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PR agency contact:
Tom Vervoort at Luna
Tel +32 2 658 02 92
GSM + 32 495 59 38 02
tom@luna.be
http://www.luna.be
ICMS patents virtual folders
Boortmeerbeek, May 24th 2007 – ICMS, a Belgian company specialising in knowledge and information management, has obtained a patent in the United States for its invention concerning virtual folders. ICMS’s TINK technology and method enable the building of dynamic virtual folders based on metadata (product, client, type of information, confidentiality, etc.). This enables users to quickly find information, because it is clearly filed according to selected criteria in an ad hoc way by the end user.
There are many, especially in the sector of document management and content management systems, who have copied ICMS’s concept of virtual folders. Now that it has obtained this patent, the Belgian company ICMS has become the official inventor of virtual folders.
“This does not mean that we will initiate legal proceedings tomorrow. We would however like to show the market which organisations are violating the patent. For organisations that neglect to purchase a licence for this technology are illegally using these concepts,” says Hans Van Heghe, founder and CEO of ICMS.
Patents on methods and/or software will always be subject to discussion. But this is the only way to protect and add value to the results of investments in research and development. Over the last seven years, ICMS has invested at least the equivalent of 80 man-years of work in R&D in this technology.
Patents can be viewed from three angles: offensively, defensively or in line with the image. The most commonly used is the offensive approach, when the parties are summoned to appear before the judge to make money from a patent. But this approach requires a major financial investment, with no guarantee of success. “For ICMS, the latter two approaches take precedent. The offensive approach calls for a great deal of energy, even though it is sometimes necessary to follow such an approach,” notes Van Heghe.
Innovation, inventions and patents are closely linked terms and concepts. In Western Europe, and certainly in Flanders, there are fewer patents, but innovation can undoubtedly still be found there. So having one or several patents sends out an important and positive marketing message, confirming the innovative nature of an organisation.
What do ICMS’s virtual folders do?Companies or organisations often save their digital data on a file server with multiple sharing of files. This is the traditional approach. This shared file server is mainly used for storing documents in a fixed structure of workstations (network) and folders. Yet storage systems like this are difficult to create and use, since they do not allow for much of an organisational framework. When an organisation grows, it creates and collects more information (non-structured), obliging office employees to spend increasing amounts of time on research, filing and the management of this information. The solution: TINK virtual foldersThe main advantage of this invention is that it is no longer necessary to have a thesaurus or a clear tree structure. The system allows each user to choose his own set of angles, in line with his personal challenges and the specific context. Fixed structures for folders are very restrictive and therefore outdated. Virtual folders are a vital part of JERI: “Just Enough Relevant Information when you need it”. In a few seconds, an employee in his office can scan all the information on the basis of his own criteria, such as the type of information/client/project, etc. Or just a few moments later he can do the same according to criteria such as open points/importance/deadline. ICMS has already proved among more than 75 clients in Belgium and in neighbouring countries (totalling more than 100,000 users) that this mechanism significantly improves the productivity of the knowledge worker, increases the innovation rate and ultimately optimises the results of the company. |
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If you would like an interview with Hans Van Heghe, please contact Tom Vervoort at Luna (tom@luna.be, 02 658 02 92)
The Belgian company ICMS develops smart solutions for the management of information and knowledge. In addition to its founders, K.U. Leuven and Allegro Investment Fund are shareholders in ICMS. The objective of ICMS is to optimally manage the information and knowledge of its clients, resulting in increased operational productivity, better internal and external communication, and a secure structure for information and knowledge within the organisation. The solution proposed by the company is a platform known as TINK. ICMS’s experienced collaborators support clients during the prior analysis and are in charge of services based on the TINK platform.
Tel: +32 15 61 85 45
ICMS does not believe that each IT problem necessarily requires a new product or investment. So TINK proposes a solution that is flexible, modular and user-friendly. The platform can grow alongside the information and knowledge needs. The TINK platform is an integrated and modular application that provides a realistic solution to the important question: "How does one achieve better management of unstructured information in companies?"
