Benchling: A delightful way of managing data with a full suite of features in the automated lab setting
Use Cases and Deployment Scope
We currently use Benchling within one of our departments that uses automated lab instrumentation and needed a data solution that would integrate with the lab instrumentation. We have used Benchling as a way to move the data off the instruments as well as storing data through user entry through electronic lab notebooks. The general business problem that Benchling helped us solve was providing an electronic and automated way of processing large volumes of data in a structured and searchable way.
Pros
- Excellent easy to use and beautiful UI
- Great customer support and training
- Has no code ways of retrieving and depositing data
Cons
- Some of the integrations can be a bit spotty so it depends on what kind of data source you are integrating
- Sometimes new users are not always aware of all the various functionality that Benchling has - can do better to provide more user awareness of more complex features
Most Important Features
- Easy to use UI that can be used by non-coding group members
- Integrations with automated lab instrumentation
- Tools that enable querying and trending of the existing data
Return on Investment
- It had a positive ROI in terms of reducing the amount of time spent on data movement and curation by associates
- It had a positive ROI in terms of increasing the number of insights from structured data
- It reduced the number of data entry and analysis errors by associates which led to a positive ROI in terms of efficiency and reducing time wasted by tracking down errors in data
Alternatives Considered
Airtable
Other Software Used
Microsoft 365, Microsoft Teams, Azure SQL Database