EHS Software Marketplace & Top Criteria: How do we do?

The EHS software marketplace is vast. There are hundreds of vendors to choose from, and many services companies to support your selection process.

Vendors specialize in different areas, so to help buyers filter down the list, independent analyst firm Verdantix performs extensive market research on a regular basis. However, the firm recently noted that there is a lack of vendor differentiation in the marketplace, with buyers left puzzled as to what “this one” does better than “that one”.

You may be considering new EHS software, or you may simply be interested in what’s on offer. Either way, we want to make your research easier: here we will address some of the Verdantix findings of late to help you understand more about Pro-Sapien's EHS software. What are the top criteria for new systems, and how do we stack up? What makes us different from the other well-known vendors?

Read on or watch our short video for the answers!

BUYERS' EHS SOFTWARE CRITERIA #1

Configurability

The ability to configure the solution was ranked number one when Verdantix asked respondents “When you think about evaluating EHS software, how important would the following criteria be in terms of influencing your decision to buy one application over another?” 87% marked it as “Very Important” or “Important”.

EHS professionals and users of the software want a system that is flexible. That’s not to say that “out of the box” solutions don’t have their place (many smaller organizations are looking for an easy, quick and cheap implementation for simple requirements); however, flexibility is an important criterion that can make or break a client’s ability to use a system over an extended period.

In what ways is Pro-Sapien configurable?

The level of flexibility afforded is one of the top reasons clients choose our system over some very respectable others.

With every new client we spend time onsite to go through process details prior to implementation, mapping out form fields, workflows and performance reporting metrics. Our mantra is that the system will work the way you do, never vice versa.

We can start with our standard forms and match them up with your existing processes, or you may want our assistance in mapping out a new way of doing things altogether. Where we don’t have a solution available that we can tweak to your requirements, we’ll partner with you to create something bespoke.

Plus, you can make minor changes to the system going forward without the need for Pro-Sapien intervention. For example, if the organizational hierarchy changes when a new sublocation is onboarded, you’re able to make those edits in the backend. If you want to add an injury type on an incident form, with the right permissions you can do so in a matter of clicks.

Everyone’s a winner.

“The fact that Pro-Sapien’s solution is flexible and can incorporate change as our requirements advance over time was also core to our decision. Pro-Sapien’s experience and technical expertise, combined with their software, delivered an HSEQ portal that met our expectations.”

– Andy Sneddon, UK Group Health and Safety Director, VINCI Construction UK

BUYERS' EHS SOFTWARE CRITERIA #2

Business intelligence/analytics

Another important criteria is “functionality for business intelligence/analytics”. Over the years vendors have really stepped up to support this requirement. EHS professionals need to be equipped with reliable information that supports decision-making, and that doesn’t only materialize after hours of data crunching and patience stretched.

Getting Business Intelligence (BI) right is a tall task for any software vendor that doesn’t specialize in the field. Furthermore, this information is what you, as the user, will rely on to make decisions to prevent incident and injury. The robustness of the analytics and the ease of analyzing are two very crucial aspects of any EHS software system worth its salt.

Nonetheless, EHS personnel are not especially known for being BI experts (self-professed!) so vendors should be expected to provide assistance or training to make sure users can get useful information out the system.

What kind of analytics tools can users of Pro-Sapien expect?

Users can analyze all data collected by our system, as business intelligence is an intrinsic part of our software. We believe that capturing the data is only half the story – it’s what you do with it that counts.

As our software integrates with the full Microsoft suite, we enable our users to utilize market leading technologies that Microsoft has invested millions of dollars in.

When we deploy a system, it comes with its own data warehouse that handles all your (configured) calculations and metrics. These numbers are rendered in real-time dashboards within our EHS software and can also be manipulated in other popular Microsoft programs like Excel (with Excel Services) and Power BI.

Alongside flexibility, the BI functionality is a top cited reason for choosing Pro-Sapien.

“We reviewed a number of systems and one of the major factors in our decision-making process was the management information and reporting that Pro-Sapien provides. In a nutshell; any information we capture in the electronic forms, we can report on; be it via KPI’s, reports and/or graphs using a number of different technologies accessible through our SharePoint portal.”

– Keith Dawson, Head of HSEQ, Peterson

BUYERS' EHS SOFTWARE CRITERIA #3

IT programs integration

The last of the top criteria for EHS software selection is that it should be “easy to integrate with other IT systems”. We must not forget that a piece of EHS software is an IT system – it may have all the bells and whistles when it comes to product breadth and the vendor might hold an impressive annual user conference, but if it doesn’t have the capability to work in harmony with other corporate systems, your life will be made much harder in the day-to-day.

83% of Verdantix respondents identify integration with other IT systems as important. However, you will still hear about EHS solutions that are not easily integrated with key programs such as Microsoft Office. This was one of the core reasons that Pro-Sapien was set up back in 2012 – to fill the gap in the market for a fully Microsoft integrated EHS software system.

Our seamless integration with SharePoint and Office 365 is what really sets us apart from the crowd.

What are the benefits of Pro-Sapien's integration with SharePoint/Office365?

Our integration with Microsoft SharePoint is what we are known for.

As a Microsoft Certified Partner, everything we develop works seamlessly with your core Microsoft programs such as Outlook, Word, OneNote, Excel and more. To our knowledge (gathered from clients and partners), no other vendor offers this same level of integration.

Our software sits on your SharePoint server, becoming another part of your existing system. Forms, the Action Manager, libraries, and KPI dashboards are accessed through SharePoint with single sign on. This means that you don’t need to issue any new logins to users, as authentication and security permissions are managed by your existing Active Directory.

Another benefit is the user interface – our software takes on the same SharePoint look and feel that your users are familiar with. It is user-friendly, clean, and has been designed with ease-of-use in mind to encourage widespread adoption.

Furthermore, we know from other Verdantix statistics that the IT department plays a large part in EHS software selection.  If Microsoft technologies are already rolled out across the business, be it SharePoint on-premise or Office 365 in the cloud (Azure) , it’s likely that IT will support new EHS software that leverages this investment.

"By standardizing incident forms and workflows, and consolidating the data into one system, we have been able to increase efficiencies, cut the manhours required to manage and report HSSEQ incidents and reduce overall risk."

– Jim Titmuss, Group IT&S Director, ASCO

We are proud that we address the top three criteria for new systems as identified by Verdantix. As a relatively new player, our feat is to disrupt the saturated EHS software marketplace with something that stands out, delivering clients a system that makes EHS management easier.

Our systems are in use across North America and Europe, trusted by mid- to large-sized organizations in a wide range of industries all with one thing in common – their investment in Microsoft.

If you’re a SharePoint user and you are considering new EHS software, we invite you to watch our product demo. It explains our configurability, integration and business intelligence capabilities with the added benefit of seeing it in action.