Off the Shelf Packaged LIMS (e.g. LabSoft LIMS) vs In-House Home Grown LIMS
Issues |
Packaged LIMS |
In-House Home Grown LIMS |
TCO (Total Cost of Ownership) |
Company shares costs with other companies. As technologies advance in the computing industry, the packaged LIMS will naturally migrate. |
Company must bear total cost of all support, maintenance and future developments including new functionality and industry migration and evolution. |
Support Availability |
Supported by many people 24/7. |
High risk since the people who create and support the application may move to other positions or leave the company. They are also not commonly available 24x7. |
IT Staff |
Support is shared with LIMS vendor. |
IT staff must bear all support. |
Future use ideas |
Company can look outside its own corporate “box” and learn from their peers. |
Company must develop all ideas internally. |
Profession |
Packaged LIMS are written and supported by professional LIMS developers. LIMS is their business. |
Apps are generally written by people who are not “professional” LIMS developers. These developers have many other applications and duties. |
Flexibility |
Packaged LIMS are by nature flexible and can commonly be configured to meet changing requirements. |
Home grown systems are generally not flexible since they were created for a specific purpose to fit the immediate need. If the company wants additional functionality they have to pay for it. |
Term |
Long term solution |
Short term solution |