Platforms: What Are They and Why Do You Care?

Just last week, Lab Manager Magazine published my article on platforms (it's focused on scientific data platforms, actually). It's an article meant to give readers an idea what all this talk about platforms has to do with our other software:

From Software to Platforms: Navigating the Shift in Laboratory Informatics

The structure of the article is to speak a little about how our industry has evolved from having few software choices years ago when many of us joined this industry, to then having a variety of LIMS and ELNs, but continuing through into 2024 to have such a multitude of options as our industry continues to advance.

Platforms

In the article, I give just a basic idea what the difference between "software" and a "platform" is. In addition, I was fortunate to get some good quotes from the people within our industry who gave some additional insight (read the article for their advice and information):

• Siping “Spin” Wang, Founder of TetraScience gives an overview of the shift in our labs and additional needs they have with regard to items such as AI.
• Chris Stumpf, Director, Drug Discovery Informatics Solutions Revvity Signals lists the key areas where a strong platform adds value.
• Bryan Holmes, VP of Digital & Technology Solutions at Andelyn Biosciences gives us his own strategy to how he approaches this for his own company.

More Platforms

As I mentioned, the article did focus more on scientific platforms. For those of you reading, right now, many of you are working with other types of platforms, as well. With so much programming needed for the systems we work with, we also commonly have software development platforms.

One point I wanted to make in addition to the Lab Manager article is that some of your companies build your own platforms even for software development. Yet others use platforms that already exist.

I did want to give is the idea of leveraging other types of platforms even beyond scientific data platforms. In the article, I talk a bit about "build versus buy" for scientific data platforms and this concept is a key discussion even for other types of platforms, such as software development platforms.

In speaking with one of the software vendors in our industry, here is what he had to say:

"Doug Holbrook, CEO of SynapticSci , highlights the benefits of using platforms like the Microsoft Power Platform for LIMS software development. He acknowledges that while there are some restrictions within the platform, the added value, numerous features, and tools it provides far outweigh these limitations. Platforms can significantly accelerate time-to-market for our products, ultimately benefiting our laboratory clients by delivering tailored solutions more quickly and efficiently."

My Point

Again, I just want to give you all some food for thought. Every company balances the people they have and the skills of those people with the vision they have for the software and solutions they need to manage.

Some companies such as Bryan's (see above) are clearly not seeing themselves as being in the software business yet others I've worked with believe this is a key skill for them.

In the end, it comes mainly down to your strategy and culture, which will drive the types of skills you bring into the company. Yet, without understanding the consequences and opportunities behind all this, it can be a challenge to explain this to others.

An Unusual Example, These Days

As a side note, one of the biotech companies I was speaking with is building a from-scratch LES (Laboratory Execution System). Many of you might question doing this. I know that I did (I hope I sounded polite but probably came across as extremely skeptical).

In any case, they have internally justified this. If they have the people with the skills to manage this, all the rest of us can do is watch and see how it turns out. It might be rare in today's world, but it still occurs, once in a while.

The reason I bring this up is that there is still just that much programming in some of our solutions on the customer side. And companies such as them have built their own software development platform. From there, they see more ways to leverage that platform to build things like, say, the LES that they plan to build.

Is it a matter of having a hammer and everything looks like a nail? Or, is it a way to carefully leverage what they have? Those are key questions.