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Are you trying to decide if your lab should build its own custom software, buy off-the-shelf software (knowing you’ll inevitably have to customize it), or just keep stumbling along with Excel and paper-based tracking? The answer to this question will ultimately depend on your short- and long-term information system (informatics) strategy.
How do you devise an informatics strategy? There are several options to choose from, each with its pros and cons. In their paper discussing the factors affecting buy-vs.-build decisions, Patrick Hung and Graham Cedric Low suggest that “effectively managing buy vs. build could be the key to managing IT.” For labs, the strategy you choose is particularly important. It could make the difference between success or failure, or, at the very least, impact your rate of innovation.
Given how often we have run into labs needing to shift their approach from build to buy or vice versa, we recommend using a decision framework that examines the options in the context of molecular diagnostics laboratory requirements.
Building the software (often called do-it-yourself “DIY” software) might sound ideal at first, especially for a sector as under-served by commercially available options as molecular diagnostics is. You’ll get exactly what you want, based on your own requirements. But before deciding to do this, ask yourself the following questions:
If you do want to build software from scratch, you have two choices:
If you are considering one of these options, don’t forget to factor in the risk of the developers (in house or with the external partner) leaving the team. In our work as an external partner building custom lab informatics systems, we have worked hard to devise methods to mitigate this issue; for labs, these methods would likely be cost-prohibitive to implement.
Also, you’ll need to ensure that the software can handle data in accordance with a variety of regulations, such as HIPAA, CAP, or CLIA — so you additionally need to make sure the developers are specifically trained in this area.
Buying commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) software is the other way to go. But be aware that, in almost all cases, you will very likely need to make extensive customizations since a truly out-of-the-box solution that works for molecular diagnostics labs does not yet exist.
In our experience, 50% of the total system cost comes from purchasing licenses for the COTS product, while the remaining 50% is spent on implementation and customization. Given that the threshold for build vs. buy is 60%, you can see how a DIY approach might win. For a breakdown of the types of software a lab needs, read our previous post.
If you do want to purchase off-the-shelf software, you have two choices for customizing the solution:
Before making a final decision about whether to build or buy (and customize) software, we recommend developing and documenting your requirements so that you know exactly what the software needs to do.
Once you have a list of requirements, consider these other factors:
As with any business decision, cost will also be a factor. Let’s look at the options and their relative costs.
Once you’ve decided whether to build or buy, and whether to work with a partner or do the work in-house, there are several things you should know to ensure you have the best experience.
If you choose to build software from scratch:
If you choose to buy and customize software:
We’ve worked with many clinical diagnostic labs and can tell you from experience that there’s no one-size-fits-all solution. However, if you’d like to talk through your options, we’re here to help.
