What to look out for in Data Management in 2012: The South West Water Approach

Dec. 19, 2011 - PRLog -- Kim Holt, Scientific manager for Chemistry at South West Water, joins IQPC Exchange to discuss the key learnings and tools from her experience at South West Water to achieve key business objectives through smarter and more efficient data management. She reflects on her most noteworthy achievement at South West Water to date, outlines the key trends and challenges in lab informatics and data management that the industry should be aware in 2012 and finally pinpoints her all-time figure of inspiration - Richard Branson - and explains why.

IQPC Exchange: What are the key learnings and tools that you can take from your experience at South West Water and apply when looking to achieve key business objectives through smarter and more efficient data management?

K Holt: The major key learning that I can take from my role at South West Water is that we analyse potable water samples throughout the whole region to make sure that the water is safe for people to drink. We also analyse effluent samples to make sure that the effluents are safe too and are not going to contaminate our water courses.  We're generating a lot of sample results as part of this and reporting these results to customers. But what I've learned is that that’s only a very small part of the process. It’s only a small part of what we have to report.

There's a huge amount of additional information to ensure that the results that we're reporting are accurate and we can demonstrate to our accreditors that these results are accurate through auditing, through demonstrating training and through demonstrating that the instruments are performing properly. My key learning is that the recording of that information is what takes the vast amount of our time, not just producing the actual results.

We have a very strong ethic here where we want to be continually improving our systems and improving our reporting, so any software and any systems that we bring in have to be as flexible as possible so that we can incorporate an ever-changing environment and ever-changing demands, so my key learning is innovation is the key, and anything that we put in has to be flexible and has to be adaptable later on.

IQPC Exchange: What would you say is your most noteworthy achievement at South West Water to date, and why?

Kim Holt will be speaking at the Smart Lab Exchange from 5th – 7th march 2012 at Hotel Le Plaza, Brussels. For further information please visit www.smartlabexchange.com, call 0207 368 9484 or email exchangeteam@iqpc.com

To download this interview in full please click here: http://www.smartlabexchange.com/Event.aspx?id=546590&utm_... &utm_medium=&utm_source=SpeakerLink&MAC=HW_PROMO_SMARTLAB

IQPC
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