What Modern Labs Gain From Automation Systems

Modern laboratories are going through a massive transformation, driven mainly by demand for advanced screening, operational efficiency, and data integrity. Automation, among other things, is an important catalyst of progress here.

And the numbers speak volumes. The global lab automation market, valued at $9 billion in 2025, is projected to grow to slightly over $18 billion by 2033.

But why are labs investing in automation? And how do these systems actually translate into scientific wins? Stick with us. In this post, we explore the tangible gains and discuss the different kinds of laboratory automation systems you can implement.

Why Laboratories Are Turning to Automation Now

We’ve established that labs are investing heavily in automation. But why this urgency now? Let’s go through the main reasons.

• Increased test volumes. The sheer number of tests taken is steadily climbing. Aging populations, particularly in Western countries, the global rise in chronic illnesses, and the growing popularity of preventative and chronic care solutions all contribute to that.
• Pressure to deliver fast, consistent results. Speed matters, especially in diagnostics. Quick results mean timely intervention, faster selection of care strategies, and ultimately better patient outcomes. Relying solely on manual workflows makes this harder to guarantee.
• Workforce shortages. Since COVID-19 hit, the laboratory job market has never been the same. Both the US and Europe are still dealing with the consequences. In the US, there are 24,200 annual lab job openings against only 8,823 graduates in 2024. Germany, for example, will need 5,100 additional lab workers by 2030, with nearly a quarter of hospitals reporting unfilled positions.
• Safety requirements. Labs often have to work with potentially hazardous or infectious materials. The growing tendency involves reducing human intervention with specimens as much as possible.

How Can Automation Increase Lab Efficiency?

You’ve seen why laboratories are desperate for a change. Now, let’s talk about gains: how exactly lab automation software helps.

Precision and Productivity

Manual specimen handling is a common source of errors. Automation software takes care of that by standardizing how samples are labeled and processed.

In addition to reducing the likelihood of errors, automation increases the productivity of lab staff and speeds up test handling. The best part is that you don’t even need to hire additional workers to witness productivity improvements across the entire pipeline, from test taking on the sites to its delivery to lab settings.

Wealth of Data

Once automation enters the lab, it begins generating a continuous stream of valuable data. This creates a foundation for data analytics, visualization, and further action, including:

• Identifying operational trends (processing times, bottlenecks, throughput).
• Pipointing clinical patterns (abnormal result rates, disease trends).
• Gaining financial insights (cost per test, resource usage, reagent consumption).
• Studying workload cycles (peak load periods, daily volumes).

High-Value Activities vs. Routine Task Automation

Not every task can — or should — be automated. Some higher-value processes require human expertise and may include the following:

• Training and mentoring junior colleagues.
• Oversight and quality control.
• Managing unusual or complex test scenarios.
• Communicating with clinicians.

But, of course, plenty of laboratory operations are well-suited for automation, especially those that are repetitive. The most common areas include:

• Specimen registration and labeling.
• Sample sorting and routing.
• Data capture and results reporting.

What Laboratory Automation Systems Do You Need?

By now, you know the benefits and reasons for automation. The remaining question is: how can you actually do that? There are several clinical lab automation solutions, each one handling a specific piece of the workflow.

Lab Ordering Management System

A lab ordering management system is the starting point of smooth laboratory workflows. It orchestrates how tests are ordered, submitted, reviewed, and monitored before they even reach the lab. The features it typically includes are:

• Digital order entry. Allows for placing orders electronically using intuitive, pre-built forms.
• Patient and provider portals. Enable clinicians and patients to log in, place orders, review statuses, and access results.
• Real-time order status monitoring. Makes tracking each order possible from the moment it’s submitted to finalized results.
• Integration with LIMS, EHR, and billing. Provides a unified data flow, reducing manual data entry and errors.

Additional capabilities, which we particularly implemented when building a lab web portal for ordering management, included:

• Advanced dashboards that allow staff to view all pending, in-transit, and completed orders.
• Automatic reports showing all specimens and orders.
• Patient database with demographic and clinical data.
• Custom notification settings to configure alerts for order status changes and more.
• Diagnosis card builder that lets doctors create reusable templates for standardizing diagnoses.

Laboratory Information Management System (LIMS)

A laboratory information management system is the brain of the lab. It’s the central software solution for managing all lab data, samples, and workflows within diagnostic and research settings. A LIMS helps with:

• Sample accessioning and tracking. Assigns a unique digital identity to each specimen and enables its effortless tracking.
• Workflow management. Allows for defining step-by-step procedures for each test type and task.
• Result entry and verification. Enables clinicians to enter results manually or import them from other tools and verifies their completeness.
• Reporting and documentation. Generates reports and documents within a few clicks.
• Audit trails and chain of custody. Make sure that every action, from login to data entry, is logged for compliance and traceability.

On top of that, LIMS integration with LIS, EHR/EMR, billing, administrative, and ordering management systems makes laboratory processes exponentially more powerful.

Ultimately, a well-built LIMS helps labs identify operational performance trends, quality and compliance errors, test result patterns, and staff productivity insights.

For example, when building a formula compounder, essentially a custom LIMS, for pharma labs, Exoft prioritized worker productivity and compounding accuracy through automated processes. In particular, our solution featured:

• Reusable, editable formula templates.
• Formula usage tracking.
• Component database with names, descriptions, and categories.
• Inventory management.
• Ordering management support.
• Advanced reporting.

Middleware & Rule-Based Decision Engines

Middleware is a software layer that collects data from the multi-brand lab instruments and transfers it to other systems (LIMS, LIS, HIS, or EHR). In simple terms, it’s a digital traffic controller of the lab that ensures every data point, sample, and result reaches the right place with the correct format, rules, and context. Essentially, it:

• Connects tools. Brings together multiple instruments from multiple vendors into a single ecosystem.
• Routes data intelligently. Sends results or sample info to the appropriate system based on predefined rules.
• Validates results. Applies rule engines to check for inconsistencies or abnormal values before sending data forward.
• Provides real-time visibility. Offers live dashboards showing each tool’s status and data flow.

Implementing middleware with trusted experts like Exoft matters a lot. That’s because we can:

• Refine your process logic to fit your specific rules.
• Adapt systems to compliance workflows, including HIPAA, GDPR, and internal protocols.
• Implement real-time calculations using related expertise with assistive listening systems.
• Handle complex multi-system integrations, as we did with a platform integration engine.

Laboratory Data & Analytics Platforms

Laboratory data and analytics platforms are exactly what they sound like. These are software systems that aggregate, standardize, and analyze lab data. They provide labs with real-time visibility, operational insights, and decision-making capabilities that LIMS or LIS solutions alone can’t handle. Analytics platforms help check:

• Real-time dashboards and KPIs. Summarize the health of the lab at a glance.
• Operational analytics. Identifies turnaround times, current workload, resource usage, and more.
• Clinical analytics. Detects trends in abnormal results, emerging disease patterns, and beyond.
• QC and compliance analytics. Marks metrics that fall outside acceptable ranges.

Exoft specialists have experience building dashboards that:

• Visualize complex, time-related data.
• Render multi-format graphs, including 3D.
• Process real-time data streams.

Real-Time Workflow Monitoring Tools

Live workflow monitoring solutions provide operational awareness. Using them, labs can control their processes better and resolve issues proactively. Specific capabilities include:

• Live instrument status. Shows which machines are active, idle, or in need of maintenance.
• Workflow progress visualization. Tracks each specimen’s journey through the pipeline.
• Delay and bottleneck identification. Informs staff before delays occur.
• Operational notifications. Sends various kinds of alerts on instrument failures, unexpected workload surges, and beyond.

Conclusion

Laboratory automation starts with the right tools. Whether it’s lab ordering management solutions, laboratory information management systems, middleware, data analytics platforms, or workflow monitoring software, such an ecosystem makes operations faster, safer, and more efficient.

For our part, we can either develop a custom solution for you or customize a pre-made one. We can also cross-integrate these for you, so that you get complete visibility into every aspect of your laboratory operations. Got interested? Contact us to discuss how we can increase your lab’s efficiency.