How easy is it to change electronic laboratory notebook supplier?

Changing your electronic laboratory notebook (ELN) supplier can vary in ease depending on several factors. Here are some considerations:

Data Migration: The complexity of migrating your data from an old ELN to a new one can significantly impact the ease of the transition. If your current ELN allows for easy data export and the new one can import this data seamlessly, the process may be smoother. With eLabNext data can be easily imported or exported as Excel or pdf files as required

Compatibility: Ensure that the new ELN is compatible with your existing hardware and software infrastructure. Compatibility issues could make the transition more challenging. Not only can eLabNext save all file types in an experiment writeup but with eLabWebEdit you can create and save different versions of the same file without having to manually download files to your desktop and reupload them to eLabJournal.

Training: Evaluate the need for training your team on the new ELN. The ease of transitioning will depend on how user-friendly and similar the new system is to the old one. The good news with eLabNext we offer training for users and key user training in larger Private Cloud or On-Premises installations. Typically, most customers take advantage of weekly training sessions throughout their free 30-day trial of their eLabNext Software.

Regardless, eLabJournal has been recognised by Capterra as Best Ease of Use 2023 so the learning curve on the software should be pretty fast.

Regulatory Compliance: If your research involves regulated data, ensure that the new ELN complies with the necessary regulations and standards. To ensure compliance, eLabnext is ISO 27001 accredited and is compliant with GXP, FDA 21CFR Part 11, GXP or HIPAA.

Contractual Agreements: Review any contracts or agreements with your current ELN supplier, as there may be terms and penalties associated with terminating the contract early.

Customisation: If your laboratory has customized workflows and templates in your current ELN, replicating these in the new system can take time and effort. eLabNext allows a high level of customisation as standard, but eLabSDK also provides an open ecosystem digital lab platform for our users to freely extend, integrate, or customise any other functionality within eLabJournal.

Budget: Consider the cost implications of transitioning to a new ELN, including license fees, setup costs, and ongoing maintenance expenses. As the Laboratory software market is still somewhat in its infancy (last 10-20 years) there can be huge variability in costs and whilst sales and marketing campaigns can be very convincing that you need to spend lots of money it is always best to try the system yourself first to check that the software lives up to the claims and your expectations. For industrial customers there is often an implementation and consultation charge to factor in for the seamless import of samples and experimental data in the best way.

The great news, if you are reading this, is that eLabJournal has been recognised by Capterra as Best Value 2023 so against some other products you will often find you are not out of pocket and can spend some money elsewhere in your lab, perhaps even with some of our excellent partners like Eppendorf , Elemental Machines , Clustermarket , ASCENSCIA - AI Voice Assistant for Research Labs , Chemaxon , FLUICS or Implen amongst others.

User Feedback: Gather input from your team to understand their needs and preferences, which can help in selecting a more suitable ELN and making the transition easier. When you do take part in a free 30-day trial then as standard you can have 5 users in total and on request we can add more colleagues.

Vendor Support: Assess the level of support and assistance offered by the new ELN supplier during the transition. Typically, Bronze support is adequate for most eLabNext customers, but for larger installations or those in a dedicated install, you might need to evaluate your Service Level Agreement.

At eLabNext, we make it as easy as possible to join us, but likewise, for your peace of mind, we are confident you will love our product, but in the unlikely event you want to leave us, then this too is straightforward.

In summary, the ease of changing your ELN supplier depends on factors such as data migration, compatibility, training, regulatory compliance, existing contracts, customization, budget, user feedback, and vendor support. Thorough planning and evaluation of these factors can help streamline the transition process. Having said this, other software suppliers may not be so flexible so be careful not to get locked into a supplier you later regret!

For more information on eLabNext please visit https://www.elabnext.com/ and should you have any questions please be sure to check our FAQs section, email me at [email protected] or request a short demo