We appreciate the scientists, researchers, primary investigators, lab managers and other professionals  who use our platform to get their work done. 2020 was full of twists and turns. On a basic level, it changed what research ‘looks’ like. While the year was challenging, it reinforced why we do what we ‘do’ here at LabArchives.

2020 showed us that with the right tools and the right support, we could work from anywhere. It also showed us how important it is to be able to access your work from wherever you are.

From March 2020 onwards the industry saw research groups mobilize with incredible speed to keep their team’s moving forward. We saw ‘work-arounds’ emerge from every corner. We witnessed it in the news and online, heard about it via Zoom calls, and watched it happen within LabArchives. 

While our users worked hard to continue chasing success this year, we did too – and we did it in a way that supported our users’ specific needs during this unprecedented time. We’ve compiled some of our 2020 highlights below that capture the work that happened in LabArchives – on both the front and back ends. 

Research had to continue both in response to, and in spite of COVID-19 last year. As labs moved fast to find new ways of working, we rolled out two new research products to help them do just that. 

In 2020, we added LabArchives Inventory to our platform. Inventory makes tracking, ordering, organization and finding laboratory materials easier. LabArchives Inventory:

• Helps labs save time and money, and supports reproducibility. 
• Is already being used by hundreds of labs and has an exciting 2021 roadmap.

In addition, we released LabArchives Scheduler. This tool is designed to make running a lab easier, more efficient and safer. Lab managers can add resources (everything from conference rooms, to labs and microscopes) to LabArchives Scheduler and set limits on usage to avoid overcrowding. LabArchives Scheduler: 

• Helps ensure spaces are used in a safe manner in accordance with institutional policies for lab work during COVID-19. 
• Is already being used by tens of thousands of users.

Finally, so much of research is rooted in collaboration. Not being able to work in person presented challenges for many labs in 2020. That’s why we hosted our first virtual user groups and boot camps across our three global regions. We couldn’t have imagined how successful these would be. Over 2,250 users logged into these sessions in the last three months of the year.

While much of what we ‘do’ here at LabArchives is in the virtual space, people are always the most important. In 2020:  

• We expanded our Support Team to include almost 24 hour live coverage (business days).
• Added and expanded a dedicated Enterprise Success Team which has staff on three continents. 
• Maintained an average of under 30 mins for response time. 
• Launched interactive forums for admins and users to support one another.
• Launched a website with a public knowledge base to include all LabArchives products. 

While collaborating with our users was a big theme of 2020, collaborating with our peers was, too. In 2020 we expanded our partnerships to include 32 partners:

• We partnered with SnapGene to release SnapGene Viewer – a huge benefit to microbiologists. 
• We released an integration with Jupyter for easier equation work and data analysis.
• We released an integration with Qeios to support the publication process.

2020 was a big year. For our users, and for us. But we’re not done yet. In 2021 we’re excited to continue supporting our 580,000+ users around the globe in a way that works for them, and these times. To our users, thanks for supporting us.