When choosing a technology provider for a safety program, there's so much more to think about than just the equipment.
Comprehensive services are equally essential otherwise the costs can be high. A lack of customer support can contribute to a poor user experience and adoption challenges. Limited scalability might hamper the growth.
change management
The right partner besides the user, offering change management and best practices expertise, can set the safety technology program up for long-term success.
In turn, the time is freed up to focus on the insights from the technology usage to drive safety, efficiency, and bottom-line impact. Blackline Safety laid out the top six services safety provider needs to deliver to help in selecting the right partner.
1. Flexible/Contract Purchase Options
Whether it's renting, leasing, purchasing outright or a blend of all three, flexible purchasing options ensure safety technology can fit into any budget.
Users will want to know:
- If they offer a rental program for short-term projects like shutdowns, turnarounds, or temporary construction projects.
- If their technology can be applied against the OPEX budget with a pay-as-you-go lease with payments amortized over the warranty period.
- Whether a rebate, trade-in, or upgrade program is available to exchange the devices users have for the ones they want.
- Whether they offer a free evaluation or a paid pilot so users can try before buying.
2. Onboarding and Implementation Services
Users will want to work with a provider who can set up a smooth smart for ongoing success
As with any technology, people’s initial impression and experience are key indicators for how much, or how little, they’ll use it. First impressions matter.
Users will want to work with a provider who can set up a smooth smart and pave the way for ongoing success.
Users will want to know:
- If they provide a dedicated Client Implementations Coordinator to offer end-to-end onboarding and implementation support from account design to go live to measuring results.
- Whether they have experience in change management best practices for technology adoption, including data-driven insights into which groups, areas, or people are experiencing challenges.
- If a mix of training options for people, on-site, virtual, train-the-trainer, self-serve training, etc. is offered.
3. Round-the-clock customer Care and Technical Support
Most industrial operations are 24/7 and so too should be the customer care and technical support from the vendor.
Users will want to know:
- If they provide a dedicated Client Success Manager to support ongoing customer needs post-implementation.
- Whether customer care and technical support are accessible anytime, anywhere.
- Whether a replacement device is offered if a technical issue can’t be resolved or requires further evaluation.
4. 24/7 Live Monitoring
Connected safety technology paired with professional real-time monitoring leads to swifter emergency response, saving lives when seconds can make all the difference.
Users will want to know:
- If the vendor has an in-house or third-party Safety Operations Center (SOC) to provide round-the-clock safety monitoring and how many workers they protect.
- If SOC agents are professionally trained to handle any situation.
- If the SOC is five-diamond certified (a globally recognized standard for excellence in real-time safety monitoring).
- The average response time to alerts and how many they can handle daily.
- Whether they are certified to escalate responses to local emergency personnel if needed.
- If they periodically conduct drills and tabletop exercises to test emergency response protocols.
5. Global Connectivity Reach
Safety doesn’t stop at the border. If users have operations across multiple countries or regions, they’ll need to ensure that safety provider can work wherever they do and provides the same level of support regardless of geography.
Users will want to know:
- How many countries do they operate in and the extent of their cellular and/or satellite network coverage?
- Whether their devices require connection to an IT network or can be deployed out of the box.
- How many languages do their technology and services support?
- Whether they understand the regulatory nuances and cultural considerations in jurisdiction.
6. In-Depth Data Analysis
Data services can help get the deep intel needed to manage compliance, get ahead of incidents
To get a clear view of how the safety program is performing, users will need to be able to measure all aspects of it.
Data services can help get the deep intel needed to manage compliance, get ahead of incidents before they happen, and remove roadblocks to efficiency saving the hassle of doing it alone.
Users will want to know:
- If they offer customized data services to help unlock insights from safety technology to identify actionable ways to improve.
- If reports can be emailed straight to inbox at whatever frequency needed, daily, weekly, monthly, quarterly.
- Whether reporting dashboards can be tailored to elevate the metrics that matter most.
- If external data (like work orders and contractors’ site schedules) can be integrated into safety technology to uncover multi-dimensional insights and enable a more holistic view of operations.
