Top Reasons to Outsource Bioinformatics

Why outsource bioinformatics analysis? Whether its capacity or expertise, the resource required to keep up with analysis requirements will rarely match demand. Here, we share the top reasons why our clients decide to outsource their data analysis needs, with the aim of keeping productivity at the level required without incurring unnecessary overhead costs at busy times.

No in-house resource

For the lean and mean biotechs, the recruitment of bioinformaticians for sporadic analysis requirements does not make sense.  Outsourcing is the obvious answer.

It makes more commercial sense to outsource ad-hoc projects rather than employ a full-time bioinformatician(s) whose skills may be unused for large portions of time. Outsourcing as and when required allows the optimisation of the day-to-day work of your company. It also provides  peace of mind that analysis resource is there when needed but not costing money when under-utilised.

Not enough in-house resource

Like buses, large datasets requiring analysis always seem to arrive all at once. This creates difficulties in prioritising workloads and managing internal expectations. The obvious solution is to outsource overspill during those busy times. Outsourcing work that would otherwise be delayed or not completed ensures that no projects are left half-done and data generated through experiments will be analysed, ensuring you get the return on your data-generation investment.

Projects need to be prioritised internally, and external support as-and-when it is needed can ensure that the projects lower down in the priority list do not need to wait in a backlog for internal resource to become available. By outsourcing analysis, you can streamline research plans and free up resources for other areas of work.

Outsourcing when you have bottlenecks, such as not enough bioinformaticians, allows you to choose which projects you want to work on internally and which would best suit external expertise. It is possible to contract out projects of any size and complexity, a benefit of the flexible nature of outsourcing.

Not the right type of expertise

A clear benefit for outsourcing data analysis work is to increase the range of expertise at your fingertips. Internally, your team might be small with niche specialities such as oncology or based around a particular technology (NGS). If you are trying to branch out into a new area, looking to reposition your assets and research further into new indications or diseases, or require analysis of a data set on an unfamiliar platform, outsourcing is an easy solution which can open access to a new set of expertise in terms of data types and therapeutic areas.

Bioinformatics providers such as Fios can help with the sourcing of different data sets including data landscaping and literature reviews. This allows your in-house resource to focus on the analysis of relevant data sets. Such an approach can be really useful as you research new areas and want to assess the extent of the data that is already available, or if you want to take advantage of open-access or other publicly available datasets.

Independent verification

A final key reason to outsource bioinformatics is to gain unbiased, independent verification of results. This external, third-party confirmation gives you the ultimate peace of mind in your results.  You can use external bioinformaticians to complete the analysis from your research or to confirm your findings when you have completed the analysis in-house before you make key decisions.

Looking to outsource your bioinformatics? Find out more about the services that we offer now.

See also:

Bioinformatics Buyer’s Guide – Outsourcing Handbook

Single-Cell Data Analysis

Fios Genomics on LinkedIn