Global Lab Manager Survey Reveals Key Insights

Understanding of Lab Manager Challenges to provide trusted was at the core of stakes.

The market research firm of Frost & Sullivan conducted the independent survey; Understanding Key Challenges and Pain Points in the Global Laboratory Market; on Agilent’s behalf.

I can observe that, the results were interesting. Many respondents indicated that dealing with the challenges of sample prep, as well as unplanned and unexpected instrument downtime, remains a major problem, as well as the increasing complexity of the testing requirements and sustainability goals impacting their organizations.

Lab managers were asked to rank their top five challenges which included instrument maintenance and downtime (73%), the growing complexities of instrument testing requirements (63%), time consuming sample preparation (60%). Keeping up-to-date with changing regulations (52%) and the need for better data management (50%) also ranked in the top 5.

40% of respondents revealed a need to optimize their workflow, indicating that the main strategic changes that could help would be improved productivity and throughput (51%), followed by streamlined processes to manage growing workloads (26%).

45% of lab managers reported that they face significant pressure to process more samples per week.

NB: I have a pleasure to recall that, the primary objective of the survey, which included 700 laboratory employees in four countries, was to understand key customer concerns and identify any unmet needs, as well as the differences and similarities of the challenges lab managers face.

Survey respondents from Asia, Europe and United States included experienced lab managers, performing a range of functions in laboratories large and small across the many market segments Agilent serves.

The survey centered on several main themes, including productivity, workflow optimization, lab size, and operational goals.