Deciding to invest in Occupational Health (OH) software can be a challenging leap for many organizations. In today’s day and age, the business landscape is characterized by many economic uncertainties. These uncertainties prompt many CEOs to adopt a cautious approach when allocating resources toward new tech. This stems from the belief that maintaining the status quo is a prudent decision in uncertain economic times.
OH software is an often overlooked chance to boost operational performance. But more and more employers are recognizing the benefits of health and well-being in the workplace, with 65% of employers now saying that these play an important role in business strategy. By looking at the details, it’s easy to see that OH software is one of the best ways to optimize employee health and safety management.
It empowers businesses to be proactive, ensuring a healthier workforce, reduced workplace incidents, and improved compliance with regulatory standards. And given both the short-term advantages and long-term benefits of OH software, it’s something every organization should consider.
This article delves into the art of crafting a compelling argument in favor of investing in Occupational Health software. These three steps will equip businesses with insightful strategies for effectively communicating the value of OH software.
Step 1: Understand the Need for Occupational Health Software
Obtaining buy-in from colleagues, managers, and company leaders is easier when you can diagnose the main issues that OH software can address. Here are the main points we recommend considering as you build the case for OH software within your organization.
Acknowledge current pain points
Health professionals are well-acquainted with the difficulties of managing employee health records, compliance tracking, medical surveillance, return-to-work, and incident reporting. These processes are often time-consuming and error-prone. The data becomes fragmented, and it’s challenging to integrate data sources for reporting or analytic purposes. This presents data security issues and makes it hard to trust the accuracy of the data. These pain points underscore the pressing need for a streamlined, technology-driven solution that addresses these challenges comprehensively–and OH software does precisely that.
Examine the specific challenges at your organization
- Do OH processes and procedures need to be updated?
- Are your systems proactive, not reactive, when handling health and safety in the workplace?
- Is the data easy to gather and analyze?
Knowing how software can bolster and improve these pain points is the first step toward building a compelling case.
Look at the cost of inaction
Diving deeper, it also becomes evident that the cost of not addressing occupational health concerns, like workplace incidents, absenteeism, or employee turnover, can be substantial and far-reaching. When OH teams are compelled to rely on outdated models and methods, the risk of errors and compliance breaches rises significantly. The consequences of overlooking these costs are profound since they can often result in business interruptions, damaged reputation, and financial losses.
Inaction will do more harm than good. By investing in OH software that can efficiently manage data, regulations, and processes, companies can boost success and performance in the workplace.
However, management will likely want some quantifiable data to understand the size and scope of the matter. It’s not just about calculating the dollar amount, although it’s good to know the healthcare cost savings and productivity improvement in monetary values. But put the numbers in human terms.
- How many people won’t be involved in a workplace incident if the company invests in new software?
- How many employees will stay at a company that cares about their well-being, reducing turnover and improving attrition rates?
- How much time will be saved by having streamlined systems in place?
Get specific about how an investment will improve the organization’s numbers and financial metrics–a tool like this cost estimator can help–and don’t forget to lean heavily into non-financial indicators like better company reputation and enhanced regulatory compliance, too.
Step 2: Identify Key Benefits
Executives and managers are frequently eager to contribute to enhancing worker health and safety. By identifying the pivotal advantages, they can effectively show how investing in OH software is a valuable proposition for the organization.
Highlight the benefits
OH software facilitates a paradigm shift in businesses’ approach to enhancing health and safety effectiveness. The technology enables enhanced visibility by collating data from diverse sources into a singular repository. Consequently, OH professionals gain the capacity to find patterns in workplace incidents and monitor the status of compliance activities, fostering proactive management and heightened long-term prevention measures.
The software standardizes workflows and allows for process automation, which can optimize organization-wide operations. With software, monitoring compliance status and submitting information to regulators quickly and efficiently is easier than ever.
Showcase the ROI
As mentioned above, it’s critical to have the numbers demonstrating how vital OH software can be for your organization. Consider the monetary value–how much you can save by avoiding regulatory citations and fees–while also considering how much faster employees can return to work after an injury or how many hours they get back in their day due to increased productivity.
It’s helpful to clearly showcase the link between the investment in OH software to the organization’s broader strategy. If they have a 5-year or 10-year plan, show how this investment will contribute to these goals. OH software is relevant to the company’s overall growth and performance; ROI numbers will help you prove that. Just be sure to involve various stakeholders in these numbers to show the widespread benefits across the company.
Want to learn more? Check out our eBook, Tackling Emerging Occupational Health Challenges With Technology
Step 3: Leverage Your Occupational Health Software Partner
When building out your case, don’t forget to leverage support from your software partner, if you’ve chosen one already. They can provide access to a wealth of success stories, real-world examples, and case studies that illustrate the transformative impact of OH software.
Success stories can present tangible evidence of how other organizations within your industry have benefited from OH software. These stories are powerful testimonials that validate the positive outcomes and value that OH software can bring to your organization. Sharing relatable instances of improved employee health, streamlined processes, enhanced compliance, and cost savings paints a vivid picture for decision-makers, making the case for OH software not just theoretical but backed by concrete achievements.
Take NASA’s adoption of Cority’s OH software, which improved health data security. According to its occupational health managers, Cority’s software is “cost-effective for the agency overall because centers will no longer need to maintain individual programs.” At the same time, NASA can easily comply with both state and federal regulations with Cority’s solution, creating the all-in-one tech solution NASA was looking for.
Or consider how CSX Transportation benefitted from huge cost savings after implementing Cority software: “We were spending about $1.2 million a year on mobile medical testing. After we got the medical surveillance groups established in Cority, we reduced our annual cost down to $700,000. That’s about half a million dollars saved just on that one program.”
Impactful testimonials and case studies demonstrates the breadth of OH software’s advantages and is a good tool for obtaining buy-in.
The Next Steps on Your OH Software Journey
The steps outlined above will help you build a strong and persuasive business case for Occupational Health software investment. Once you have leadership buy-in, the next challenge is working with a software provider to implement a comprehensive plan to reach your health goals.
Cority is the undisputed global leader in OH software and a preferred partner for over 800 organizations. Cority Software enhances management of injuries and illnesses, streamlines return-to-work processes, ensures adherence to regulatory standards, and unearths valuable insights essential for advancing workforce health and well-being.
If your organization is ready to experience the benefits of centralized health data, purpose-built workflows, and actionable health insights, start exploring our Occupational Health solution within our best-in-class Health Cloud.
