As I quickly approach my one-year anniversary at NeoSystems and with my recent return to the Quality, Health, Safety, and Environmental (QHSE) software market, I’ve noticed a few trends in the companies and in the markets that I am serving:
Penalties are real. It’s been over 10 years since the major over-haul to Canadian safety laws through the introduction of Bill C-45 and the issues of compliance are still very evident to all organizations within every industry. Precedence is being set and a recent January decision in the Metron case to sentence a construction project manager to 3.5 years jail time is echoing through many organizations.
Safety always matters; good economy or bad. While many companies are being forced to make substantial changes to their workforces, they still realize that ensuring safe practices including proper record keeping and establishing strong processes are paramount and are valuable investments regardless of the current economic climate.
Technology is key. The bar has been raised for companies through more stringent regulations and through a more competitive environment. Technology can be a differentiator and provides a tool for organizations to actively manage and maintain processes in a sustainable way. The advent of smartphones, cost-effective consumer grade tablets, and mature mobile operating systems provides the necessary platform to manage and maintain information from the field to head office.
Employee Competency Tracking has become more complex. Maintaining a highly skilled and knowledgeable workforce has become increasingly difficult. As equipment and processes become more complex it has become even more challenging to ensure that workers have the appropriate training and knowledge to work safely and efficiently. As such, organizations are becoming increasingly involved in managing and developing the most important asset of their business; their people.
Cooperation and competitive advantage. While I mentioned that companies are now utilizing new QHSE technology as a competitive advantage, what interests me is that although the technology can be a competitive differentiator, QHSE professionals are more than willing to share their ideas and best practices with their industry peers. The shared sense of importance among this peer group is commendable and demonstrates that the greater good far outweighs any personal or organizational differences that may exist.
As I look forward to a long future in the Quality, Health, Safety and Environmental software industry I will continue to embrace the opportunity to help energetic and forward thinking organizations and QHSE professionals to implement solutions that providethem with the necessary tools to keep their workers safe and their processes efficient.
About Brendan Clavelle
With a passion for problem solving and strong technology and software experience I now manage business development at NeoSystems a rapidly growing Microsoft Cloud Partner, delivering Quality, Health, Safety, and Environmental Management software (QHSE) solutions.
NeoSystems serves a wide variety of global customers in energy, construction, forestry, chemical, transportation and manufacturing industries. With my background in QHSE Management Systems, I work with clients to develop solutions through the use of technology that optimize their efficiency, streamline their processes and maximize ROI.