Digital transformation has existed in a rudimentary form since computers were the size of middle school classrooms. However, the official term and current understanding of what a ‘digital transformation’ means has only been around for roughly ten years. During this decade of implementations, adoptions, and migrations, large swaths of the drug discovery and development pipeline have successfully digitally transformed their operations, resulting in significant cost and efficiency savings. However, many in vivo laboratories have yet to reach their transformation goals or even have a digital transformation plan in place. According to Qualio’s recent survey of QA professionals in life sciences, almost a third of respondents are still using legacy data entry processes, such as pen and paper. Today, having a digitalized operation is seen as a competitive differentiator.
Looking towards the future of research, it is becoming increasingly clear that a digital transformation is a necessity in preparing for the upcoming challenges. RockStep’s in vivo research management platform, Climb, was designed to help prepare in vivo labs to tackle those challenges by providing a single software solution to digitalize animal model research and operations.
Here are 5 ways a digital transformation with Climb can give your lab the edge it needs to stay at the forefront of research.
The Data Tsunami: Digitalized Data Management
Another benefit of data digitalization is accurately sharing and synthesizing data between groups across the globe, enabling collaboration and research progression on a whole new scale. The Climb platform’s native cloud data management, storage, and collaboration tools give researchers the ability to record their data accurately, recall it easily, and share it more efficiently- ensuring important results are not lost in the shuffle. Learn more about the benefits of digitalized research data.
Save Time, Money, and Labor with Automation
There’s an almost universal pressure on scientists to produce faster results without sacrificing scientific accuracy. That’s where tools like Climb shine by automating manually intensive workflows.
Climb can automate data entry by integrating with common lab equipment such as scales and balances, automate animal welfare tasks and alerts, and even handle autocalculations such as dosing formulations. The correct application of automated processes has saved our customers a significant amount of time, up to an entire full-time employee’s worth of manual tasks in some instances. Learn more about Climb’s automation capabilities.
Integrate your Tech Stack
A true digital transformation connects your lab’s existing software together, integrating them so data flows seamlessly back and forth. Onboarding new software also becomes easier because your current data is readily accessible.
To help our customers achieve this goal, we build Climb with a modern, RESTful API (Application Programming Interface) infrastructure and partner with other leading software providers to provide as many out-of-the-box integrations as we can. We are committed to fostering an open research ecosystem where our customers can use whatever tools work best for them.
Look, Mom, no Hands! Hands-Free Workflows
We understand that in vivo research happens in messy, challenging environments. To make our users’ lives easier in the vivarium, we’ve built hands-free workflow capabilities into Climb. Integrations with lab equipment or hands-free input devices allow for tasks to be completed accurately with minimal interactions with a keyboard or mouse.
For researchers challenged with operating in aseptic or clean environments, Climb integrates with LabVoice digital lab assistant, allowing researchers to initiate workflows, record observations, and monitor animal statuses via voice command.
Collaborate and Innovate Together
Collaboration is key to advancing research- both internally within organizations and externally with others across the globe. The rapid development and delivery of the COVID-19 vaccines is a great example of what can be achieved through people and organizations working together.
Climb provides a centralized management platform for every step of the in vivo research process. By replacing spreadsheets, paper notes, and disconnected point solutions, Climb ensures everyone has access to the most accurate information available, from anywhere– making it easy to export and share data both internally and with outside collaborators.
Digital transformation is coming slowly to biopharma research, and the in vivo space is lagging behind other areas of the research pipeline. To stay competitive and prepare for upcoming challenges, animal model research labs need a digitalization strategy with a clearly defined set of goals and a thorough understanding of the benefits of digitalizing their lab. The previous five points are key areas to consider while mapping out a digital transformation.
For further clarification on Climb’s in vivo research management capabilities and how the platform can increase your lab’s efficiency, please contact us. Our experts will work with you on solutions and workflows customized to your needs.
