organisation can focus on providing excellent services to clients. We’ve got you covered!

Cloud-based systems are built for safety and scalability

Both on-premise and cloud-based systems hold distinct security advantages.

An on-premise system gives you more control. By having total oversight over the physical infrastructure supporting your IP management system, you can have confidence in its security. Comparatively, a cloud-based system is hosted on servers in locations you don’t control, so there’s a compelling argument that you’re better off with independent access.

However, this is costly to maintain.

The large cloud providers that form the backbone of cloud-based IP management systems feature multi-layered security offerings that are out of reach for most organisations running their own on-premise systems. With Microsoft Azure, for instance, you get denial of service (DDoS) attack protection that ensures the physical and technical security of your data. By adopting a cloud-based IP management system through Equinox, you can enjoy the security benefits of a large provider like Microsoft through the more accessible and better experience of working with a small tech company— it’s the best of both worlds!

On-premise solutions could be a limiting factor when your firm grows, too. If you need to expand your system to account for new staff, clients, or a larger portfolio, a cloud-based system will grow with you.

Equinox is built with security and growth in mind, and a large part of our success depends on our cloud-based setup. It allows us to offer a more adaptable system that works around your firm, rather than forcing your firm to work within the bounds of the system.

Cloud-based systems offer speedy development

Adopting a web-accessible, cloud-based system is the best way to future-proof your team.

Providers of these systems can develop, test, and implement handy new features and integrations with minimal disruption to their services. While developing a proprietary system and hosting it on-premise gives you unlimited control over even the most granular details of your IP management system, the extensive customisability of many cloud-based services may outweigh the benefits.

Additionally, it could be much slower to implement an on-premise system and roll out updates when needed.

Equinox is built to be highly customizable. With specialist systems for IP professionals in both law firm and corporate settings, subscribers can configure their system to enhance the processes they’ve spent their careers perfecting. It’s quicker and easier than many expect to get started with Equinox too, and those that adopt our system frequently report a boost in efficiency.

On-premise systems often have slow development roadmaps compared to cloud-based, web-accessible systems. The latter can develop integrations with specialist IP management tools for renewals, billing, and official office data sharing. A smaller organisation developing an on-premise system will unlikely have the resources to coordinate and build such integrations. The cloud-based providers can devote their developmental abilities to launching improvements and new features much more quickly.

Our development team releases an update around every two weeks. These feature everything from minor bug fixes to security updates, often including new features. While providers like Equinox can focus on constant support, it could be a few months before your proprietary on-site system can schedule the same work.

Summary

The IP management system you choose to adopt will underpin all your team’s processes. Operating a less desirable system will ultimately be reflected in your performance, so when senior leadership or your clients assess the quality of your IP portfolio management, you want to know you can achieve and exceed your targets.

A cloud-based, web-accessible IP management system is the accessible option. Having the ability to use your system from anywhere with an internet connection allows you to respond to urgent tasks as quickly as possible. Plus, the management, development, and hosting of cloud-based systems are handled by providers like Equinox, so you can focus your resources on the value-adding activities that matter most to your organisation.

On-premise systems are often less dependable than their cloud-based alternatives. The former hands the responsibility of managing the tech infrastructure to you; while this gives you ultimate control over the performance and security of your system, it is too resource intensive for most organisations to consider.

Additionally, working with a cloud-based system allows a team of IP management experts to develop, test, implement, and maintain new features and tools for your team to benefit from. In sacrificing total developmental control over to the provider, you gain broader industry insight into the system you use, and this can allow you to get started more quickly.

There’s a good reason that most software across every industry relies on cloud-based, web-accessible systems. It’s time for your organisation to embrace the benefits too!