Cloud Based SaaS Laboratory Management System

The benefits of SaaS solutions have increased their popularity across a wide range of businesses. One of the key advantages is the absence of the high overhead costs associated with traditional systems. Instead, consumers pay for what they require and use, and have access to the most recent updates. Many of us already use similar apps / software solutions on a daily basis – Google Apps, Microsoft Office 365, Dropbox, and Slack, to name a few.

The cloud is also being used in the laboratory informatics space, and not for data storage or hosting a purchased LIMS solution. There is a willingness to abandon traditional software licensing, installation, maintenance, and administration approaches in favour of working with a web-based service provider that can supply the right-sized application whilst also taking care of back-end security, availability, and performance.

It’s important to realise that a SaaS LIMS has limits, which might range from “no problem” to “deal-breaker.” By definition, a SaaS LIMS is a public cloud application that is also multi-tenant.

What does it mean to be multi-tenant? Multi-tenant applications are used by two or more tenants—hundreds or thousands—none of whom are aware of one another. Each user pays a subscription price, but the provider, not the tenants, is responsible for all of the bells and whistles like OS upgrades, system backups, disaster recovery, and so on.

On-premise systems and Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS) models have
typically been the two types of LIMS solutions

While an on-premise LIMS has certain appealing benefits, it also has significant upfront expenditures. They also have slower update cycles and are more likely to experience service outages due to hardware or software maintenance.

By removing the customer’s involvement in infrastructure management, the IaaS model helps alleviate some of these concerns. However, the customer remains responsible for software updates, upgrades, and maintenance as needed.

A more flexible and cost-effective option is offered with the SaaS model. You can receive a sophisticated informatics suite without making a large upfront or continuing licensing and infrastructure expenditure, or paying for capabilities you don’t need. The subscription bundle includes servers, networking, load balancing, security, and backups.

The cost isn’t the only advantage. Since the vendor handles software updates, the consumer always has access to the latest version using their preferred web browser, whether the team is in the same lab, a different building, or on the other side of the world. On a desktop, laptop, or mobile device, nothing else needs to be installed or validated. If you need to expand quickly, the process is easy.

The Software as a Service (SaaS) industry is future

Not only is the SaaS software delivery model dependable and stable, but also is starting to dominate the cloud computing business. However, there are still misconceptions regarding SaaS, and one of the top worries is the security. The reality of SaaS security is vastly different from that of traditional software, with considerably fewer issues.

The security benefits that favour on-premise deployments – better control over servers and firewalls – are also major drawbacks. SaaS platforms, in most situations, protect organizations against themselves, because less tech-savvy team members might make system adjustments or upgrades that cause – rather than cure – problems.

This is consistent with another generally accepted belief that IT professionals prefer on-premise software to SaaS software. This is also a misconception. While some IT professionals want to keep everything local, the majority prefer to delegate day-to-day software administration to the platform’s creators, who are the most informed about the platform.