Congratulations! You’re at the stage of your EHS management journey where you understand the importance of using digital technology to help you create a smarter, safer workplace.
But with 200+ solutions on the market – each seemingly different yet somehow offered at the same price – it’s hard to know which one will deliver transformational results for your business.
Look, we’ll be honest. We’re big fans of using technology to make work more effortless. But an expedient EHS manager could (in theory) use just pen and paper to record testimonies of incidents, find environmental hazards, build prompt action plans, collect and organize large amounts of data, and track action management. But that approach likely won’t deliver the results they wanted.
Apps put health and safety in everyone's hands. They remove barriers to reporting and draw on insights to expect problems before they arrive. So EHS managers, like you, can target your efforts at the biggest issues.
The most powerful, capable, futuristic tool will be doomed to fail if you try to introduce it into an environment that isn’t primed and ready for it. Agile tools require agile mindsets. How, then, do you know if your organization is ready to make the most of an EHS software solution?
Start by assessing how familiar people are with technology. Are they first adopters that are already using the latest gadgets to improve their personal lives? Or are they so reluctant to change that adopting any kind of technological advancement might require heavy convincing? Find out where the prevailing attitude lies and base your deployment strategy on those observations.
Another aspect of your culture to note is its engagement levels. Highly engaged employees habitually give and receive feedback without fear of being ignored or misunderstood. According to a recent Gallup poll on workplace engagement, business units that score in the top 25% of their organization in employee engagement have nearly double the odds of success when compared with those in the bottom 25%. Factoring in engagement can identify how receptive workers will be to a new EHS solution and what success might look like.
Once you have an idea of tech capabilities and engagement levels, you should then build a deployment strategy. Start by defining goals and KPIs you’d like to track. Then, think about the support you’re feasibly able to provide. Think about internal and external support. Do you have the budget, skills and resources to properly support broad adoption and engagement of the new technology? Are you getting the implementation support or additional help you need to reach successful levels of engagement? Do you have the resources to train all the users within the workplace to use features that will help achieve outcomes?
Taking all these insights into consideration will give you a clearer understanding of what to look for in a potential EHS management solution. Now, what do you need to know before you choose an EHS tool?
Many EHS management tools offer unlimited features and solutions, but do they really matter if none of those actually achieve the outcome you’re looking for? The right solution for your business doesn’t try and push a round peg into a square hole. It has to be molded to solve the exact challenges you’re facing.
For everyone to stay as safe as possible, every solution on the market will need to be configured – even if just a little – to be simple, straightforward and usable. It’s for this reason that our advice is to choose a tool that’s flexible. Quality and configurability matters much more than the number of features a solution provider offers. An effective EHS partner will offer a range of functionality adaptable to your needs.
Tweaking how a feature works for your business shouldn’t come with long lead times and an expensive invoice. Being able to request and approve a form change quickly and easily within existing software could be the difference between spending $0 or $8,000-$10,000 .
EHS managers are changemakers. You’re not just tasked with keeping businesses compliant and workers safe. Your role is the difference between a joyous, respectful environment and a scary, demeaning one. At Evotix, our constant focus is on delivering features and solutions that enable you to deliver that vision.
We help our partners transform their visibility and control over workplace health, safety and environmental issues and expand their revenues around EHS and well-being software with powerful tools that will drive transformation.
Learn more about the benefits of establishing a comprehensive, proactive EHS program, in the Ultimate Guide to EHS: https://www.evotix.com/resources/ultimate-guide-to-ehs-ebook