Lab efficiency Archives - INTERACTIVE SOFTWARE

Unlock hidden savings: Making the ROI case for your lab’s LIMS investment

Sharon Williams — Mon, 23 Mar 2026 11:29:14 +0000

Let’s be honest, laboratory teams are brilliant at solving complex scientific problems. But when it comes to managing samples, data, and workflows, many labs are still juggling spreadsheets, paper notes, and systems that don’t quite speak to each other. And while that patchwork approach might feel manageable day to day, it can quietly chip away at productivity, accuracy, and ultimately the bottom line. Manual data entry: A small task with a big impact Most laboratories eventually hit a tipping point where spreadsheets multiply and processes become harder to manage. Suddenly the conversation turns to whether it’s time for something smarter and they begin exploring the LIMS ROI business case to understand whether the investment will pay off. The truth is, the ROI of a LIMS often shows up in places labs don’t initially expect, hidden in everyday inefficient processes that have simply become part of the routine. Take manual data entry. On its own, it doesn’t seem like a major issue. But multiply it across dozens of samples, multiple technicians, and repeated checks to make sure nothing has been missed. Suddenly hours disappear each week. The same goes for tracking samples across spreadsheets, chasing down missing or inconsistent data, preparing […]

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Driving operational efficiency in crop science labs: How a LIMS keeps field and lab work moving

Sharon Williams — Mon, 16 Feb 2026 11:46:57 +0000

Crop science laboratories sit at the centre of modern agriculture. They support everything from soil and plant tissue analysis to seed quality testing, residue screening, and long-term field trials. And as agricultural decision-making becomes more data-driven, the pressure on crop science labs has increased dramatically. The challenge is that the demand isn’t rising in a neat, manageable way. Sample volumes grow, reporting expectations tighten, and turnaround times become more visible. Yet many labs are still trying to manage increasingly complex workflows using tools and processes that were never designed for the scale and complexity crop science now requires. That’s why operational efficiency in crop science labs has become less about working faster and more about building a workflow that can move reliably, consistently, and at volume without creating a proportional increase in admin. Efficiency starts before the samples arrive Unlike many laboratory environments, crop science doesn’t begin at the bench. It begins outside, in fields, trial plots, glasshouses, research stations, farms, and partner sites. Samples arrive with a story attached: where they were taken, how they were collected, what treatment group they belong to, what the conditions were, what the timing was, and what the lab is expected to measure. […]

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Why your lab is wasting 50% of its time (and how to fix it)

Sharon Williams — Wed, 11 Feb 2026 15:00:28 +0000

Labs don’t waste time because scientists and technicians are slow. They waste time because data is slow. In most laboratories, whether clinical, research, environmental, food, or industrial testing, the real bottleneck isn’t the science. It’s the way information moves through the lab. Or more accurately: The way it doesn’t. Every sample creates a chain of data: IDs, labels, tests, results, QC checks, instrument outputs, approvals, reports, compliance records and audit trails. If that data flow is fragmented, manual, or duplicated across systems, the lab ends up spending huge amounts of time doing ‘work about work’. And that’s how labs quietly lose up to half their working hours, not to testing, but to re-entering data, searching for information, resolving errors, redoing work, chasing approvals, manually compiling reports, recovering missing context etc. This list is endless. In short, labs spend too much time on manual admin, documentation, and inefficient workflows instead of actual lab work. If your lab feels busy but not productive, there’s a good chance you’re not short on effort, you are short on data efficiency. So where does time get lost, and what do efficient labs do differently? The real bottleneck in most labs isn’t testing Lab work is […]

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Unlocking Efficiency: The Features and Benefits of Achiever LIMS 5.7

Sharon Williams — Wed, 04 Dec 2024 10:14:42 +0000

In today’s fast-paced laboratory environments, efficiency, compliance, and data integrity are paramount. Achiever LIMS 5.7, the latest iteration of Interactive Software’s Laboratory Information Management System, is designed to meet these demands with advanced tools and features. Achiever LIMS is designed to enhance laboratory operations across various sectors, including clinical research, biobanking, agriculture, and environmental studies. Whether you’re managing clinical trials, forensic data, or sample workflows in diagnostic labs, this release promises to streamline operations, improve user experience, and ensure adherence to best practices and regulatory standards. Laboratory Execution System (LES) Enhancements The updated LES offers Achiever LIMS customers with an improved interface, simplifying the design and implementation of laboratory processes. Users can select predefined action and event types within default settings, facilitating the linking and unlinking of actions and events. New features such as loops, variables, and prompts reduce the need for custom code, enhance configuration simplicity, and improve version control with commit and rollback capabilities. These enhancements support various laboratory workflows, including clinical trial setup, donor enrolment, kit creation and quality control, sample analysis, and sample dispatch. Email Management Achiever LIMS 5.7 integrated email management system now allows users to oversee the sending and monitoring of emails directly within […]

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5 Ways to Help Boost Productivity in the Lab

Sharon Williams — Mon, 24 May 2021 13:52:29 +0000

Growing pressure is being placed on labs to increase sample throughput, deliver rapid, accurate results, and adhere to tighter quality control and regulatory compliance measures. You might be thinking about how you can boost productivity in your lab in order to meet demand and scale-up your lab operations. You could bring in additional storage capacity, instruments, resources, or increase lab space to help. However, simply increasing these doesn’t always have the desired results, especially if you don’t have the supporting processes and systems in place. If you’re considering how to make the most of existing or new resources take a look at our 5 ways to help boost productivity in the lab. 1. Go digital New challenges emerge when data and user volumes increase, and processes become more sophisticated. These can include: multiple users accessing and updating data at the same time, users requiring access to data across multiple locations, making sure everyone is following standard operating procedures (SOPs), security to only allow authorised users to access data, auditing for traceability and reproducibility, and importantly, compliance with regulatory requirements. Your spreadsheets or legacy systems may not be able to handle your evolving needs as your operations and data volumes expand. Instead, […]

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