Minesoft co-founder Ann Chapman-Daniel was honoured to be named in Germany’s Online Information Industry magazine “PASSWORD” as the Information Professional of the year. In her interview, Ann shared her early professional development and decision process of starting Minesoft in a rapidly evolving and challenging patent information environment. The ensuing article details how Minesoft carved its niche between free patent solution providers and large competitors to become one of the leading global patent solution providers worldwide. The key behind this success has been a sound business strategy and execution that demonstrates well across all disciplines, including people management, customer service, exports, innovation and product development.
“Never give up is a good mantra, as well as finding ways to distinguish yourself from the more established products already in the market. And be a good partner to your clients – that is my advice.”
When talking about the future roadmap of Minesoft, Ann Chapman-Daniel explained the company ethos is to ensure the products developed continue to assist companies harness the worlds innovations. Striking the balance between development cycles, all the while listening to clients’ feedback. This motivation led to the recent creation of PatDocs – the new legal tool to streamline the workload of IP professionals. In this coming year, Minesoft are excited to soon be introducing a new, even more powerful search engine for PatBase with enhanced capability for searching Asian languages and other character sets. An interesting launch to watch out for!
On the non-business side, Ann Chapman-Daniel dedicates much of her time to industry associates, the local community and charitable organisations. Last year, Minesoft sponsored the Dusseldorf University Choir and Richmond Theatre as well as the Royal Academy of Art in the UK and the World Monuments Fund (archaeology and architecture). In sport, Minesoft had a female team of paddleboarders go down the River Thames in London picking up plastic, broadcast on Sky TV News. This year, Minesoft have been invited to participate in the Great River Race down the River Thames by GB Rowing.
Ann co-founded Minesoft in 1996 with husband Ophir Daniel. The company, which now has offices in the UK, USA and Germany, has developed a suite of patent solutions that help many Fortune 500 and FTSE 100 companies exploit the intelligence found in the most comprehensive source of ideas available – patents.
Minesoft offers an array of products for the patent information industry, specialising in patent searching, IP document retrieval, patent analytics and competitive intelligence systems. Minesoft was awarded the prestigious Queen’s Award for Enterprise in 2009 and again in 2015 for its impressive, sustained growth in International Trade. A testament to the company’s ongoing innovation and work to meet the needs of its fast-growing global client base through an international customer support network, tailored training and a range of essential resources. Minesoft take pride in having one of the highest client retention rates in the industry, something the Minesoft team has invested years of personal time and energy in to make possible.