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Important LIMS Software Features - Tech SupportFirst of all, what do we mean by tech support? Does the LIMS program come with a tech support person on-site, flesh and blood?Hardly! The reality is this: You really need to shop around to see who has the best tech support, and there really are several levels of tech support, several types. Don't just nod your head when the first salesman tells you that they have "Complete tech support...", in sales-talk, that means nothing! We will discuss several of these support related areas and potential problem areas down below. But you need to remember, no matter how comprehensive or large or expensive your new LIMS System is, what about the day you finally get it installed, the training is over and you pay the final installment? Is that it? Wham? Bamm? Thank you ma'am? If there isn't full fledged support to back up any implementation, large or small, you may as well stuff it back in the box, cut your losses and start over. Why get ramped up on a system that has a built in time bomb. If there's no support, you could have a system wide melt down. For labs that need to run 24/7 all year, this is unacceptable and can even be devestating during a software crises. Areas to Consider:TrainingNow, wait a minute! It may seem strange to be mentioning 'Training' under the heading of 'Tech Support', but it bears mentioning, only if for this reason: Tech support is vitally important, however the need for it can be greatly minimized by the LIMS vendor offering user training. Although training in and of itself is by no means a replacement in any way for full blown tech support, it's still true that an excellent program of user training initially, and the possibility of either refresher training and/or upgrade training and/or new user training can go a long way towards minimizing the need for tech support for both parties. Also, training doesn't always have to be on site. Training can some times be as quick as 15 minutes for one or two end users via remote connectivity. Be sure that your prospective LIMS provider has several options available for remote connectivity. This can be a real asset to any lab across the globe. If you are physically located several hundered miles away from your LIMS provider, you may want to invest in pcAnywhere from Symantec. This can give your LIMS vendor 'remote control' for training and support, but also enables you both see what they are doing as well as to have complete control over grantng them access. Still another option for training remotely (refresher training and/or that once in a while question) is to have your vendor launch a Glance session. Glance is a tool whereby your vendor can give you acccess to there machine, for viewing purposes only, you will not have remote control. You simply see their machine via your browser. Coupled with a con call on speaker phone it is a full blown on-line traiing session. Glance is fantastic, and there is virtually no delay in screen refreshing, you literally see there mote machine in real time. The best part is that Glance is free to the persons viewing the session. Glance does charge a monthly fee to those companies that use it to give the demoes. It is roughly $50 per month and is a bargain. Methods of Contact After adequate user training, this is by far the most important aspect of any tech support agreement and must be fully investigated before making a commitment or you could be in for a world of agony. First of all, which methods are available? Second of all, what does it cost, if anything, and what does it cover? BTW, it is virtually impossible to get any kind of meaningful and speedy tech support in real life that doesn't cost something. You get what you pay for. However, you really should be striving toward getting the most bang for the buck. First let's discuss the 4 main methods. We will list them, and then discuss them.
Here are some of the pros: First of all, if you can dial a number (preferably toll-free) and immediately speak with someone that you possibly even know by name, and is familiar with your account, they may actually be able to help you in minutes, as opposed to days. It must be mentioned that being on a first name basis should never be due to the fact that the software is perpetually broken and always needs to be fixed. Also, the larger the LIMS vendor, the less chance that you will be familiar with the person who answers the phone. This is not a criticism, simply a statement of fact, and not necessarily a judgement one way or the other. It all depends on the particular dynamics (vendor's company size, etc) that you are most comfortable with. Okay, so if the phone conversation can lead to resolution in under 10 minutes, then it is obviously the best choice that you could ever ask for. So, how can you determine this before hand? Call their tech support and see if you get a human being. Also, see if they offer direct lines to tech support, not sales reps, or account reps, but actual helpful tech support. These are the types of things that no one ever considers doing before hand, "The sales rep was so nice, we thought...". To test accurately, call the tech support number on 3 different occasions. Once in the early morning, most vendors are in by 9:00 there time, but try 8:00 just for haha's, it's a strong indicator of a company's view of customer service. Then try once during lunch, like at 12:15. This may seem devious, but it's your investment. The results will be very telling. Then try once more at 5:35. If you get a human being after 3 rings or less all three times, then you have found a rock solid LIMS tech support center that most likely delivers what they promise in accessability. See the article The Three Ring Test. Does that sound nit-picky? Good! It should. Did you ever get saddled with a car that you didn't like? How about a home? A LIMS System is not liike a Cel Phone plan where you can pay the the $175.00 termination fee and walk away. When your company purchases a LIMS plan on a full year to get up to speed and a good decade or two of using it every single day. You really need to shop. You will be glad that you did. A LIMS can run close to 150K plus the time it takes to ramp up your team. Generally, for every two dollars spent on a LIMS, another dollar gets spent on cuoltural change around the work place. Add in another dollar for the next decade of tech support and two more dollars for learning curvature. So a 150K LIMS system is really going to run you close to half a million. That is if everythig runs smoothly. There are several other LIMS products that are much less expensive, yet very value packed. One example of this is Lablite SQL, put out by LabLite LLC. They are a LIMS vendor based in Connecticut, USA. Although we can not publish their figures on our site, they offer a very robust, feature rich LIMS for a fraction of what other, comparable LIMS systems cost. On our last conference call with LabLite it was mentioned that they are implementing LIMS solutions for such prestigious locations as New York City, Orlando, Florida, Pittsburgh, PA, etc. We still can't figure why they charge such a reasonable price, and when confronted with this subject they sheepishly replied that they know they are due for a price increase, however they really feel for the smaller labs and municipalities that can't afford huge 'out of pocket' costs up front, yet still need a full blown LIMS to run their facilities. We believe that this is partly due to the fact that the president of LabLite LLC, Curtis Read, is also a highly successful owner of a water testing lab, Hydro Technologies, New Milford, CT, USA, and evidently has a soft spot for fellow lab owners and lab managers. Although not every business person may agree with Lablite's "very affordable, give it away" ideology, we at LIMS Systems prefer not to judge. At this point they are a very reasonable option to any lab looking for a LIMS. We can say (and hope that we don't get sued....) that several of the people reading this article may be driving around in a luxury automobile that was purchased for more money than what LabLite is currently charging for their full blown LIMS product. Why wait until they raise their pricing? Now, here are the cons of the phone method. I know of a LIMS vendor that has under 8 employees total, but they have 4 different phone numbers, 1 being toll free, that can roll over, plus voice mail capability. Sound like overkill? They don't want anyone to have to wait. You can always get a real live person. But how about when you call the utilities, or your credit card company, or the insurance company and you have to go through the hellish merry-go-round of "Please listen to all choices carefully, we changed them right after you got used to them. If you are in a hurry press 1, if you don't understand English, press 2, if you're still on the line you must really want to talk with us...". Been there? Done that? Have you ever, ever hung up the phone in disgust? Find out before hand! Some of the automated systems are so nebulous and convoluted that you almost think that they want you to hang up. Now, that can't be true, can it? No! Of course not! It only takes a minute (or several, heheh) to investigate. One last question, have you ever had to call Microsoft for tech support? Yes? Just wondering... So, how did that go? Were you in and out in 10 minutes or less? Were you refered to a 'specialist'? Did you get resolution? On a scale of 1 to 10, 1 being "Please kill me now!" and 10 being "I'm so happy!" how would you rate teh experience? Have you called them since? Have you ever told a friend about the experience? What's the number? To sum it up, telephone is great if you get an immediate person, who can actually help you, not a receptionist. It is not great if you have to press 1, then press 2, then press [oh, I think I hit the wrong one, now what?], all the while paying for a long distance call. Please take this to heart. Your company will never regret it. FAX - This is one off the more ancient ways of communication (until someone says 'modem') and is not a major selling point. Every LIMS Solution vendor has a fax number or two, but it is really only a plus when it comes to paper work and/or proposals and never really enters the realm of tech support. The rare exception to this is when an end user either has a report that is incorrect and can print it and then fax it to the tech support center, or when they get an error message and tehn print off a screen shot (screen capture) and prefer to fax it as opposed to sending it as an email attachment. Occasionally fax capabilities are necessary, however, only fractionally. It's a non issue because all vendors offer it. However, it should never be the backbone of as tech support solution. No way, no how. BTW, within 2 years you will throw out your fax machines as they will no longer have a practical use. This is a friendly heads up. Not so much as to recondition your company's workflow, but just to say, "Don't go out and buy a brand new fax machine!" Email - This can be one of the best methods after inter-personal relationships have been fostered between client/vendor. Most companies are hesitant to initially offer this method up front. Especially larger corporations. As time goes on however, it can be a wonderful means to 'move the football forward' so to speak. There is no way to get an honest answer, however, out of the average sales rep, because this is usually an avenue that they are forbidden to speak about. But here is a great way to test the waters: After meeting with the initial sales teams, etc, ask about who (development-wise) will personally be doing your custom work. BTW, there is ALWAYS custom work! If they tell you there doesn't need to be any, get some one else, immediately! That is a huge red flag. Every lab is different on some level, be-leive me! Ask which developer will be responsible for either doing or overseeing the customizations. If they say they are not sure they have just lied to you. Trust me. No matter how big the company is, I don't care if it's even Perkin Elmer; remember, LIMS is only an micro-portion of what they actually do, every sales rep knows who will be doing the custom work. It's true. No one goes on a sales call that unprepared. Get the name, the email, the direct phone number. (If there is any hesitation whatsoever in obtaining this information I have but one word of advice: RUN!) Then email the person in charge of customizations with some relevant questions and see how fast they respond to you. If you receive any static about cc'ing the salesrep, etc or any other flack that puts you on guard then realize that this is what the future will be. A real touchstone, unless someone is out to lunch, etc, is this: Send an email with a somewhat specific question about your particular customizations, but, something that the lead developer could answer quickly. See if he/she does. My money says that they will reply rapidly the first few times. But ask a few questions each day, spread out, for 4 or 5 days. See if the response time starts to elongate on a predictable pattern. This is a hardball approach, but it happens to work. Sadly, only half of LIMS customers do this. So, which half are you? Web, Job Ticket - Okay, this seems to be one of the most common ways of supporting other types of solutions, such as web hosting, which is a perfect example. Job ticketing is this: You go to the vendor's site, click on the support link and then fill out an electronic form, detailing your issue. Sometimes this can be frustrating since you just want to talk to someone. When we are born we can use our voice, only to cry perhaps, but it gets the message across. We aren't born with keyboards. We hate going through it, even though it makes sense for the tech suport team. It's organized. There is an electronic record. The details are captured electronically, which prevent frivolous contacts. Still, we generally either hate, or grow to hate, this type of interface. We want to complaint, vent, and all we get initially is an email saying: "We have rec'd your issue. Your job ticket is #239404003493434-03. We will contact you shortly." Ever feel asbandoned? Actually, it's not so bad if it works. It depends on the company doing the support. Although I am not a fan of this approach I can say this: There are a few service providers who do this technique of support justice. One of them is called Hostek.com. They do web hosting. I currently own and maintain several sites that are hosted with Hostek. Now, they claim to have only half a dozen or so employees. They manage over 11,000 sites. Yet, somehow, there is always someone (or more) there at all times. I've put in job tickets on Christmas and gotten areply abck in under 10 minutes. That's huge. They have it down. I have contacted them over a hundred times at least in the last 2 years. Mostly to inquire about other products, questions, etc, I've almost never had to ask them about actual problems. But, it would give you whiplash because of how quick they respond. It almost makes me like the job ticket approach. Normally it would put a bad taste in my mouth, but Hostek is exemplary with it. They are amazing. If your prospective LIMS vendor can do it like Hostek, then by all means, do it! But how would you know? You either have to 'premail' them, or get a lot of references. |
