4 ways to justify the cost of health and safety software to management

Getting budget approval and buy-in from senior management can be daunting and difficult for the environment, health and safety (EHS) professionals. These issues have been noted as a top barrier to purchasing EHS software, such as online induction software – with 31% of companies saying that ‘No Return on Investment’ is the main barrier to getting funding for it.

If you can relate to these barriers, it may be time to start building your case!

Below are 4 pointers to help you gain approval from your management team.

1. Spend some time thinking about what concerns and problems your management team are currently facing.

Define the problems. Understand the most time-consuming tasks your team (including suppliers and contractors) perform each week and identify the productivity issues. Ask yourself: what are the biggest risks facing your organisation?

Qualify the problem. Understand the most time-consuming tasks your team (including suppliers and contractors) perform each week and identify the productivity issues.

Define the opportunities to improve processes. Think about the daily activities your core EHS team spend time on. What areas could be improved by automation? Break these down by focus area. For example, workplace inductions, contractor inductions, environmental reporting, audits and inspections, incident management, training management, etc.

2. Identify the risks that management will face if they ignore the problem instead of agreeing to work towards a solution.

Highlight the cost of doing nothing. Each day that people at your company are required to use ineffective methods to perform their work is more money wasted.

Give real-life examples. If you have been hearing stories from one of your colleagues or have experienced issues yourself as the result of not having effective EHS software, then use these personal anecdotes when speaking with your manager. Don’t forget to show how easily the management team could also experience similar problems if a solution isn’t put in place.

3. Help your decision makers feel confident that an investment in EHS software is money well spent.

Present a value analysis. By showing the actual cost and time savings (as well as non-financial benefits), you can demonstrate how the simple addition of a EHS software such as an online induction system can add to the company’s bottom line.

Provide numbers. Identify a percentage saved for each activity, and the resulting number of hours saved. You can also mention here how the ability for people at your company to be able to focus on the job at hand instead of on administration will boost productivity in other departments and boost overall employee morale.

4. Now that you have everyone’s attention, describe the solution you are proposing.

Describe how safety management software with online capabilities that they can access from any device, anywhere, can allow more employees to capture information in real-time, resulting in increased accuracy and centralised data storage. Showing them case studies of how other companies have used this solution to achieve their goals will assist.

Need to find software to sell to your management team? Rapid Global offer a range of health and safety management systems designed to help you meet all your EHS needs – including induction, incident reporting and management, audits and inspections, and that’s just to name a few.

Check out the full range of Rapid Global products today.