The assurance of a dedicated resource is perhaps the most important reason to work with a lims system consultancy during the implementation. It is often impractical to try to reschedule your lab staff’s or someone from its schedule to assign a point person during an implementation because they all work in science on a day to day basis. While your project is going on, a consultant only has one job to do: make sure the implementation is done right, on time, and as smoothly as possible so that the customers get the product they deserve.
A consultant can keep an eye on the day-to-day details of the project to make sure that all of the requirements are well documented and can be followed through the testing process until it is finished. Nothing gets overlooked with a dedicated resource in place. Having a neutral third party on the project also makes it possible to effectively and impartially mediate power struggles between departments.
You may be aware that it is best practice to have a third party validate your LIMS to ensure that it can withstand an audit and is fit for purpose. A third-party consultancy frequently becomes involved in a LIMS implementation in this manner. A good validation consultant might even figure out where your LIMS could be improved by adding more configuration or customizing it to better meet the needs of your business.
Competent laboratory informatics project leadership is a skill set that can be lacking in an organization, but it is essential to the success of your LIMS project. Project leadership webinar Project leadership The Keys to Excellence a LIMS consultancy brings a depth of project and domain expertise that the majority of organizations lack, having completed numerous previous implementation projects. Engaging a project leader from a consulting firm can increase the likelihood that your project will succeed, and knowing about the pitfalls can assist in avoiding them.
A project leader from a LIMS consultancy has experience managing organizational change and increasing user adoption, which is another advantage. We have previously discussed how crucial user adoption is to an implementation’s success. If a new system costs a lot of money and your employees won’t use it because it’s too complicated to make their jobs easier, it won’t be worth the money.
Support Following the LIMS Implementation
A consultancy’s value may also extend following the LIMS implementation. In fact, the post-implementation period is another common time when businesses acknowledge they have a problem and seek assistance. After the vendors have left, it is not too late to hire a consultant for additional configuration work, instrument integration, or even to restart a project from scratch.
Some LIMS vendors will sell you their product, configure it for you, give you basic training, and move on to the next project. When you work with a consulting firm, your company’s needs come first, and support doesn’t end when the software is installed. The post implementation phase may be even more crucial to the success of your project than the initial go-live because the industry now uses a phased approach to transportation LIMS implementation.
