Safety professionals who understand the complexities related to keeping workers safe will rely upon enterprise EHS software to support the digitization of EHS initiatives as well as to manage the collection of data to help draw more actionable insights, to better inform decisions and maximize the value of the investment.
There are several questions safety professionals must ask when evaluating their current EHS software, to ensure they are maximizing their investment of time, effort, cost, and other resources that are expended to utilize EHS software.
User adoption is one of the key drivers for successful ROI on the purchase and implementation of EHS software solutions. A recent NAEM study found that 48% of respondents indicated that user-friendliness is a key criterion when selecting EHS software. The software should be easy to use, to understand the system’s functionality and access system features for the company to maximize its investment. An intuitive system is as important as a feature-rich system because users will not likely adopt a new technology that they find difficult to use.
EHS Software should be easy to configure to support evolving business requirements. It should help you to streamline business processes including data reporting and creating and assigning CAPAs. An EHS software solution should be flexible, and easy to configure workflows to get the most out of your software investment. When needed, does your software provider have a dedicated customer success and service team available to support your objectives?
When investing in EHS software, does your current solution seamlessly integrate with other software platforms? It is important that the EHS software architecture support integration with both internal and external software tools to complete such tasks as real-time claim submission, retrieving employee data, staying current with regulatory requirements and other important information. The EHS software must provide an Application Programming Interface (API) library to easily exchange information with other third-party systems.
One of the benefits of deploying an EHS software solution is being able to gather and manage volumes of data. But once you collect the data, is your EHS software helping you to analyze and convert that data into actionable insights for risk-informed decision-making? Your software solution should provide insightful analytics, data visualization and business intelligence dashboards to simplify risk mitigation. Your software should also offer you the tools needed to create your own advanced, customized reports that meet your business needs without intervention from your software provider.
As our world has embraced mobile technology, EHS software has evolved to deliver all its capabilities via mobile apps. These apps should act as a mobile extension of a computer-based EHS system, allowing tracking and reporting functionality to occur with or without an internet connection. These solutions should help to save time and allow users to report or access data immediately. No-code app platforms provide users access to mobile-ready solutions that help to automate EHS and other business processes.
Once your new software goes live, does your provider offer ongoing support, training, and best practice sharing? Does your vendor quickly respond to your feedback and ensure the optimal performance of your software? Your vendor should provide the support you need to meet your ever-evolving business and regulatory requirements. In addition, you should expect your software provider to be continuously enhancing and upgrading the solution, helping you to maximize your ROI and ensuring long-term success with EHS initiatives.
When considering your current EHS software solution, if you are not able to answer “yes” to the six questions above, contact ProcessMAP for more information and to schedule a demo to learn more about how our solutions can best meet your environmental health and safety data management needs.
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