What about a traditional solution hosted in the Cloud?

Why consider Software as a Service

SaaS solutions are, by definition, accessible anywhere giving you flexibility and expanding your possibilities. For example:

• You can easily share your data with your customers or your suppliers without the need of complicated network configurations.
• Your employees can work on-the-go without the need of using a VPN or similar tools
• A minimal footprint is required (often only a laptop or mobile device). This means you’ll not have to dedicate an IT resource to rollout the initial setup or to keep it up to date every time a minor change is pushed.

What are the risks associated with Software as a Service?

In most cases, the security and resilience of the Cloud provider will be equal to or better, simply because the Cloud provider focuses on security and resilience as a primary business driver and your company probably focuses on science. Another risk associated with Cloud storage is that your access to the data is through the SaaS vendor. The SaaS vendor owns the contract with the Cloud storage provider.  What would happen if the SaaS provider were to prevent access to your data? This risk although unlikely is of high impact and must be mitigated by regular archive of your data to a storage location inside your company. The transmission of data across the internet opens the potential for your data to be exposed to competitors or others.  Again, this risk must be mitigated by the SaaS vendor through transmission encryption and regular security monitoring.

What to consider when selecting Software as a Service

If the benefits of a Cloud solution outweigh the risk for your organization, there are several differentiators which you will wish to consider when selecting a SaaS provider:

• The Product: Your selected vendor must satisfy your requirements. Don’t settle!
• The effort required to customize/implement the solution: Try to identify in advance the steps/effort involved in initial implementation.
• Compliance concerns: Does the vendor supply a complete documentation package and how much effort is required by you?
• Product releases: You should have the ability to schedule your advancement to the latest available software version. If compliance is required in your lab, scheduling is important to allow time to execute PQ (Performance Qualification) testing for new product releases.
• Isolation of the General Infrastructure (Servers, Databases, etc): Isolation should extend to your production and test environments:
  • Avoid even the hint that data can be compromised.
  • You will have full control on the release schedule. This is useful if there are multiple environments: a validated and a controlled environment
  • System performance is affected only by the usage you generate.
  • Specific functionalities which differentiate your lab can be implemented.
• Cloud storage provider: Insist on a certified Cloud infrastructure provider for both your live and back-up data.
• Security monitoring: Verify that your environment will be constantly monitored against any threat.
• Support: Determine or specify in a Service Level Agreement the response required to maintain the infrastructure running and avoid disruption in the service.
• Instrument Interface: Instrument interface is more difficult for a Cloud solution. Be sure the vendor you select can interface efficiently with your instrumentation.

As noted above, there are many ELN/LIMS vendors which offer traditional application in a “hosted” Cloud. Be sure to get the full benefits of a Cloud solution by selecting a vendor with a product entirely designed and engineered to run in the Cloud and which is delivered as a Service – a service that is self-hosted & supported. Avoid the issues which arise from a system which hasn’t been designed specifically for the Cloud and rather is designed as an add-on.

Closing Remarks

It may take months or years to implement an ELN or LIMS and then years to really make it your own; these systems have a way of becoming entrenched in a laboratories way of life, and once implemented, very difficult to remove. Traditional ELN/LIMS vendors are aware that Cloud services will soon replace traditional solutions and are scrambling to make the transition. If you select a traditional solution, will it soon be obsolete? Only you can assess the risks and benefits as they relate to your organization. It is our opinion that SaaS as a technology has come of age. The risks can be mitigated and the benefits make SaaS worth investigation.