Digital transformation in calibration labs, and the pain of change in 2023

Calibration labs are deeply connected to the legacy processes and systems, and migration to a new system is a challenge.

Change is painful. Not changing is even more painful. This is the one-liner story of digital transformation in most businesses; calibration labs included.

Excel-based legacy systems and processes.

Some of our customers had been using the same systems and processes for the last couple of decades. As a matter of fact, a good number of them were using Excel to automate their processes through complex formulae spread across 100s of sheets. The number of sheets is directly proportional to the size of the business.

It’s not easy to migrate from such a system to a new one, how much ever better the latter may be. But then, as the need for more digital-enabled services and automation increases, businesses have no choice but to move ahead with digital transformation.

Northlab (now Trescal Singapore) got it right. Here is how.

Northlab had a 30-year-old legacy system based on thousands of excel sheets. They used Metquay’s one-click import feature to migrate their master data. The Metquay team worked closely with each department of Northlab to understand their pain points and supported them during the migration process and initial days of post-transition.

Northlab was able to migrate to Metquay in less than three months. A four-member in-house team coordinated the migration and training. The outcome was impressive enough for them. Those thousands of excel sheets were no longer required. Processes became simple and fewer.

Do-it-yourself training programs

Training the staff and key personnel in the new systems and processes is one of the major challenges for businesses to undergo digital transformation. For calibration labs, Metquay has put together a do-it-yourself training program with video and text content. This is supported offline in case more information is needed.

Short-term minor pain for a long-term major gain.

Dedicating time and resources to migrating to a new system is a pain. As I said in the beginning, not migrating to new and improved systems and processes will eventually become even more painful. Metquay has put in place a migration process that will help you achieve the transformation with lesser effort than labs anticipate.

If you would like to know more about the digital transformation possibilities of your calibration business, feel free to ping us at consulting@metquay.com. We are here to help you.