To help organizations select the laboratory information management system (LIMS) software that best meets their unique business requirements, ARC Advisory Group released the “Laboratory Information Management Systems Evaluation and Selection Guide”.
The macro-level challenges facing manufacturing companies - expand markets, increase innovation, improve governance, manage risks, comply with regulatory requirements, and deliver quantifiable operational results while maintaining margins have a trickledown effect, even into the laboratory. Challenges such as these will continue to make laboratory information management systems an indispensable piece of enterprise software for managing business issues.
“During the course of normal operations, a laboratory generates enormous amounts of valuable data from the hundreds of samples processed. While LIMS can help derive value from these data, it’s critical for manufacturers to select both the right LIMS solution for their specific requirements as well as the right deployment approach for that solution. This requires a structured and well-thought-out selection process using the appropriate selection criteria, “according to Senior Analyst Paula Hollywood, the author of ARC’s Laboratory Information Management Technology Evaluation and Selection Guide. She continues, “Cloud deployment offers cost savings over the traditional licensing model and benefits collaboration.”
LIMS as Platform for the Lab
The most prevalent shift occurring in laboratory automation is that users are gravitating toward a unified laboratory platform capable of integrating disparate data sources. Laboratories are infamous for being informational silos, particularly in an R&D environment. A LIMS that not only stores and manages lab data, but also manages the lab, and facilitates integration with common enterprise application is becoming more popular. As the line between LIMs and ELN functionality continues to blur, the need for a unified platform will accelerate.
LIMS Generate Big Data
The laboratory is a major contributor to the Big Data phenomenon. A single lab can generate an enormous amount of data. The key lies in the ability to use the data to make business decisions in real time utilizing analytical tools and techniques as well as an infrastructure that can support fast data handling. For example, data analysts can use Big Data to predict demand and associated production requirements for a particular product based on a combination of data: manufacturing, raw materials, market trends, etc. Leveraging Big Data also requires connectivity of disparate databases throughout the enterprise, including the LIMS in the laboratory, to enable proactive planning and scheduling according to market demands, or changes in raw material or energy pricing.
To help manufacturers make the best technology and supplier decisions relative to this important software, ARC’s new LIMS selection guide provides an overview of the technology and the market, an overview of leading LIMS suppliers, and suggested selection criteria.
For more information, please visit our Technology Evaluation section.