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10 Product Selection Tips

Stop! Read this list before making your next software purchase

Gloria Metrick

The tips that follow are designed to help you select your next informatics product or other software you may plan to purchase.

1. Don’t shop by title. As the lines blur between products such as laboratory information management systems (LIMS) and electronic laboratory notebooks (ELN), it becomes more difficult to purchase a system based on the category under which it’s listed. Instead, take your list of requirements and search for software that meets them.

2. Keep an open mind about one-size-fits-all versus targeted systems. Some companies want to buy one system to roll out to every area. Others prefer to buy several different systems, each targeted to meet specific needs, and to later find ways to integrate these systems and/or combine/share their data. Do not make this decision before looking at what is available and comparing each system to your company’s specific needs. Often, the best solution reflects a combination of the two strategies.

3. Get buy-in. If you don’t get buy-in from all the right people in your company, your process will usually fail. Even if you succeed in selecting a product, politics usually kill the project before its final implementation. Identify the right people to include, keep them up-to-date and keep asking for their input.

4. Don’t worry about making everyone happy. If your goal is to find a product that will meet all your needs and make all your stakeholders happy, give up now, especially if yours is a large, multi-lab project. At least one person will prefer some other product than the one you’ve chosen. They may even have solid reasons for this preference. As such, make sure you listen to and evaluate any such concerns, preferences or objections. Beyond that, the selection process should not be stopped.

5. Make a list. Rather than find a potential product, contact the vendor, get information, discuss it with your team, see a demo, consider whether it’s a fit or not and, if not, go through the process again (and again…): Make a list. Search the Internet. Create a list of vendors with products of interest initially, but pare it down after you gather more information. Eventually, you will have a list to send your request for proposal (RFP).

6. Keep the RFP list small. Don’t send your RFP out to every software vendor who has the type of system you’re interested in purchasing. Find a way to narrow down your list. The list should get even smaller when you select systems to see demonstrated. Two or three are usually sufficient. If none of the demos leaves you believing you’ve found the system for your company, you can always give other vendors the opportunity.

7. Be skeptical but not hostile. As you gather information and see demos, remember that every product will be presented in the best light possible. Be skeptical of everything you see and hear. Verify everything that can possibly be verified. On the other hand, don’t be hostile to the vendors. Remember that you’ll want (and need) a positive long-term relationship with one of them.

8. Be methodical. Have your questions ready before the demo so that you can ask each vendor the same questions. This gives you a basis for comparison. Sometimes, one vendor’s demo will cause you to think of more questions. Remember that, at a later time, you can always ask vendors questions you didn’t think of initially. Don’t hesitate to ask more questions after the demo. However, try to compile a list of questions from your entire team rather than have each team member ask questions separately. It saves time for everyone and is easier to keep track of the answers.

9. Don’t forget your priorities. When you initially created your requirements, you prioritized them so you’d know which items were most important in your new software. And, of course, you did not share these with the vendors during the RFP process. Once you are back together with your team discussing the various packages, don’t forget to review the priorities so you can compare not just how each vendor did overall but, specifically, how well their products addressed your highest priority items. After all, if one vendor met 10 of your 15 requirements, it doesn’t make them a better choice than the vendor who met only nine if those nine were all high-priority and some of those the first vendor met were lower priority.

10. Select within your budget. Don’t select a system because it’s one of the most popular on the market, or it’s state-of-the-art, or it’s got great bells and whistles if it’s out of your price range. In the end, if you can’t afford to buy the appropriate services and support, you won’t be as satisfied as if you purchased something less popular or less state-of-the-art, but which meets your functional needs. Remember, these systems are meant to assist in daily workflow, streamline, make data capture reliable, and provide other related advantages. If you don’t obtain all this with your new system, you threw your money away.

Gloria Metrick is owner of GeoMetrick Enterprises and author of “Out on a LIMS: The Newsletter for People Who Risk Life and LIMS on a Daily Basis,” as well as owner and moderator of the LinkedIn LIMS/Laboratory Informatics discussion group. She may be reached at editor@ScientificComputing.com.