As labs work their way into the IoT and the cloud, more than one company will develop ecosystems. At LabCloud in Cambridge, Massachusetts, Charles Beyrouthy, CEO and cofounder, says, “We want to put the entire research operation—from data management to procurement—all in one system in the cloud.” Perhaps most surprising of all, Beyrouthy wants to help researchers obtain that for free.
To accomplish this feat, Beyrouthy and his colleagues teamed up with lab equipment vendors to get them in front of firms that might use their products. Today, more than 50 vendors work with LabCloud, and that collaboration funds LabCoud’s ability to provide the resources for companies and scientists. But LabCloud is first and foremost about the users. As Beyrouthy says, “We don’t produce a feature unless we can see somebody using it at an operational level.”
LabCloud also intends this ecosystem to be easy to use. “As a single scientist, getting started is pretty simple—just sign up and you can use the lab notebook, data analysis, and inventory features that are preconfigured for you out of the box,” says Igor Romashko, chief technology officer at LabCloud.
Things get more complicated with more users, however. “The complexities usually kick in when you need to set up your team in terms of creating accounts and user roles, and setting appropriate permissions as required,” Romashko says. “We have wizards or guides to help users on that front.”
In fact, LabCloud provides a range of tools to help users, including “three online user trainings per week that focus on specific aspects of the software in more detail and go over the advanced features, as well as addressing client-specific questions and best practices,” Romashko says. “We also offer complimentary consulting on the use of our software for client-use cases.”
