Report:VantagePoint/Company Strength
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Company Strength
The following section contains subjective comments about the system that represent our editor's opinions, and should not be viewed as fact. Editor's opinions include positive and negative judgments about the product written in consideration of wider context, including related products and the industry at large.
Search Technology, Inc. was started in 1980.[1] The company released VantagePoint in 2002.[2] The company remains small, but has been an important contributor to the field of competitive patent analysis via text mining. VantagePoint has been mentioned in important books in the field, such as Software for Technological Patent Intelligence, [3] as well as in many articles on the subject of text mining and patent informatics. Furthermore, special versions of VantagePoint have been licensed to major entities in the form of Thomson Data Analyzer (Thomson) or TechOASIS (US government). This has made Search Technology, Inc. one of the leaders in a small, but promising industry.
Potential users of a patent analysis system such as VantagePoint should be aware of the state of industry before making a system purchase. Currently the market for patent (and also scientific data) analysis tools is small, with many large corporations and law firms either doing their own competitive intelligence in-house, or completely unaware of the potential for obtaining intelligence about their competitors through strategic patent analysis.
As the business world expands along with the global economy, current methods of competitive intelligence may become outdated: as language barriers and large geographical distances continue to make it more difficult for companies to truly understand their competitors, these challenges will pave the way for new services and technology. However, the analysis of patent information for competitive intelligence will become more important for companies as they determine what markets have become saturated and what markets can be exploited. This, in turn, will likely lead to growth in the marketplace for patent analysis systems, bringing in new developers and new software systems.
Why is this important when making a decision on an analysis system purchase? As the costs and the learning curve of an analysis system are typically large, users, especially from large corporations or law firms that can afford the high initial costs, typically are going to want a system that will be around for a number of years, rather than a start-up company that may not be in business the next year. This would likely bode well for a company like Search Technology, Inc. that has been in business and has a product that has been on the market for quite some time. However, the company would do well to stay aware of emerging trends in analysis software, so that they can keep up with newer, flashier competitors.
Sources
- ↑ "Search Technology, Inc." Company Profile by Manta: Vital Info on Small Businesses. Manta website, http://www.manta.com/coms2/dnbcompany_dnsrw5. Accessed February 13, 2009.
- ↑ "Thomson Derwent Launches New Data Mining and Visualization Software Product." Business Wire. December 3, 2002. Accessed via BNET Business Network, http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0EIN/is_2002_Dec_3/ai_94816206. Accessed February 13, 2009.
- ↑ Vergana, Juan Carlos, Alessandro Comai, and Joaquín Tena Millán. Software for Technological Patent Intelligence. 1st ed. Emecom Ediciones, 2006.
