Your lab’s legacy system was once state-of-the-art—built to solve problems and streamline operations. Today, it works—but often begrudgingly.
Legacy systems can negatively disrupt your lab’s time, throughput, data integration, and scalability. They often create additional bottlenecks by requiring more time set aside for maintenance and service, which can lead to increased downtime. As more competitors adopt automation to improve overall efficiency, your legacy systems may fall behind.
However, automation and legacy systems don’t have to be at odds. There are ways for your lab to modernize without disrupting existing workflows or relying solely on outdated technology. Biosero can help your lab bridge the gap between the old and the new, ensuring seamless modernization and paving the way for sustainable growth.
The Role of Legacy Systems in Today’s Labs
When your car has a fixable issue, you don’t immediately trade it in. You can apply the same logic to legacy lab systems. Your legacy system most likely still delivers decent results, but it may not fit your lab’s current needs, just like you might opt for a different car to suit a growing family or lifestyle needs.
And maybe your legacy system is a 1999 Toyota Camry whose operational functionality still shames most modern systems. Even if that’s the case, modern systems offer compatibility with newer technologies that legacy systems can’t provide. That doesn’t mean you need to ditch your legacy system entirely.
Just like how you would put in a Bluetooth car stereo so you could use Spotify in that 1999 Camry, modernizing laboratory systems can help them support automation. The right upgrades extend your legacy systems’ working life while allowing your lab to stay competitive without losing its foundation.
Challenges of Relying on Legacy Lab Systems
Many labs rely on legacy systems due to familiarity and past reliability. However, these outdated technologies pose significant challenges in today’s fast-paced lab environment. While they once served their purpose, they now create inefficiencies that can hinder progress in automation, data management, and compliance. Some other challenges labs face with legacy systems are:
- Limited Compatibility With Modern Automation Tools – Older systems often struggle to integrate with robotics, LIMS, and other technologies.
- Data Silos and Lack of Interoperability – Incompatible software and disconnected databases create fragmented, inconsistent data that’s difficult to track.
- Security and Compliance Risks – Without up-to-date security protocols, legacy systems may expose labs to cybersecurity threats and non-compliance with standards like FDA, HIPAA, and GDPR.
- High Maintenance Costs and System Downtime – Aging infrastructure can require frequent repairs and downtime, driving up costs and causing unexpected disruptions in your lab’s operation.
- Scalability Limitations – Outdated systems can’t keep up with increasing sample volumes or evolving compliance standards, limiting growth potential.
Addressing these challenges through modernization is essential for labs to stay efficient, compliant, and scalable. Automation can be the key to integrating modern solutions with tried-and-true legacy systems.
Benefits of Modernizing Legacy Lab Systems
Connecting legacy systems with modern technologies brings harmony to your lab’s ecosystem and also helps your lab stay competitive in an increasingly digital and data-driven industry.
Upgrading legacy lab infrastructure also boosts your lab’s overall performance by increasing its throughput. Modernization efforts within your lab also position it for long-term success by ensuring all equipment and protocols meet ever-evolving industry standards and regulations.
If you’re still not convinced that your legacy systems need to be integrated into your lab, there are some specific advantages listed below that may resonate with you.
Seamless Integration with Automation Technologies
Your legacy systems don’t need to be on an island sequestered from your lab’s other hardware and software. Biosero’s Green Button Go (GBG) Scheduler and GBG Orchestrator act as a bridge between your lab’s legacy system and other workcells within your lab, moving valuable raw data exactly where it’s needed.
GBG Orchestrator also records and saves aggregate data, making the process in your lab easily auditable. GBG Scheduler and Orchestrator are scalable, meaning as your lab grows, GBG can integrate new technologies into your lab’s existing workflows, improving productivity with minimal downtime.
Connecting Legacy Systems with GBG Scheduler & GBG Orchestrator
Imagine GBG software as the central control hub for automation in your lab. It’s machine-agnostic and can connect with most instruments, software, and robotics — including legacy systems. It also coordinates tasks between legacy and modern systems, synchronizing instruments to eliminate any bottlenecks within your lab. You can scale your operations without full system replacements, integrate LIMS and other software with legacy systems, and streamline workflows for better efficiency.
Enhancing Data Flow & System Interoperability
GBG software coordinates digital traffic across LIMS, robotic workcells, and other automation tools. Gone are the days of data silos in your lab, ensuring smooth data transfer between automated equipment.
GBG also gives you centralized control of your lab data so that you can view all processes happening within your lab — even during non-working hours. Legacy systems are also future-proof since GBG can enable modular upgrades for your lab’s evolving needs.
Improved Data Management & Interoperability
Legacy systems don’t have to predicate a data silo in your lab. By modernizing laboratory systems, you immediately enhance data management and flow across workcells. Cleaner, more consistent data means improved efficiencies and reduced errors by eliminating data transfers between data silos.
Real-time data monitoring and reporting also enable your lab team to collaborate more effectively and make data-driven analyses faster. Automating data management can help your lab improve throughputs and streamline internal processes, making it easier to manage complex datasets.
Increased Security & Regulatory Compliance
Data security isn’t just a buzzword—it’s essential for labs handling sensitive or regulated data. However, maintaining compliance with stringent protocols like 21 CFR Part 11 for the FDA or Annex 11 requirements for the EU can take considerable time and planning.
The GBG Scheduler 21CFR11 Manager compliance module automatically aligns your lab with evolving industry regulations, ensuring full compliance with 21 CFR Part 11 and Annex 11 requirements.
Cost Savings & Future-Proofing Operations
Tracking the data around your legacy system’s output and performance can help you shift it from unexpected to preventive and predictive maintenance. This shift reduces costs by minimizing unexpected maintenance and unplanned downtime.Scalable lab infrastructure also ensures your lab can adopt new technologies without disrupting current operations. Integrating modern orchestration solutions can maximize operational uptime and reduce overall costs.
Strategies for Integrating Lab Automation with Legacy Systems
There isn’t a one-size-fits-all approach to modernizing legacy laboratory systems. Understanding the capabilities of your current modalities, software, and people can help you identify tailored solutions for seamless integration.
Conducting a thorough performance audit, checking for system compatibility, and partnering with lab automation compatibility experts can ensure a smooth transition to modernized systems. Review the strategies below if you’re unsure how to start updating your legacy system.
Conducting a Legacy System Assessment
Investigating how data flows through hardware and software can reveal where you can modernize your lab infrastructure and what needs replacing or updating. You don’t need to address every issue in your lab, but if issues converge on a single process or lab technicians can’t immediately solve a problem that could arise—fix that issue. Assessing your legacy system’s strengths and weaknesses determines the most efficient path forward, reducing future risks and maximizing your system’s longevity.
Implementing Middleware for System Integration
Middleware allows your lab to integrate legacy systems into a modern setup without having to hack your legacy system or create a connecting solution that’s not scalable. Already having a pathway where older lab infrastructure can seamlessly interact with modern software eliminates compatibility issues and elevates your lab’s workflows.
You wouldn’t need to overhaul your existing systems with middleware, enabling you to maintain operational continuity while benefiting from automation advancements. In short, middleware can be a great option if you want to simplify system integration and reduce implementation time.
Partnering with Automation Experts for a Smooth Transition
Whether you’re planning a new lab or your operation already has an established setup, Biosero can work with you to determine how to integrate automation technology.
Every lab is different, which is why we provide modular solutions to make legacy and modern systems work together effortlessly. We start by reviewing your lab’s current technology and then work with you to design a plan, improving your equipment’s utility without starting from scratch.
How The Process Works
- Consultation: This is where we review the pain points and proficiencies within your lab
- Statement of Work: This is a detailed outline of what needs to be done for effective automation in your lab.
- Initial Build and Testing: Biosero scientists and engineers build and test the automation system for your lab. If components are missing from the initial assessment, you can let the Biosero team know, and they’ll add them to the testing phase.
- System Installation: Once the automation system passes the factory acceptance test, Biosero engineers ship and install the components.
- Production: This is when the automation system is integrated within your lab!
Review the 5-step process overview for more information.
Modernize Your Lab with Biosero
Bringing your legacy system into the modern era ensures its longevity and scalability in today’s fast-paced, data-driven lab. Automation and modern integration strategies can enable your lab to transition to new automation technologies without disrupting or halting your lab’s current operations.
If you’re unsure how to start modernizing your legacy systems, Biosero has helped labs of all sizes and hardware preferences integrate automated solutions into their workflows. Contact us today to explore modular automation solutions that work with your existing systems.
