digital transformation

This white paper provides an account of three transformational projects undertaken in three intensely competitive industries. You’ll meet a paperless biotechnology startup, a titan of the consumer goods industry, and a leading chemical company, each showing a possible way forward for others who seek the speed and agility of tech-enabled business harmonisation.

When modern LIMS software overtook traditional paper-based record-keeping in the lab, operations in every industry improved. Automated data collection drove efficiencies at the bench. Cloud solutions accelerated knowledge-sharing between partners. Built-in security and permission feature enhanced data integrity. There’s hardly a lab in operation right now that hasn’t gained from this leap towards digital transformation.

That was then. Today, forward-thinking lab managers are taking the next big leap, this time from data collection to data science.

This report assesses the progress achieved and plans for near-term activities among laboratories in six subsectors within the broader classification of Life Sciences organisations: Biotechnology, Biomedical Research, Clinical Research Institutions, Contract Manufacturing Organisations, Contract Research Organisations, and Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturing.

Combined, these six enterprise types comprise the majority of laboratory environments and missions among the Life Science professionals participating in this year’s survey.

Automation, robotics and digital technologies are transforming laboratory processes in life sciences, R&D and manufacturing, and driving a new era in data-focused disease and drug discovery. While the lab sector is still on an evolutionary road to the fully automated lab-of-the-future, or Laboratory 4.0, digital transformation is accelerating the move away from analog processes, and so reducing the need for paper-based and manual processes and human intervention.

Implementing a cloud LIMS isn’t a mandatory step in becoming ‘digital’. However, its underlying infrastructure and technology can jump start and be an integral component of your digital transformation.