Solutions for increased lab efficiency and digitalization exist, let us now leverage them!

In the fast-paced world of routine lab testing, increasing pressure is placed on chemists and technicians to analyze more samples in shorter timeframes, anywhere and often with fewer personnel. Analytical processes and methods therefore need to be streamlined to improve efficiency.

Additionally, easy, secure and reliable transfer of the data required is becoming more important for method execution and documentation, avoiding human errors. Digitalization and connectivity are the key approaches often chosen to address the demand for fast and seamless access to the required data -the transfer of data should be simple and smart.

It is with these restraints and challenges that we seek to develop and apply new ways of conducting analytical chemistry. By adopting solutions for the digital transformation of the laboratory, we can create more efficient and reliable methods. So how can that be done without painful investments? One simple way is to use the now ubiquitously available smartphones and tablets as portable and affordable chemical analytical devices. They allow a paper-free and seamlessly connected documentation workflow. An example for smartphone-based chemical analysis is the MQuant® StripScan app for the readout of test strips. It allows a reliable mobile on-site result acquisition and documentation of in-process chemical analyses.

The potential of this app was recently recognized by the University of St. Gallen in Switzerland, who awarded the Mobile Business Award 2020 to Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany and their software development partner, Incloud Engineering GmbH. The prestigious award praises the data-based added value of the app, its many possible uses, e.g. in the environmental sector and the food and water analysis, as well as its potential for new user benefits and services.

We are still at the beginning of leveraging the power of smartphones for our laboratory analyses.  The inclusion of this already-available processing power in our laboratory workstreams has the potential to provide unprecedented simple and affordable access to instrumental analysis, by combining the safety and affordability of test strips with the advantages of instrumental readout.

See other examples from the Supelco® digital solutions portfolio, to help us access and keep track of our data in a seamlessly connected manner. The whole portfolio of connected solutions contributing to lab efficiency and reliability can be found online.