What steps are you taking to transform your business? Many industries are automating key areas of their operations for continued growth. This includes transforming operations in manufacturing facilities and back-end operations of finance, HR and accounting. But have you considered your quality control lab operation? If not, maybe you should. Today a cloud-based approach is transforming our everyday lives and how we communicate. Relying on apps and online services to make purchases or simply track progress has now become second nature.
Next step in industry trend toward global collaboration
This digital shift is also shaping operations in all industries across life science and material science. For example, mobile applications collect data remotely to eliminate transcription errors. Similarly, companies are incorporating software triggered automation to manage workflows and make them more efficient. A recent article in Innovations in Pharmaceutical Technology Autumn/Winter 2020, pages 6-8 (see Taking Cloud-Based Approaches cites several key trends that are transforming companies by eliminating waste, improving accuracy and increasing transparency.
Consider:
- Going digital with laboratory operations coexists with digitally managing and storing all data produced.
- Lack of transparency can also result in duplicated efforts that waste the company’s resources.
- Walling off data (due to data silos) hinders useful collaborations and makes it time-consuming to individually share information across teams, sometimes even causing discrepancies.
- To collaborate across multiple sites and examine data from anywhere, operating labs within an enterprise need to be digitally connected to each other. Reports generated on any site, which may be of use elsewhere, need to be easily accessible on a central database rather than being dispersed on individual systems within a facility.
- A LIMS system can be used to connect different departments within a large-scale life science or material science operation creating a centralized repository.
- By curating all information associated with lab inventory, sample labelling, and instrumental workflows, LIMS plays a key role in facilitating digital connectivity.
- A broad overview of all data and instant access to information also enables faster decision-making, especially for time-sensitive projects.
Per the article, bridging the data gap between multiple sites involves implementing LIMS and lab software on a cloud service with high-level security. By leveraging the expertise of cloud technology providers, such as Amazon Web Services, companies no longer need to invest time and resources into maintaining cybersecurity, managing data centers, or maintaining disaster recovery programs. To achieve sustained growth in this digital age, scientific efforts in the life science and material science industry will need to fully leverage technological advancements.
For more information on how LIMS software and other digital solutions, visit Digital Solutions for Scientific Ecosystems.
Interesting article. LIMS systems that use cloud systems can be scalable according to needs. Depending on the type of cloud platform, resources can be distributed without having to purchase actual hardware. This is compliant also with efficiency from the company standpoint.