In this guest editorial by Thermo Fisher Scientific, learn about the steps you can take to unleash the power of digital transformation in order to optimize your scientific workflows
Digital technology continues to rapidly advance, offering solutions to help scientists in the pharmaceutical laboratory work unrestrictedly and foster new collaborations. From electronic notebooks (ELN) to automated incubators, nearly every aspect of the traditional laboratory workflow is being optimized through electronic transformation for faster results.
Yet many laboratories suffer from disconnection associated with these technologies and processes. Data is siloed in disparate systems and is not prepared for advanced analytics. In addition, disconnected systems mean downtime cannot be planned as there is no instrument maintenance visibility. Talented researchers must work across these multiple techniques and have limited opportunity to collaborate. Finally, their productivity is limited as their own schedules are packed with manual tasks.
To truly realize the full potential of digital technologies and accelerate their particular science, organizations need to ensure that their systems, processes, plus people are usually connected and working harmoniously. Only then can they enjoy a complete scientific ecosystem where data can seamlessly flow. A ‘connected’ lab eliminates much of the particular manual laboratory work, allows samples plus associated metadata to be managed effectively, and readies data that will abides by the FAIR (Findable, Accessible, Interoperable and Reusable) information principles for use by analytics tools.
For those on their electronic transformation journey, it can be daunting to begin connecting the lab. By taking considered steps, you can start to join the dots plus unleash the particular power of digital change to optimize your scientific workflows.
Breaking down the laboratory ecosystem
Unlocking the ability of digital transformation to deliver faster outcomes and get the most through your data requires three key actions:
1) Connect everything: Analyze your own existing infrastructure to see how you’re really working. Do you have a disconnect between your people, processes, and data? This is one associated with the most important steps to address, as only by uniting these elements can a person make information available when and where it is needed.
2) Automate end-to-end workflows: Identify areas for optimization to automate workflows, accelerate science plus drive lab productivity.
3) Leverage advanced analytics: Adopt advanced data analysis, visualization and artificial intelligence (AI) solutions to use your data inside new plus exciting ways.
Now, new software and solutions are emerging to bring connectivity to the laboratory and better facilitate the digital modification journey.
Integrating your instruments
Workflow automation has been widely adopted in the pharmaceutical industry over recent years with the main driver being connecting data for end-to-end traceability. But achieving this particular connectivity requires integration of both internal and external services such as lab information management systems (LIMS) and ELN. This integration allows bi-directional data transfer, meaning a particular workflow can be initiated based on up-to-date sample information.
This can be challenging in order to successfully execute, though, because instruments and software from different suppliers are not designed to efficiently communicate along with each other. Right now, software may bridge the particular multi-vendor gap to facilitate data sharing across multiple systems regardless of supplier, and allow direct communication between technical teams. Thermo Scientific™ Momentum™ Workflow Scheduling Software , allows users to receive plus initiate requests with external services in real-time so results and instrument status could be monitored remotely, instruments can be controlled according to defined processes, plus methods can be updated on-the-fly.
Deepening connectivity, harmonizing workflows with orchestration
While integration of your instruments with regard to end-to-end work flow scheduling is a critical step towards the connected laboratory, deeper, comprehensive connectivity demands an altogether more complex solution – an orchestration engine. Orchestration engines utilize transformational information layers to bring together all components of your science – workflows, people, services, equipment, and consumables – across R& D, clinical, and manufacturing settings. The particular Thermo Fisher Connect Platform securely connects all associated with these different and disparate aspects, across geographies plus functions, and makes them accessible through a single, clean platform dashboard. Management of complex, multi-component procedures thus becomes simplified, compliance less taxing, and the majority of importantly, data becomes more fully available to unlock the power of sophisticated analytics (see Figure 1).
Figure 1: Harmonization of disparate lab elements using an orchestration platform.
Elevating your own science via connectivity
Connecting the laboratory accelerates and simplifies digital alteration. Whether you are a lab analyst, lab manager, or system admin, connecting your workflow can help by automatically transferring information, reducing manual tasks, plus saving time. Therefore, it is vital that businesses invest in connectivity and adopt these types of approaches if they are to digitally transform their laboratory plus take their own science in order to new levels.
Integration and orchestration software may aid this journey and make data available regarding easier evaluation. However , with many options available, it bears remembering that every digital change for better journey is unique – there’s no one-size-fits-all solution. To gain the many from your information, working with a partner who offers flexible solutions can streamline your own transformation plus guide you down the path that’s right for a person, revealing greater productivity and unrealized chance.
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