The average laboratory today is getting increasingly pressured to be more productive and efficient with less traditional resources. If we look at a typical process plant, for instance, the level of automation and optimization that has permeated the production floor is quite astounding. Major players in the process optimization market like Honeywell, Invensys, and Yokogawa Marex have had a tremendous impact in bringing to the market the automation and optimization solutions to streamline -the production floor.

The other end of the spectrum are the back-office transaction oriented processes like Inventory Management, Materials

Management, Financials and so on. While they do not affect the actual production process directly, but automating these processes help the organization immensely in terms of streamlining their entire operations. However, with these two automation islands, the organization as a whole cannot benefit at large unless the islands of information are integrated. Both the areas of automation, with an integration medium connecting them, have helped in making tremendous advances in terms of information automation, and increasing transparency throughout the organization.

One of the areas of a process plant that has traditionally been neglected in terms of automation and information management is the laboratory. A laboratory is central for not just the quality of the intermediary and end products of the plant, but its role is paramount for new products and process improvements. Now that the rest of the plant is becoming more efficient with the implementation of process control, automation, and optimization packages, the time given to labs for test result preparation and distribution has shrunk significantly. For instance, in the hydrocarbon industry, the results of each individual unit for a batch are critical for the next step of the process. Therefore efficiency and track ability of processing laboratory samples is becoming paramount in the operation of these plants. Unless the results of some intermediaries are distributed quickly to the production floor, the production process can be impeded because of lack of availability of sample results.

Because of historical reasons, Lab Directors especially in India, tend to opt for more sophisticated instruments with every additional penny in their budget. However, given the background stated earlier, the information content held by the labs is critical for the rest of the plant, and quick dissemination of that information throughout the plant is essential for an efficient running of the plant. Therefore a lab's ability to process data quickly and its ability to disseminate that information efficiently throughout the plant is vital for the success of the production process. This distribution of 'information without making time-consuming phone-calls or writing memos or through other such traditional means has significant value to the plant production process, as well as in management.

Laboratory Information Management System (LIMS) can help in managing the information flow within the lab and can be the modus operandi of connecting the lab with the rest of the organization.

For instance, imagine all the information that is generated in a lab. It starts from sample request to sample registration, collection, assigning tests to samples, assigning properties to those tests, recording results, generating reports and Certificate of Analysis, etc. Currently, in most labs, all of that information is in isolated pockets in the forms of lab notebooks, logs, manual reports, Excel spreadsheets and so on. Therefore, if after a month of a sample result publication, the lab needs to track every step of the sample's path in the lab, it would be a tedious and often impossible task. This form of hardship in tracking sample information can lead to grave danger in terms of quality processes adhered by a lab. With the help of a LIMS, managing all this information becomes an easy and natural process as these applications are developed specifically having these criteria in view.

During my personal visits to many labs in India, it's interesting to note that many lab directors are not aware that there are vendors who provide these applications as an off-the shelf package, and most labs can be up and running with these applications in a matter of two-three months. These can be very cost and time efficient solutions to integrating a laboratory to the rest of the organization.

Several companies try to develop a LIMS with the aid of their IT department. Like most software applications, this route has its pros and cons. The biggest advantage of an in-house developed LIMS is that the end-users get exactly what they want. The lab puts down the requirements and once the system is installed, the lab gets an application that works as per their requirement specifications. The disadvantages are significant and can be listed as follows:

* The requirements of a laboratory change frequently. This is because the processes change frequently, and lab personnel typically find that an application that was developed for them does not really cater to their needs 12 months after the installation. So they need to approach their IT team again to implement those changes. Depending upon the flexibility of the application, those changes may or may not be feasible or cost-efficient to implement. Therefore, it's important that the Lab Director chooses an application that is versatile and flexible to incorporate the changing requirements of a lab's operation.

* The underlying technologies like database versions, operating systems, etc. are in a dynamic flux in the IT industry. Therefore, irrespective of application, most organizations find that applications that were developed for them even 18 months back are impossible to support because the underlying technologies have changed so much. Database vendors, for instance, routinely stop supporting versions that are 18 months old. So IT organizations find it very difficult to keep supporting applications that were built in-house. Application software bought from vendors is easier to support, since the onus is on the software vendors to make sure that their products support technologies, which are prevalent in the market.

* While the lab personnel may feel that they have incorporated all the requirements in the in-house application, software vendors typically work with many labs and incorporate most of the needs of their customers in their applications. Therefore the lab personnel can leverage the benefits of the experience of other labs if they procure software from LIMS vendors.

The ultimate goal of any software solution is to help ease some of the business pains that organizations have to endure; and LIMS is no different. It helps labs to acquire, manage and distribute laboratory information.

However, there has been reluctance among some Lab Directors to go the IT route primarily because they feel that their operations will become overly dependent upon the IT department. The security of a log book on his desk is much more dear than the concept of his data residing on some iron-box sitting perhaps miles away in a cold room. The sentiment is well justified.

The Internet & the Lab

What was discussed so far is a traditional LIMS providing laboratory information to organizations via client-server technology. What has put an interesting twist to this industry is the introduction of the Internet. The Internet, as most of us are well aware of, does not offer anything revolutionary. However, it's very good in providing new and innovative' means of doing the same things that we are all accustomed to doing as "business as usual)). Therefore a number of leading organizations are looking at ways to leverage the power of the Internet to impact the operation of their labs.

For instance, imagine this hypothetical example. A Fortune 500 company has operations globally, and their plants are distributed across the globe. However, all of the company shares a single email facility (although physically distributed), a single ERP solution, and so on. In other words, the company wants to standardize as much of their operations as possible so that there is seamless formation flow between the different sites. One of the stumbling blocks is the LIMS.

Even if they have a standard package from one vendor to cater to all their laboratory requirements, they still need to procure separate hardware for individual labs, provide database and other infrastructure support for the different units, provide configuration support for all of them and so on. Therefore, even though the applications can be very similar from one lab to the other, the implementation roll-out for such a setup can be a nightmare; so much so that many organizations that we know of have shunned the roll-out primarily because of the difficulties in rollout logistics. This is one example where the Internet can play a pivotal role and offer a solution that eases the business pains of such an organization.

There is at least one LIMS vendor (which employs me), which provides delivery of LIMS application through the Application Service Provider (ASP) model. While there may be other LIMS vendors who have this offering, none of the global players that I know of have one yet. While it's not my intent to tout my company's offering through this medium, the following is the general mechanism of all ASP vendors regardless of the business function they provide. Therefore it's important that the audience understands the concept.

The fundamental difference between the ASP and the traditional mode of delivery of any application software is the fact that the client rents the application from the supplier, as opposed to purchasing it outright. Therefore the client pays a monthly rental fee for the use of the application for a fixed term period. Upon expiration of the term period, the client has the flexibility to terminate the service, or extend it at re-negotiated rates. It's very similar to renting an apartment. The mechanics of the model is:

The application vendor typically has a partnership relation with an ASP provider, which acts like an IT utility company. They provide all hosting facilities Eke real estate to house the application and its related security, servers, databases, infrastructure and related security, telecommunication bandwidth so that the application can be accessed by remote sites and so on. In return, the hosting Provider charges the application vendor a monthly fee for these services.

The application vendor gives the hosting partner the rights to host the application at their site, and the end-clients (labs) access the application through the Internet. Therefore the end-client does not have to invest in rapidly obsolete hardware and software infrastructure; nor does it need to retain costly IT skilled workforce to support the application. These services are provided by the hosting partner; and the client can have the luxury, of simply using the application without the pain of supporting it.

There are several benefits of using an application through the ASP method:

* Access to the application and the data wherever you have access to the Internet

* Back-up procedures, network and database administration and related infrastructure support is no longer the client's responsibility

* Known measurable cost of accessing the application without the up-front capital investment required of a traditional software application

* Extreme difficulty in recruiting, training, and retraining scarce IT resources is significantly reduced

* Scalability of the solution helps the LIMS to grow with the lab; i.e. the Lab Director does not need to guess what his user requirement will be 2 years from now and therefore budget accordingly today. He can simply ask for more licenses as his demands grow, and the underlying infrastructure growth and support is the responsibility of the supplier

* Last, and not the least, the Lab Director can feel safe about his data since it's the business of the ASP providers to ensure security of client data.

While it's a leap of faith for many lab managers to let 3rd party vendors control vital data, from a business perspective, there are compelling reasons to explore this opportunity and investigate whether it makes financial and business sense.

Laboratory Portal

Right behind the ASP model, the next step for the laboratory industry to embrace is the concept of a portal site that will focus on providing the laboratory industry not just with an information management system, but an e-commerce site to conduct business. For instance, supply-chain management in the B2B marketplace is already dominant in many industries. As an example, Cisco System, a leading provider of routers and switches, receive almost 70% of their orders through the Internet. Cisco makes almost all purchases through the Internet as well. Therefore, if a vendor needs to do business with Cisco, it will be impossible for it to do so without an appropriate Internet strategy in place. While Cisco mav be somewhat on the extreme side, there are compelling business reasons to perform business through the Internet. The laboratory market-space is no different.

For instance, chemical reagents is one of the more expensive consumables that the laboratory uses, especially in India. Therefore it's important to maintain an optimal inventory level of the reagents so that expensive reagents are not sitting on the shelf waiting for its use. In order to optimize this, an automation process isimperative. The B2B marketplace has already demonstrated how it can help optimize inventory level. A good example is Dell Computers, which uses B2B marketplace to enforce its famous optimal inventory levels. Moreover, imagine the process improvements obtained if the lab can order its purchase requirements through a portal site instead of making multiple phone calls, time consuming purchase orders, and all the inefficiencies inherent in a paper system of procuring inventory items.

While there is no renowned portal site yet for the laboratory market, there are several companies that are taking the lead to dominate that market-share. Like any other portal site, these sites will become a marketplace where everything from safety gloves to chromatography machines can be procured, maintained, and traded.

India, with its unique position in the Internet world, can capitalize on this significantly. Like several other areas (mobile phones, for instance), Indian laboratories can leapfrog into the e-commerce marketplace without having to go through the pains of procurement and information distribution that their western counterparts have faced over the past decade.

This requires leadership and aggressive decision-making on part of the Lab Directors. They need to force the issue with their upper management that their lab is a critical unit of the organization, and that an efficient and digitally equipped lab can be a tremendous competitive advantage for a company.

As in any other industry, the Internet and e-commerce are only enablers - the ultimate test lies in the dynamism and forward thinking of the laboratory leaders and management of the companies that want to improve their organizations with the aid of these technologies.