Building your own EHSQ software from scratch

Some of the EHSQ experts we asked have either already built their own solution or had serious thoughts to do so. The reasoning behind it usually involves solving concerns related to mapping company-specific processes, data security, budget and a preference for using internal IT resources. From their experience, here are some advantages of this approach:

• You can keep it small and effective by adding only the features you need.
• Fewer maintenance costs because you have your own, dedicated team.
• You can add more specific features, related to your situation and company; it is tailormade just for you.

Sounds good... in theory

Although it sounds good in theory, most of the EHSQ experts we interviewed were keenly aware of the downsides of the in-house approach. And some of these disadvantages can spell disaster for your EHSQ digitization process:

• You’re dependent on internal IT-skills. These resources are not always easy to spare in your company. Because of this, upgrades and expansions are difficult later on.
• Customer support is less developed or available.
• Having the right expertise in-house can be a challenge.
• It takes more time than desired than desired.

Building or buying EHSQ software is always a difficult decision. You must approach it like a project. It always is a challenge to incorporate such a diverse domain as EHSQ into software and getting it integrated with the business.

Buying an off-the-shelf EHSQ solution

The market for EHSQ software is diverse. Your best starting point is listing what kind of issues you would like software to deal with. How flexible do you want it to be? Do you want a ready-made solution or do you need more customization? Will you include a mobile app or not? There are a lot of questions you need to ask yourself before looking for a suitable software provider.

Once you know what you want to achieve with EHSQ software, you can start looking at the different vendors.

Our experts share some of the advantages they see for an off-the-shelf solution:

• You can have a solution in no time.
• Best practices from other companies will be included in your own solution.
• Functional and technical knowledge is available. Customer support after delivery is also included.

What about the downsides?

It’s not all sunshine and roses. This approach also has its downsides. Our experts share with us what they see as disadvantages to buying a software solution:

• The cost of consultancy can be elevated.
• While it should be easy to use, it always asks for a change in your way of working. This requires profound training and follow-up.

When you buy EHSQ software I don’t see any disadvantages because it is developed with knowledgeable technical expertise and the supplier provides good and timely support/updates.

Flexibility, customization, mobile, ... where does it all fit in?

Most of our respondents already use EHSQ software in their daily operations. Regardless of whether you go for building or buying, you need to keep in mind a few aspects when it comes to evaluating EHSQ software: implementation cost and effort, financial cost, flexibility, expertise, and IT infrastructure and security.

Our experts rated flexibility and expertise as the most important aspects for them. Let’s see where these two and the others fit into your decision-making process.

1

Think about your stakeholders

Implementing a new EHSQ software solution in your team can be quite a journey. Everyone needs to be aligned, from the IT department, the management, EHSQ experts, supervisors and contractors to front-line workers. This is no easy task. More so, the market is saturated with competing options and there’s no easy-to-follow way to make up your mind.

In the decision-making process, you should weigh the implementation cost against the benefits and advantages the software brings. Will this make life easier for my stakeholders? Will this help my team in doing their jobs? The ultimate goal of well-working software is that worker safety and production efficiency increase. If software makes the whole process less clear and more complicated, something isn’t quite right.

The key pitfall to any kind of EHSQ software is wanting to integrate too many parameters in the app or program. This makes it slow to use and to implement changes. So you need to find the right balance between what you want and what you need.

2

Consider usability, scalability & flexibility

A good EHSQ application should be easy to use, not only in one factory, but in all sites of your business. You should be able to scale it to larger or more sites as the need arises and it should be flexible enough to meet all the needs of your organisation.

The cost of the software is also an element you need to factor in: a simple solution will be less expensive than a fully customized one that fits all your requirements to the last detail. You should also consider services such as customer support and hosting.

Flexibility is equally important. Imagine that right now, you only need a solution for your Incident Management. But what if in two years you also need a solution for Contractor Management? Is the software flexible enough to include this new module and to integrate the two? You don’t want to run the risk of having to go through the whole decision-making process again.

Above all, EHSQ software should be user-friendly. Your employees will not use it if it’s too complicated or burdensome to their daily tasks. It should make their work easier, not harder.

3

What about customization & a mobile application?

EHSQ software should be able to be customized to your needs. For good customization, you need industry expertise, as well as enough technical expertise for the actual development and implementation of the software. In your decision-making process, you need to evaluate if the necessary experience is available in-house or if you need to find it through a partner or software provider.

You can consider a mobile app for easy on-site access by contractors and front-line workers. This way, they can log anything from a tablet or mobile phone when doing their work. This also decreases the distance between field and office, as supervisors can access the data in real-time.

Another aspect you need to keep in mind is data security and IT infrastructure. You can’t use a software that isn’t safe for your business or that might lead to documents falling into the wrong hands. Any software solution is only as successful as its IT infrastructure and security.