2016 LIMS Market Research Survey Report

For many years, deployment of Laboratory Information Management Systems (LIMS) has been a mainstay of operations in modern R&D laboratories. While the potential to transform the efficiency of laboratory operations is great (especially when transitioning from paper), one can’t simply expect that implementing a LIMS will solve all of the lab efficiency challenges. The implementation must be done as part of an overall strategic plan that is integrated across the enterprise in order to fulfill its full potential.

In order to determine whether LIMS deployments are achieving their promise, Astrix conducted a survey of over 100 professionals from companies with R&D laboratories in a number of different industries: biotech, pharmaceutical, CRO/CMO, software vendors, consumer products, energy, diagnostics/medical devices, food and beverage, and more. Nearly 50% of respondents came from companies with over 50 users accessing the LIMS. Our survey confirmed that most organizations recognize the value of LIMS, with nearly 90% of companies sampled utilizing at least one LIMS in their R&D laboratory. That said, our survey also revealed that user dissatisfaction with LIMS was high in a number of areas – the fact that LIMS were perceived to be difficult to use and lacked integration with other systems were the biggest complaints. Dissatisfaction with the current system was in fact the primary reason given by those companies looking to purchase a new LIMS.