The conventional collection of data in a laboratory can be compared to islands in a large sea. The sea is the laboratory environment - our daily workplace. Individual teams, departments or even individual fighters swim in this sea. And generate data in the form of knowledge, results and statistics every day. The research results are written down in file folders, on notepads or in books, thus forming small islands of knowledge. As we know, islands, regardless of their size and shape, all have one thing in common: they have no permanent connection with each other.
If we want to get from one island to another, we need support. On holiday, we board a ferry, get on a plane - very daring contemporaries also swim from one island to the next. We make a comparable effort in the laboratory when it comes to the exchange of "islands of knowledge" among each other. Here, notes are passed on, files are exchanged and whiteboards are filled for the transfer of knowledge.
In the course of evolution, we humans have succeeded in permanently connecting islands with each other. By building bridges between island and island or mainland and island, the transfer of people and material has been simplified and accelerated. Who is still waiting for a ferry when you can also cross a bridge? Why travel in one direction only when bridges allow travel in both directions at the same time?
Modern, digital laboratory software is the concrete for our bridge construction in the laboratory. Through cloud services, cross-departmental data collection and the use of smart lab techniques, individual islands of knowledge can be permanently connected with each other. Building bridges between the individual teams in our laboratories accelerates the transfer of knowledge - and thus significantly increases the efficiency of our work.
What do you think? Is your lab ready for powerful digital bridges? Or do you not see any advantages here? Let us know, we look forward to stimulating discussions!