Onshore vs Offshore Informatics

Successfully selecting, implementing, enhancing, and integrating laboratory informatics systems such as LIMS, ELN, SDMS, CDS, etc. requires specialty knowledge, skill sets, and hands-on experience.  With these requirements, it is not unusual that a laboratory organization will not have enough appropriate internal resources to staff laboratory informatics projects.  Additionally, hiring permanent personnel for lab informatics projects of finite length is generally regarded as not cost effective.  Therefore, it is common that a laboratory organization will supplement its internal resources with laboratory informatics subject matter experts (i.e. consultants) in order to fill their informatics project gaps while adhering to budgetary constraints.

Sourcing the right resources can also be challenging in this space.  LIMS and/or ELN expert consultants are hard to come by, particularly those with demonstrable experience.  Once located, informatics consultants can be quite costly to engage.  In today’s global market, it is very tempting to utilize lower cost, offshore consulting resources as opposed to more costly, onshore consulting resources.  While this may seem like a great idea, in reality, there are many factors that can affect the value you realize when engaging offshore consultants.  Let’s explore some of these factors. [Read more]

—————————–

CSols, Inc. 
Informatics Insider 
www.csolsinc.com/blog