#135 Emerging SaaS Trends in Health and Safety

With the pandemic being the driving force behind more remote working than ever before, health and safety professionals are becoming increasingly tech-savvy.  All evidence points to them increasing their reliance on Software as a Service (SaaS) solutions to keep on top of H&S compliance and the ever-changing risks that are presenting themselves to businesses the world over. Companies such as Riskex offer many software solutions to make Health and Safety Professionals’ lives easier, by streamlining compliance processes, gathering better safety data and providing total visibility on the performance of risk management. As a result, they keep a keen eye on new technology being adopted by the H&S sector. Mel is joined by James Sharp, Chief Technical Officer at Riskex, to explain the top 10 emerging Software as a Solution trends in Health and Safety.   You’ll learn ●      Who are Riskex? ●      Why are people leaning towards SaaS?   ●      What are the top 10 emerging SaaS trends in health and safety? ●      What solutions do Riskex provide?   Resources ●      Riskex ●      AssessNet ●      ISO 45001   In this episode, we talk about: [01:40] An introduction to Riskex and James Sharp’s role as Chief Technical Officer there. [02:51] What is AssessNet? AssessNet is an online Health and Safety / Risk Management System designed to help streamline compliance processes and make gathering data much easier.   [04:00] Riskex have been certified to a number of ISO Standards, including ISO 18001 (Prior Health and Safety Standard, now certifying to the latest version, ISO 45001), ISO 27001 (Information Security) and ISO 9001 (Quality Management) [06:20] Software as a Service became very popular during Covid, as business became very fragmented and were looking for solutions that could be rolled out across multiple sites. Riskex also created their own track and trace system based on established software they were already offering – helping businesses manage Covid safely. [08:40] Trend #1 – Artificial Intelligence - Artificial learning is all around us and with vast volumes of data being collected by safety management platforms.   AI allows decision engines to predict and provide guidance based on key trends or established KPI’s. For example, if accident rates were to increase but at the same time risk levels have been reducing, it could soon highlight this trend and look at other surrounding data or previous trends to establish a pattern.  This will lead to a more pro-active approach to reporting and subsequent decision-making.   [10:35] Trend #2 – API Connectivity - Providing an open API platform will allow businesses to integrate internal systems and external services to digest data. As more organisations adopt Cloud solutions, connectivity between platforms has become increasingly important. With a robust API offering, multiple business services can interact with ease and become part of the safety management space, without incurring significant cost or time.  [11:50] Trend #3 – Low-Code Optimisation - Developing generic components within software to allow for quicker builds, implementations and tailoring requests. As stand-alone and generic component development increases, solutions can offer more flexibility and self-serve options to the end user to assist them with aligning platforms with their specific processes. [13:30] Trend #4 – Mobile Optimisation - More and more end-users are accessing health and safety software via their mobiles but for various reasons, are not always able to use native apps (installed on the device). Therefore, health and safety software platforms need to adapt use on multiple devices, without the loss of features. [14:45] Trend #5 – Vertical SaaS - Configuring EHS Software to align with the specific risks, terminology and processes that are pertinent to a given sector. As systems continue to grow in terms of sophistication and the ability to customise, so does the need to ensure that they remain User-friendly.  A key factor to consider is that each industry has its own set of industry codes of practice, regulations, hazards and risks – and EHS systems need to be designed with these in mind. [15:50] Trend #6 – White Labelling - Integrating 3rd party EHS platforms into a client’s corporate brand identity. When it comes to optimising User engagement and embedding technology effectively into business operations, it is important that the look and feel of the system interface is aligned with an organisations branding, company values and mission to create a more cohesive User experience. Riskex have embraced this by offering ‘FreshNet’ to clients, which can be tailored and aligned with clients existing branding. [17:10] Trend #7 – Centralised Analytics (BI) - Robust Health and Safety management systems rely on an abundance of performance data arising from core processes – Risk Assessments, Audits, Contractor Governance, Incident Management and so on. The sheer volume of information generated by these processes can provide a wealth of positive opportunities to improve safety outcomes, if analysed correctly – which is where BI platforms come in to help provide an overall picture of risk performance management. [19:40] Trend #8 – Micro-SaaS - Deploying discreet elements of a SaaS platform to work as standalone entities to fit a specific customer requirement. Modular-based solutions or smaller SaaS platforms can meet the needs of those organisations that may only require a specific feature, not necessarily a holistic service. [20:30] Trend #9 – Machine Learning – This is a subset of AI, machine learning learns as it goes, picking up trends and offering insights for consideration. [21:27] Trend #10 – Customer Experience - Customer Experience, in terms of both useability and service will outshine complex offerings. As SaaS becoming commonplace from both consumer and commercial perspectives, User’s expectations regarding Customer Experience are growing sharply when they are looking to make technology purchase decisions. Successful EHS SaaS vendors put significant focus and investment in optimising the Customer Experience, both in terms of interface and functionality, to reduce the barriers to adoption by focusing on how Users interact with their solutions. [28:00] Businesses usually have a very limited Health and Safety resource. SaaS solutions enables informed decisions to be made despite a lack of human resources available.    You can find out more about Riskex via their website. Don’t forget to check out their Health and Safety Management software – AssessNet We’d love to hear your views and comments about the ISO Show, here’s how: ●      Share the ISO Show on Twitter or Linkedin ●      Leave an honest review on iTunes or Soundcloud. Your ratings and reviews really help and we read each one. Subscribe to keep up-to-date with our latest episodes: Stitcher | Spotify | YouTube |iTunes | Soundcloud | Mailing List