The world of Environment, Health and Safety (EHS) management is certainly evolving. And, just like and other field, industry or department, this one is certainly using some digital solutions to its advantage as well. After all, those digital solutions have gone from an addition that is nice to have to an actual business necessity. It is, therefore, no wonder that organizations are using all kinds of solutions nowadays in order to enhance their operations and EHS management.
Read more about that: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK55873/
Anyway, as organizations grow, and, of course, the regulatory pressure increases, it is definitely not uncommon for those EHS functions to become, well, fragmented. This leads to having teams using different tools for audits, incident reporting, compliance, risk management, as well as sustainability tracking. And while those tools may work perfectly in isolation and when it comes to addressing immediate needs, there is absolutely no denying the fact that such isolation leads to creating data silos that slowly undermine the overall performance and slow down progress.
If you have been experiencing something similar, then you may be wondering if there is anything you can do about it. And, if you’ve done any research whatsoever, then you must have come across the idea of using unified platforms to your advantage. But, before you decide whether siloed or unified platforms are right for you, that is, which one is better for your organization, you actually want to understand the problem with the siloed systems in the first place. So, we will answer that question for you below, after which we will proceed towards explaining how the unified platforms actually deliver better outcomes.
The Problem With the Siloed Systems
Without much more ado, thus, let us start answering those important questions for you right away, hoping to help you ultimately understand what it is that you should actually do for your organization. First things first, while using a patchwork of tools for your EHS program can seem like a pragmatic solution, the truth is that the disconnected tools approach comes with quite some downsides. Effectiveness is reduced, risks are increased, and leadership visibility is limited.
For one thing, when the data is scattered across multiple tools, the teams have to re-enter the same information repeatedly. So, when comparing Siloed vs Unified Platforms, you will realize that the first option means, well, getting duplicate data, and ultimately losing time because of that. Not only does this waste hours and hours of your team’s time, but it also results in inconsistencies, increases chances for errors, and thus makes accurate reporting rather difficult.
Furthermore, when you use this kind of an approach, you can expect there to be some delays in incident response and escalation. In short, when the incident reporting tools don’t really connect with the notification, investigation, as well as escalation workflows, response time is sure to slow down. And, these kinds of delays can result in compliance violations, unresolved hazards, as well as, naturally, lost opportunities to actually prevent future incidents.
On top of all that, since everything is done manually, you can expect the actual reports to be outdated by the time they are ready, thus decreasing leadership visibility. Furthermore, each additional EHS tool requires additional IT support. And then, many of the siloed tools tend to fail in real life environments, thus discouraging field reporting.
How Unified Platforms Deliver Better Outcomes
All of the above should have given you a better idea about the actual problems with siloed systems. But, what is it that the unified platforms bring to the table exactly? How is it that they actually deliver better outcomes, and why is it, thus, that you should think about switching to those? Well, time to find out. Read more about the importance of EHS.
Basically, when you move to a unified platform, you are sure to notice great differences in various areas. For starters, there is the fact that a shared workflow means that the data is entered once and thus used everywhere, which not only saves time, but also increases consistency and accuracy, at the same time reducing the risk of errors. This, of course, enables accurate reporting, which is certainly of great importance.
Furthermore, the unified platforms also improve user experience. This is because the users can access everything from a single interface, instead of having to switch from one platform to another. This simplifies training, as well as a lot of other processes, and reduces friction not only for the frontline workers, but also for the leadership.
We also cannot fail to mention that a unified platform will consolidate the data instantly, thus resulting in faster, real-time reporting. All of this leads to stronger compliance and accountability. And, of course, it also leads to simplified scalability, because organizations can expand over time without having to create new silos.
