Industry Insights
The Hidden Challenge of LIS Adoption: Why Most Labs Struggle, and How the Right Vendor Can Change Everything
November 26, 2025
Upgrading or replacing a laboratory information system (LIS) is one of the most important and difficult decisions a clinical laboratory or pathology group can make. While the promise of a modern lab information system suggests greater efficiency, automation, data interoperability, and improved financial performance, the road to getting there is full of obstacles. For many laboratories, the transition process is so daunting that they delay or abandon it altogether, even if their current LIS system is holding them back operationally, financially, and strategically.
Why is adopting LIS software often so difficult, and how can labs make the process smoother and more successful?
According to Suren Avunjian, CEO of LigoLab, the answer lies not only in the LIS system itself but in the methodology laboratory information system vendors use to implement it. “Adopting or upgrading a laboratory information system is one of the hardest decisions a lab can make. It affects their entire organization, clients, staff, workflows, compliance, and finances. Costs are high, and the transition takes time. Labs often struggle with training, data migration, and system integration. Staff may resist change, worried about disruptions to daily work. All of this can slow operations and hurt morale.”
In this article, we unpack those common challenges and explain how a better, holistic implementation approach can help laboratories accelerate their digital transformation with less risk, less disruption, and greater long-term success.
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Why Most LIS Implementations Struggle
Laboratory leaders recognize the importance of digital transformation. They know that modern LIS lab platforms can unify operations, automate workflows, optimize revenue, connect systems, and generate insights. But the leap from recognition to action is where problems begin.
Labs typically encounter the same pain points across every stage of their lab information system journey:
1. High Stakes, High Risk
Laboratory information system deployment impacts every area of the organization, from workflows, quality control, and compliance to customer experience and financial performance. When the implementation falters, the consequences ripple across patient care, reimbursement, regulatory status, and overall business viability.
With so much at stake, it’s no surprise that labs proceed with caution. Concerns about choosing the wrong platform, facing extended downtime, or unexpected costs often lead to hesitation, leaving many laboratories stuck with outdated LIS systems that limit performance and growth.
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2. Legacy LIS System Implementations: a Sequential, Slow Approach
Traditional LIS software vendors often follow linear, sequential implementation processes. Configuration, integration, data migration, and validation are handled in separate phases. While predictable, this approach is inefficient, siloed, and prone to rework.
- Minimal initial discovery leads to late-stage surprises.
- Interfaces with instruments and EHRs come last, delaying launch.
- Custom features are deprioritized, forcing labs to adapt their workflows to rigid systems.
- Partial data migration leaves labs dependent on legacy LIS systems for months, or even years.
When go-live finally arrives, the LIS medical platform is often still incomplete, unfamiliar, and poorly aligned with actual workflows.
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3. Resistance to Change
Even the best LIS lab solution will struggle if the people using it feel uncertain, overwhelmed, or unprepared. Implementation efforts often overlook change management and training, leaving staff to scramble at go-live.
Employees worry about:
- Workflow disruption
- Increased workload during changeover
- Loss of control or expertise
Poor usability of the new LIS system
If training starts too late or is limited to only basic laboratory information system functions, staff feel unprepared. Morale suffers, adoption slows, and reliance on old workarounds persists, defeating the purpose of the upgrade.
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4. Data Migration: The Silent Dealbreaker
Data migration is one of the biggest pain points during transition, and one of the least addressed early enough.
Labs often discover too late that:
- Historical data is only partially imported
- Mapping errors lead to mismatched or inaccessible records
- Duplicate systems are needed just to maintain access to past results
- PHI, compliance, and legal retention standards increase complexity
Incomplete migration undermines trust, slows adoption, and creates operational gaps that labs may never fully recover from.
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A Better Way: LigoLab’s Parallel, People-Centric Implementation Model
Where traditional laboratory information system companies rely on linear configurations and reactive issue resolution, LigoLab designed an LIS model for implementation that works differently, faster, smarter, and in parallel.
“LigoLab takes a different approach. From the first day, four workstreams run in parallel,” explained Avunjian. “Within 48 hours of signing, the lab has a dedicated environment set up.”
The four parallel workstreams include:
- System Configuration and Validation
- Integration and Connectivity
- Data Migration
- Training and Change Enablement
Each workstream is led by specialists who oversee coordination across teams, ensuring nothing falls through the cracks.
Let’s explore each workstream.
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1. Configuration with Early Discovery and Workflow Alignment
Implementation begins with discovery, not configuration.
Every department participates: accessioning, technical, lab billing, QA, compliance, client services, and administration. Current workflows are mapped, inefficiencies are identified, and improvement opportunities are flagged early.
Rather than fitting workflows into pre-packaged templates, the LigoLab platform is configured to support the lab’s actual, unique needs.
Custom features, whether for digital pathology, molecular diagnostics, billing queues, or outreach portals, are built before go-live, not after.
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2. Integration Starts Immediately, not at the End
In legacy implementations, laboratory software system interfaces (EHR, instruments, analyzers, lab revenue cycle management platforms, portals, state registries) are built last. Yet integrations are typically where timelines break.
LigoLab starts integration work from day one, overlapping it with configuration and validation.
- Instrument interfaces go live early for real testing.
- EHR interfaces for inbound/outbound data are developed and validated in parallel.
- Client-specific formats (PDF, HL7, FHIR, XML) are tested in sandbox environments.
- Laboratory billing systems, clearinghouses, and payment posting tools are connected before launch.
This eliminates the “integration crunch” that typically pushes go-live dates back by months.
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3. Data Migration in Three Structured Stages
LigoLab’s migration model avoids the partial-transfer trap that plagues many projects:
Stage 1: Historical Import: Up to 10 years of archived data is imported into the new LIS system for validation.
Stage 2: Catch-Up Sync: New data accumulated during implementation is added before go-live.
Stage 3: Final Sync (2–3 months post-launch): Ensures every report, accession, and result, old and new, is complete, accurate, and searchable.
This staged model enables labs to retire legacy LIS systems, ensuring a clean transition and reducing IT maintenance overhead.
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4. Training That Builds Confidence, Ownership, and Adoption
Change management is much more than LIS software training; it’s mindset training.
Rather than waiting until just before go-live, LigoLab introduces early access through sandbox environments. Superusers begin testing workflows, approving changes, and fine-tuning configurations. Staff become familiar with real scenarios, not generic demos.
This leads to:
- Confident go-live readiness
- Strong internal champions
- Early workflow optimization
- Higher staff adoption from day one
By launch, the LIS system no longer feels “new,” it feels like theirs.
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Why This Method Works: Confidence, Continuity, and Control
Unlike the conventional stop-and-start model, LigoLab's implementation approach limits risk, minimizes disruption, and maintains operational continuity.
Laboratories report:
- Faster implementations
- Less stress for staff
- Fewer post-go-live fixes
- Higher user adoption
- Faster ROI from automation
- Full reliance on the new platform, without legacy crutches
Rather than forcing labs to adapt to the system, the LIS system adapts to the lab.
The Path Forward: Implementation as a Strategic Partnership
Undergoing a successful digital transformation requires both a LIS software upgrade and an understanding of how that software fits into a lab’s workflows, priorities, and growth strategy.
The most successful labs don’t just choose a vendor; they select a laboratory information system partner.
A partner that:
- Understands the lab’s unique vision and growth plan
- Builds for scalability, not just current needs
- Empowers internal teams with training and flexibility
- Provides ongoing support without nickel-and-diming for service requests
- Designs LIS lab platforms that evolve with the organization
For laboratories that want to aggressively grow through digital pathology, molecular expansion, new client networks, or direct-to-consumer lab testing services, choosing the best LIS partner is the difference between maintaining the status quo and leading the future.
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Final Thought
LIS system adoption will always involve complexity. But with the right implementation approach, one that moves quickly with every department, accounts for real-world complexity, and builds for the future, labs can achieve smoother transitions, better outcomes, and stronger long-term value.
“The result is a fully functional informatics platform ready on day one. The new LIS system adapts to the lab’s workflows, not the other way around,” concluded Avunjian.
Ready to see how modern LIS software implementation can transform your laboratory?
Schedule a conversation with a LigoLab product specialist today.
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