Perhaps your lab is dealing with a data deluge, and you’re looking for ways to manage it more efficiently and effectively? If that’s the case, you’re not alone. The truth is that most laboratories worldwide deal with colossal amounts of sample volumes, and most of them struggle with this influx of data. The inability to manage data is the primary concern that causes inefficiencies in laboratories worldwide and should be adequately taken care of.
In order to deal with data management issues, labs just like yours need to implement and adapt solutions to automate their recurring tasks immediately. And with the top healthcare app development services and IT companies developing more advanced solutions these days, it’s easier to implement some kind of automation and adapt technology in labs.
The most reliable tech system you can implement to achieve full automation and drive your lab’s efficiency to the next level is the so-called LIS or laboratory information management system, for which you can click here to learn more. However, since there are hundreds if not thousands of lab management software in the market, you might feel overwhelmed with options when deciding which one will be the right fit for your lab.
To make things easier for you and help you select the best lab management software for your needs, here are five absolute must-haves you should expect from your lab software vendor to put on the table.
Specialized Templates For Operational Processes And Repeatable Research
Each modern laboratory needs to have standardized workflows to ensure the reproducibility of its experiments, eradicate the experiment error rates, maintain the institutional knowledge, and increase the lab’s output.
To achieve all this, the lab management software you’re about to get should be able to make specialized templates of your repeatable experiments, and protocols and standardize the operating procedures and processes such as multi-well plates, request forms, approval flows, notification rules, and much more.
In addition, the software of your selection should permit your employees to drag and drop pre-populated protocols or standard operating procedures templates and set automation rules to prepare your lab’s research and development projects with unparalleled speed.
Strong Framework For External And Internal Collaboration
As you already know, top-of-the-class laboratory work is usually the result of a great team effort. Therefore, your lab’s employees need to be able to collaborate on many levels and be able to selectively invite or notify their labmates, clients, partners, and even vendors. For that reason, the LIS software should come with a robust framework for both internal and external collaboration, helping keep everyone up to date.
Global Search Functionality For Immediate Data Access
Storing and keeping vast amounts of data is not of any use if the person who needs it can’t easily find it, filter it, and make the necessary correlations to extract essential insights on a daily basis.
With the right lab management software, you should be able to retrieve data and information at a moment’s notice using various parameters like samples, experiments, locations, clients, partners, projects, instruments, file type, and more.
Compatibility With Your Legacy Systems And Third-Party Apps To Centralize Data In One Place
It goes without saying that the most critical asset of your laboratory is your data. Nevertheless, the data can only prove valuable when it’s correctly structured, machine-readable, and has all the context associated with it. For all this to happen, you probably need to bring in data from various sources and connect it with adequate context.
In that regard, your future LIS software should be able to centralize your data from third-party apps (such as Google Sheets or Hubspot) and your legacy systems (LIMS, ELN, LES, etc.) to unify all the data in one spot.
A Broad Range Of Customizable And Easily Configurable Offerings
Each life science company, like your lab, is unique in its own way, so your future lab management software should be able to adapt to your distinctive scientific needs all the time. For that reason, you should never use a rigid off-the-shelf product readily available for anyone, but you should ask your software vendor if it’s possible to tweak and customize their service offering to fit your lab’s needs.
Final Thoughts
With all the benefits of sophisticated laboratory information management software, you will probably willingly decide to invest in one. However, once you step into the huge market to explore LIS software, you will quickly realize that each software is a bit different than the others, depending on the manufacturer.
For that reason, keep our five pointers in mind when evaluating the needs of your lab and compare multiple software before deciding which one to implement in your line of work. Once you know your lab’s requirements before settling on software, you will quickly find the right solution to fit your lab.
