The actual costs for LIMS system implementation vary greatly, as each project has unique characteristics that directly affect the cost of implementation, such as: the type of installation (SaaS or On-Premises), the number of users and, more significantly, your needs and requirements.

First establishing what objectives and KPIs must be achieved, in addition to detailing the needs of the laboratory and the business with a complete set of user requirements will provide the most accurate estimate.

It is important to reinforce that if you are still worried about justifying such a significant expense, remember that not having a LIMS also has costs.

One of the biggest challenges you will likely face when selecting a new LIMS is the management and handling of your existing data. Many uncertainties surround the data migration process, regardless of which system you are upgrading from. In this scenario, it is important to pay attention to the following issues:

• What is the best approach?

• What tools should I use?

• How should the migrated data be validated in the new system?

• How can you guarantee access after migration?

In addition to these concerns, some industries are required to maintain their data records for decades (e.g., pharmaceuticals, diagnostics, food and beverage, or public health).

This often prevents organizations from adopting a more up-to-date, technology-rich platform. Even in situations where a new LIMS is already in place, data migration may also be necessary when legacy systems must be deactivated.

Finally, data migration and verification needs to happen as quickly and accurately as possible. Therefore, it is essential to use the right tools for the job, and it is necessary to ensure that the migration team has a deep understanding of the LIMS, databases, and laboratory processes.

It is very important that when choosing a LIMS system, the ability to integrate this software with other management and operational tools used by the company is verified. This position helps to have more guarantees that the contracted solution will not create silos between departments and will add more value to the business. A LIMS system is in the middle of a network of production processes and information, quality control, quality assurance and research that can have a range of other types of applications from various areas, that is why we can visualize the LIMS system integrated with systems for example:

• The ERP for inventory and production management, batch, product and specification management;

• The CRM for integration of customer data, service orders, samples and results;

• The MES for integration with manufacturing and industrial production orders;

• The PIMS for integration with sensors, supervisors and automation networks, linked to sampling points, for example.