The joint meeting between LRIG NE (Laboratory Robotics Interest Group: New England) and the Boston LIMS/Laboratory Informatics group has been canceled due to a Winter storm. We will reschedule it, so watch this space for it. This was the last notice for the meeting, in case you are interested in attending when it is rescheduled:
http://outonalims.wordpress.com/2010/02/05/upcoming-lriglimslaboratory-informatics-boston-meeting/
I read the search terms that bring people to this blog. Occasionally, I see a combination of words that gives me an idea about something to write about. By doing this, I merely create yet more content of that which people are already coming here to read.
Think about it, this way. I tend to write quite a bit about laboratory informatics. If people type in the term “laboratory informatics” they are much more likely to find this blog than they are if they enter the search term “tuna fish sandwich,” for example. Thus, as I write more about laboratory informatics, even more people find me with “laboratory informatics” as their search, thus causing me to write yet even more about laboratory informatics.
There seems to be a kind of mystique about internet search terms but one of the keys behind them is that, while you do use search terms to drive traffic, you can only drive traffic when the search terms are finding your content. What I mean is that some search engines are looking where there is the most content that matches and fits their search rules and some even have complex formulas to rank content by how recent it is in order to determine which site gets ranked first in your search. For example, if I went to my own web-site and put the term “laboratory informatics” on the Home page 1000 times, not only is my site not 1000 times more likely to be found with that search term, but the more sophisticated search engines would purposely ignore my site.
When I do a Google search on my own company name “GeoMetrick Enterprises” I now find that my own company web-site comes up first. This was not always the case. In fact, if I want to find the Fortune 500 company “3M” they come up in third place in a Google search with their name. If I do a search on “ELN” I get the Elan Corporation, not an ELN vendor.
Thus, search results provide unexpected information, and some of the expected information is not necessarily of a high quality. This explains why there are companies that do nothing but provide advice on how to understand search strategies. The searching formulas held by companies such as Google are incredibly complex and kept as deep, dark secrets. These days, searching sometimes includes local information. For example, some searches are based on your own locality, which search engines can determine partly based on your IP address partly on cookies and preferences on your own system.
As with any other information we get, looking at the results of our search terms requires we spend time thinking about what we’ve gotten and in wading through the results. It is also an issue when we do these searches, internally. Internal searches do not have quite as severe a problem since the volume of information is so much smaller, but even Intranet searches can have these types of problems.
Gloria Metrick
GeoMetrick Enterprises
http://www.GeoMetrick.com/
At least a few of your will be attending the LRIG NE (Laboratory Robotics Interest Group – New England) and LIMS/Laboratory Informatics joint meeting this upcoming week on February 10th, 2010. I’m looking forward to meeting some of you, there, as there are some of you attending that I have not yet met.
We worked diligently to create a panel mainly of end-users sharing their own experience with their projects. For one, we have a speaker talking about his company’s integration efforts, which we’re excited to have on the agenda because integration is such a hot topic at the major conferences. We also have an ELN panel with four companies using four different ELN solutions, crossing the wide range from R&D to QC and with a range of strategies. The only speaker who is not an end-user is from a standards organization which is working on creating data exchange standards for instruments.
All-in-all, we think we’ve got some topics that will interest a variety of people.
But it’s not just about the speakers, either. We will start the evening with a brief networking reception. This might be the very place you’ll find someone doing exactly the thing you next need to do, the person that has already solved the problem you are currently working on, or the person who you can help out.
For more information and to register (this meeting is free, by the way), here is the link: http://lab-robotics.org/New_England/Archives/2010-02_Meeting.htm I hope to see you, there! :-)
Gloria Metrick
GeoMetrick Enterprises
http://www.GeoMetrick.com/
Yesterday’s newsletter topic was that of subcontracting and in discussing situations where it can both hurt and help your project when the software vendors and large services firms do it. (The link to signup for the free newsletter: http://www.geometrick.com/newsltr_signup.htm ) As I always do when the newsletter goes out, I took a quick look to see which of the links I provide people are using. For example, if the actual newsletter topic’s link does not interest the group, I tend to steer clear of that topic, in the future. If there are particular topics and links the group seems to like, I try to provide more of them. At the bottom of the newsletter, there are a number of links that the newsletter software provides: del.icio.us, Digg, reddit, Facebook, StumbleUpon. Every once in awhile, someone will click one of these links and I always wonder if they are using that link or just trying it out to see where it goes.
This month, there was a rash of people using StumbleUpon. StumbleUpon ( http://www.stumbleupon.com/ ) is a web-site that helps you to “stumble upon” various web-sites. You can rate these sites. You can share your own “stumblings” with other people, if you think you have found something interesting. The idea is that it helps you “stumble upon” the best sites for your own interests and to help others to do the same, both by rating the sites and by sharing them.
In any case, I would have had my usual ponderings about whether these people making the links were merely trying it out, but I noticed a couple things. First of all, it wasn’t just a few people but quite a lot of people that clicked on it. Second of all, it wasn’t a random assortment of people who just happened to start using this tool, but a very specific group of people.
When we find useful web-sites, some might initially think there are two primary ways to share and promote these links: we send the link out via e-mail to people we think would be interested, or we post the link to our own web-site to create a list of such links. I should also mention that web-sites and blogs can also specifically link themselves together when they share a common goal or information and want to encourage linking to each other. But using something like StumbleUpon is yet another way to share these sites. Unlike these other ways of linking or sharing web-sites and blogs, StumbleUpon only shares those that the readers are truly interested in.
Some of you are still wondering what the difference is between one person sending you a list of links, or in going to share links with the world in something like StumbleUpon. So, if I send you a list of links that I think are great, that’s all it is – my single opinion. If ten of us did that, we could all read through the links and compare them. If 100 of us did that, it would be difficult to sort through them to compare and collate the information. Instead of each sending each other an individual e-mail, if 100 of us went to something like StumbleUpon and actively shared and rated the sites, the most useful or interesting sites would like rise to the top and, for the person that doesn’t know where to start looking for information in our industry, they could start with the sites that were most highly-rated, first.
Thus, maybe some people are starting the next wave of information-sharing in our industry by doing this. It could be a good way to share the interesting links within our industry with the rest of our industry. Or, for those companies that are creating internal information-sharing plans, this is a way to share information within their company, as well.
Gloria Metrick
GeoMetrick Enterprises
http://www.GeoMetrick.com/
In yet another blog based on the search terms people used to find my blog, today I’m writing about “eln labware lims.” When I see this search, two separate thoughts come to mind: The person was looking to link an ELN with their LabWare LIMS; or, the person was interested in finding more information on the ELN features being provided by the LabWare LIMS.
Trends in LIMS and ELN
There are two schools of thought on how to provide ELN and LIMS capabilities into one laboratory. One model is the one that Thermo is following, where each product is specific to its task. They have a variety of LIMS that are built for a specific purpose and a partnership with Symyx to provide ELN features. This is all combined with a specific integration strategy.
The other school of thought is to extend products to add features. As such, we see LIMS products such as LabWare LIMS, StarLIMS and SQL*LIMS providing some variety of ELN features in order to stretch the LIMS to also do some of the ELN’s work. We also see ELN vendors such as IDBS and VelQuest providing LIMS-type features with their ELNs to stretch those products yet further.
However, it is still possible to have a different ELN and LIMS product even when talking about these “combination” products. As such, if the person who searched for “eln labware lims” is intending to implement an entirely separate ELN solution to integrate with their LabWare LIMS, this might be a good idea, depending on their approach and their needs.
What is Right for You
Although each strategy and/or product sounds like the one that will solve every problem, none of them is right for every situation. In fact, a single LIMS product cannot fulfill every LIMS need nor is every ELN product right for every lab notebook situation.
For example, an ELN meant for discovery work is not the same as the ones meant to enforce method execution. A LIMS targeted toward Drug Metabolism looks much different than one targeted toward Environmental solutions.
Bottom Line
If you secretly feel befuddled regarding what direction to take regarding buying these products. Here’s my advice: ignore the labels. Forget that they’re called “LIMS” or “ELN” or whatever label they are given. Determine what you need and look for that. If you find something that meets your needs, whatever it is called, that is the right product and strategy for you.
Gloria Metrick
GeoMetrick Enterprises
http://www.GeoMetrick.com/
A few months ago, I made a blog post entitled “LabWare LIMS Interview Questions”: http://outonalims.wordpress.com/2009/09/03/labware-lims-interview-questions/ I should mention that, despite the title, the post is more general than that. It relates to interview questions for LIMS people, in general, although it does use the LabWare LIMS as an example.
The reason I wanted to point this out is that we still seem to be in that beginning of the year cycle where companies are trying to find people to staff their projects. As such, I wanted to offer up this post as a starting point. In fact, it would be a good starting point for any COTS system, even an ELN or other system.
Gloria Metrick
GeoMetrick Enterprises
http://www.GeoMetrick.com/
In mid-January, my article on the paperless lab came out in “Lab Manager Magazine,” partly because they needed an article on this topic, but I accepted mainly to help promote the LRIG NE (Laboratory Robotics Interest Group – New England)/Boston area LIMS (Laboratory Information Management System)/Laboratory Informatics meeting in Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA on February 10th, 2010.
The previous blog post on this can be found at: http://outonalims.wordpress.com/2010/01/08/two-major-comp…-paperless-lab/
The meeting notice can be found at: http://www.lab-robotics.org/New_England/Archives/2010-02_Meeting.htm
You should attend this meeting if you want to hear more about strategies for implementing ELNs at your company (R&D or QC), want to hear about a company that created a plan for integrating its laboratory informatics systems (such as LIMS, ELN, CDS and the like), have an interest in evolving instrumentation standards, or merely want to meet others in the Boston/New England area who might be doing similar things to you.
Gloria Metrick
GeoMetrick Enterprises
http://www.GeoMetrick.com/
Each New Year, a number of people will contact me to see what it’s like to start their own business. It could be part of their efforts to start something new, to find something that fits their own goals, or to create their own empire. Knowing that I’ve been running GeoMetrick Enterprises since 1996, there are always those that are interested to hear what it’s going to take. Since I now have the blog and since the year is still kind of “new,” I’ll just post some thoughts, here, and then those of you that are wondering about this will have something to start you off. Some of my comments apply to any business in our industry, but all of them apply to the services end of the business.
M & A (Marketing & Advertising)
The most common question I get is, “How do you find business?” The answer is, “Marketing.” Various people have told me that anyone with their own business has to constantly think about how to market their business. I think they’re right. Few customers will spontaneously discover you exist if you don’t make your presence known, in the first place. You will spend more of your job thinking about how best to approach this than you expect.
As for advertising, as a rule of thumb, most small businesses avoid paying for advertising. It’s expensive and seldom gets results that justify the cost. You really have to know what you’re doing if you’re going to go this route.
Other Business Aspects
Regardless what parts of the business you handle, yourself, and it should start out that you’re doing most of it, but you need a good accountant and lawyer, both focused on servicing small businesses that provide whatever it is that you plan to provide (services or products).
Never, ever go around asking various people what business form you should take, which one will protect your assets, what deductions you can take. You will not believe the truly wrong and dangerous answers other people will give. Just know that laws and tax codes vary not only between countries, but between states, as well (if you’re in the US, that is).
At the least (in the US), get a business license. They’re usually cheap to get. Go to your local public library to find out how to start a small business in your state, as it will vary based on the state or municipality you live in.
Competition
Unless what you’re providing is truly unique and you can illustrate that to people in a manner where they can see what you mean, you’ll be in-competition with all the big-league players. It’s their business to get all the business they can, just as that will have to be your business. I don’t mean that you should do or say absolutely anything to get business, I just mean that it’s a business and you have to think about how to succeed rather than just hoping that the others competiting against you are having an off-day. Recently, I saw a presentation advertised, entitled, “Hope is Not a Marketing Strategy.” This is the best piece of advice you can get.
If You Still Have Questions
If you want to ask me specific questions about this, I’m always open to answering questions or suggesting places you can get your questions answered. But I’d just ask that you ask them as a comment to this blog so that everyone can see them.
Gloria Metrick
GeoMetrick Enterprises
http://www.GeoMetrick.com/
I’m not about to say there’s anything different about LIMS/Laboratory Informatics in Belgium. Well, except that I’m hearing that Brussels is some kind of hotbed for it. I’m curious to find out whether the rumor is true and, if so, what “hot” things are going on, here.
In my LinkedIn profile, I’d posted that I’m here in Belgium and would like to get together and hang out with people to talk about LIMS and Laboratory Informatics. I was hoping to get a big, noisy group together so we could solve the world’s lab informatics problems. I got a bite, it might turn out to be too far to visit each other over a meal, but I’m flexible and trying to figure out the distances. At the least, we’ll phone or e-mail, I’m sure. As those of you who know me personally are all too aware of, I just love this topic – totally obsessed with it – will talk about it with anyone, anywhere, anytime. So, I’m always excited by an opportunity to get together with people and talk about it.
Furthermore, even though I return to the US at the end of this week, I’ll be returning every once in awhile. So, for those people that are interested in sharing as much information as our brains can handle when I’m here, let’s see if we can get a little group together. Maybe it could become a regular thing, if there’s an interest.
I’ll be in Brussels, Belgium for the SmartLabs Exchange on March 17th – 18th, 2010, of course: http://www.smartlab.co.uk/ I say, of course, because I’m speaking and part of this year’s Advisory Board.
Gloria Metrick
GeoMetrick Enterprises
http://www.GeoMetrick.com/
Sometimes, the keywords people use to find my blog make me think of a topic to write about. Yesterday, someone looked up “lab looks like after lims.” If the questions is, “What does the lab look like after LIMS?, “ then my answer is that it looks exactly the same since LIMS is software and you can’t “see” it.
No, no, I’m just kidding, here. Seriously it depends what you mean, and the question applies about equally to LIMS, ELN, SDMS, CDS, or anything else.
First of all, if you took your paper system and implemented it, your lab will probably degrade in its efficiency. Companies sometimes make this mistake when they buy software, and it has a negative effect on the labs. The reason you buy a piece of software is to improve on the paper system, not replicate it. If you’re not going to improve on what you have, it’s not worth the money. Plus, a paper system has different decision points than an automated system. They just aren’t the same and trying to make one work like the other is painful.
On the other hand, you can see a variety of changes when you implement new software and you do not try to beat it into a paper model. Some people think that you won’t change your process when you implement software, since the process is primary and the software merely supports it. This isn’t true. Most labs have inefficiency somewhere in their process. It’s common to notice and fix some when you’re doing the workflow analysis before implementing your new software.
Or, some companies really intend to make a better process out of the entire project. As opposed to merely implementing software, they are looking to make big improvements, which the software will support. These companies probably get the best ROI (Return On Investment) from their software.
Gloria Metrick
GeoMetrick Enterprises
http://www.GeoMetrick.com/
