From Good to Great: The Evolving Journey of STARLIMS
The past 5 years have been busy for STARLIMS. Being one of the global Laboratory Information Management Systems (LIMS) leaders in the market for over 3 decades, its evolving journey has picked up the pace. Back in 2016, STARLIMS set out on the journey from good to great, together with a tremendous amount of diverse and great customers globally. Of all the milestones in that particular year, the strategy for STARLIMS was revisited and set forth.
A strategic picture came into shape for STARLIMS to go from a mature business to a global growth business, and to really expand the geographies that had never been fully explored before. STARLIMS has strong presence in over 70 countries around the world. And another fact that has been repeatedly and proudly highlighted is that more than 540 new customers have chosen to work with STARLIMS since 2016.
Historically, STARLIMS was a customization services business, and the goal then for the company was to make the product out-of-box and standardized globally. Today, extensive functionalities are available. Customers can easily fine-tune the solution to fit their lab’s unique workflows, thanks to intuitive configuration tools. In the meantime, it also allows STARLIMS’ team to plan for the future and focus on innovating and continuing to deliver in the pipeline of R&D.
Looking at the customer base, the company saw great opportunities to help customers grow and digitize their platform. They aimed to be a total solution provider, instead of one individual product for quality manufacturing, petrochemical, public health, etc. Therefore, all the assets were leveraged to put together a total solution. Today, STARLIMS is more than a LIMS, it is the hub of a connected lab, an informatics solution that enables customers to improve the quality and safety of their products from concept to consumer.
The evolving journey of STARLIMS has never stopped, if anything, it has accelerated in the past 5 years. STARLIMS was first created as a windows-based application powered by XFD technology for quality manufacturing. Today, in 2021, using the 3rd generation of STARLIMS technology, STARLIMS becomes a web-based system powered by either HTML5 or XFD based technologies. And it is offered both for on-premises installation and as a SaaS offering.
If you’ve got a chance to look at the roadmap of where they are going and how they are going to get there, you would no doubt be fully impressed. In the past 5 years, STARLIMS has incredibly presented to the market with 24 new product releases. To innovate and deliver has already been set in the goal. The commitment to continual releases and improvements provides customers with a solution that will remain relevant.
The evolvement happens in two parts of the STARLIMS application, the technology platform and the dictionary. With the fast-pacing technology transformation, it can feel like trying to change the tires while the car is still moving. The standardized platform and multi-tier technology ensures that customers easily benefit from the technologies STARLIMS continuously offers.
The technology platform keeps evolving, staying current and innovative. The representative feature is the low-code integrated development environment and designer as well as application frameworks for building business agnostic web-based applications. With the multi-tier architecture, customers can upgrade technology platform independently of the applications inside the dictionary. When upgrading, customers keep all the current applications, settings and data while getting new features, better stability, and improved performance.
This July, STARLIMS announced the release of Technology Platform V12.2. This highly anticipated release is a major step forward in the modernization of STARLIMS. The new technology platform features a powerful Electronic Lab Notebook (ELN) system using modern HTML5 technologies. It helps maximize lab efficiency and ensure compliance by allowing execution of test workflows without interruption.
On the business application layer, in 2018, STARLIMS released its first 100% HTML5 systems for Clinical and QM customers. From there, HTML5 framework goes beyond what was possible in XFD. HTML 5 is a more modern-looking, flexible, powerful, and efficient application which improves the performance, integration, and usability of STARLIMS. It is also most compatible with newer web browsers such as Google Chrome, which is key as older browsers such Internet Explorer are becoming un-supported.
This year, STARLIMS launched a new SDMS product – standalone Scientific Data Management System. In addition to being available as part of the STARLIMS integrated solution, it is now available as a standalone product to help clients achieve compliance with the data integrity expectations of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) as well as other regulatory authorities. It can work with an existing LIMS or without a LIMS.
Also, in 2021, for the first time, a brand new STARLIMS LES – Lab Execution System product was brought to the market with the release of STARLIMS QM12.2. With STARLIMS LES, customers can ensure Standard Operating Procedures are being followed and tasks are being developed in a compliant and controlled manner for regulated labs. It is a fully touch enabled interface system that works seamlessly on smart devices and is fully mobile enabled in the labs.
For years, achieving digital transformation in the lab has been the underlying goal. As a result, information automation management and the establishment of Smart Labs have become a priority for labs to achieve productivity and efficiency gains, as their organizations continue to grow. To support customers on their lean journey to Smart Labs, the inclusion of futuristic technologies is essential, including IoT and AR, etc. With continual product releases, STARLIMS stays current and relevant.
A typical example is the Digital Assistant. The solution provides the ability to interact with the STARLIMS HTML5 solution using user voice. Customers can utter commands using the microphone, launch applications and KPIs, conduct hands-free workflows while away from desk, build their own skills to meet individual business needs. The toolkit automatically translates all the configurations into machine-learning AI models, which are used to train the Digital Assistant.
Looking back, STARLIMS has been in the business for over 36 years. Some of their oldest customers, Chevron for example, have been with them for over 30 years, evolving and innovating with them to strive to improve. The STARLIMS team listened to customer feedback and suggestions to develop the right tools and products and provide the satisfactory and timely service needed to help their customers succeed.
