Top Reasons That Labs and Tech SMEs Outsource

During the month of Mars 2017, we launched a survey about the partnership and outsourcing habits of our customers.

Now is the time to share what we learn.

Since forever, partnerships are often part of the research process. And lately, outsourcing becomes more and more important in the R&D field. This is why it is important to get ready for it. We wanted to discover more about when and why Scientist users need to outsource, and in which conditions.

With this survey we got an insight of habits of labs from private and academic institutions. We asked the kind of provider they call upon, why, and finally what makes a good purchase experience.

The reasons for outsourcing or partnering

First of all we asked why a lab ever needed to benefit from equipment, service or expertise. It seems that there is a consensus weather from academic background, corporate of SME. The main reason why the respondents outsource is because of a lack of resource.

If we look at the details following the background of the users we see that corporate users outsource mainly to save time and to reduce cost, with equal importance for both criteria.

The context in which lab outsource or partner

More than half of the labs that answered (53%) benefit from equipment, service or expertise while part of a not funded joint research agreement

While under a research contract, 41% of the users declared they outsource or partner.

39% of them outsource or partner while part of a funded consortium.

And finally 14% outsource by purchasing from a private provider.

The kind of partner to call upon

The majority of respondents call upon academic providers to outsource equipment, service or expertise.

What is interesting is that labs from academic background will preferably increase their share of academic outsourcing and decrease their share of corporate outsourcing.

Criterias important for a good outsourcing experience

The most important thing for a good outsourcing experience is having someone to interact with during purchase. And since we are dedicated to our users on Scientist we are already in interaction with every one of our user and we answer to them every time it is needed.

Having choice and comparison between offers is the next thing that makes a good purchase experience. Of course, our database at Scientist is there for our users to find and compare any provider they want.

We learned a lot about our users’ habits and motivation for outsourcing with this survey. At Scientist we are continuously trying to improve our user experience and relation.

So we want to thank our users for participating and sharing their experience with us and the community.