Though it might seem cost-effective in the beginning, hiring the wrong contractors could turn out to be extremely expensive in the long run. Without proper screening of contractors, you could be hiring unqualified, uninsured, and unsafe workers. This may lead to an accident occurring at the work site which could lead to a string of problems and uncertain legal and economic consequences.
Presentation highlights:
- Assessing the economic value of contractor qualification and management solution
- Business conditions that make contractor qualification an imperative for many businesses, including the expected costs associated
- Potential direct and indirect costs of “doing nothing”
- How to outsource contractor qualification to a vendor
Pay Now or Pay Later: The Case for Investing in Contractor Qualification & Ma...browzcompliance
Though it might seem cost-effective in the beginning, hiring the wrong contractors could turn out to be extremely expensive in the long run.
Without proper screening of contractors, you could be hiring unqualified, uninsured, and unsafe workers. This may lead to an accident occurring at the worksite which could lead to a string of problems and uncertain legal and economic consequences.
This insightful presentation provides insights into:
- Assessing the economic value of contractor qualification and management solution
- Business conditions that make contractor qualification an imperative for many businesses, including the expected costs associated
- Potential direct and indirect costs of “doing nothing”
- How to outsource contractor qualification to a vendor
Pay Now or Pay Later -The Case for Investing in Contractor Prequalification ...browzcompliance
Though it might seem cost-effective in the beginning, hiring the wrong contractors could turn out to be extremely expensive in the long run.
Without proper screening of contractors, you could be hiring unqualified, uninsured and unsafe workers. This may lead to an accident occurring at the worksite, which could lead to a string of problems and uncertain legal and economic consequences.
Join us for a live webinar on Investing in contractor qualification and management to learn more about:
Assessing the economic value of contractor qualification and management solution
Business conditions that make contractor qualification an imperative for many businesses, including the expected costs associated
Potential direct and indirect costs of “doing nothing”
How to outsource contractor qualification to a vendor
The state of Georgia is a valued Computer Aid, Inc. (CAI) customer who is seeing great success with both APO and PPM. From their Director of Enterprise Governance and Planning,
"The CAI solution provides a governance layer of process discipline, best practices, and predictive analysis to reduce risk and improve project success, regardless of the PPM tool used by agency project teams."
Whether you’re still on paper (or using a system so inefficient that you might as well be on paper), a successful enrollment is the catalyst to a sustainable benefit strategy. Accurate data, ease of use, employee adoption and increased participation – all results of a custom, digital enrollment process.
You know by now online enrollment would be more efficient than slogging through paper forms for another year. So why haven’t you made the switch?
A fragmented governance, risk, and compliance (GRC) landscape leaves organizations to sort through a multitude of visions. Blue Hill identifies basic defining characteristics of GRC and how the changing business environment is leading organizations to pay more attention.
When your business is considering making a technology investment, there are two major options to evaluate: Build vs. Buy. Or in other words, custom software development vs. commercial off-the-shelf software solutions.
Custom software development can be the better choice, especially if off-the-shelf solutions meet less than 80% of your needs. This infographic explores the pros and cons of custom development, to help you make a more informed decision.
Aciron's consultants can advise you on the best solution for your company's technology investment, whether that may be custom software development or a commercial-off-the-shelf option. Request a free consultation today!
www.aciron.com | info@aciron.com
Pay Now or Pay Later: The Case for Investing in Contractor Qualification & Ma...browzcompliance
Though it might seem cost-effective in the beginning, hiring the wrong contractors could turn out to be extremely expensive in the long run.
Without proper screening of contractors, you could be hiring unqualified, uninsured, and unsafe workers. This may lead to an accident occurring at the worksite which could lead to a string of problems and uncertain legal and economic consequences.
This insightful presentation provides insights into:
- Assessing the economic value of contractor qualification and management solution
- Business conditions that make contractor qualification an imperative for many businesses, including the expected costs associated
- Potential direct and indirect costs of “doing nothing”
- How to outsource contractor qualification to a vendor
Pay Now or Pay Later -The Case for Investing in Contractor Prequalification ...browzcompliance
Though it might seem cost-effective in the beginning, hiring the wrong contractors could turn out to be extremely expensive in the long run.
Without proper screening of contractors, you could be hiring unqualified, uninsured and unsafe workers. This may lead to an accident occurring at the worksite, which could lead to a string of problems and uncertain legal and economic consequences.
Join us for a live webinar on Investing in contractor qualification and management to learn more about:
Assessing the economic value of contractor qualification and management solution
Business conditions that make contractor qualification an imperative for many businesses, including the expected costs associated
Potential direct and indirect costs of “doing nothing”
How to outsource contractor qualification to a vendor
The state of Georgia is a valued Computer Aid, Inc. (CAI) customer who is seeing great success with both APO and PPM. From their Director of Enterprise Governance and Planning,
"The CAI solution provides a governance layer of process discipline, best practices, and predictive analysis to reduce risk and improve project success, regardless of the PPM tool used by agency project teams."
Whether you’re still on paper (or using a system so inefficient that you might as well be on paper), a successful enrollment is the catalyst to a sustainable benefit strategy. Accurate data, ease of use, employee adoption and increased participation – all results of a custom, digital enrollment process.
You know by now online enrollment would be more efficient than slogging through paper forms for another year. So why haven’t you made the switch?
A fragmented governance, risk, and compliance (GRC) landscape leaves organizations to sort through a multitude of visions. Blue Hill identifies basic defining characteristics of GRC and how the changing business environment is leading organizations to pay more attention.
When your business is considering making a technology investment, there are two major options to evaluate: Build vs. Buy. Or in other words, custom software development vs. commercial off-the-shelf software solutions.
Custom software development can be the better choice, especially if off-the-shelf solutions meet less than 80% of your needs. This infographic explores the pros and cons of custom development, to help you make a more informed decision.
Aciron's consultants can advise you on the best solution for your company's technology investment, whether that may be custom software development or a commercial-off-the-shelf option. Request a free consultation today!
www.aciron.com | info@aciron.com
The First Mile - Single Family Loan Document Processing in 37 MinutesBuddha Logic
Charles Weidman, President & CEO of Buddha Logic discusses their recent ECM implementation with Brian Mueller, CHFA Manager - Integrated Records Management.
How Nisa Retail improve service & cut costs through APMIntechnica
Find out how Nisa Retail cuts support costs and boosts long-term client retention with IT performance experts Intechnica, through using Compuware dynaTrace APM.
68% of employees would prefer to enroll online
...but only 38% of employers believe that.
Join our panelists in a discussion about the benefits of switching to a digital enrollment platform - complete with examples and case studies to support successful online enrollment.
This presentation talks about how to scale up the local CA practice to global standards. Technology, Knowledge and experience are with us, lets use them well so that we can go Global and achieve a better sense of professional satisfaction.
Maximize ROI of Insurance Digital Transformation Initiatives with Proven Data...Precisely
Many insurance carriers are transforming the way they do business by deploying new software technologies, migrating data and services to the cloud, and leveraging artificial intelligence (AI) to speed decision-making. Data is at the heart of all these initiatives, and it has a direct impact on success or failure. When that data is integrated into upstream or downstream processes, it can also have a broader impact on the operational, analytical, and compliance needs of the organization. The traditional, and often ad-hoc, tools and processes that organizations employ to support data quality, data integrity, transaction reconciliation, and exception management are often inadequate. They do not provide the speed, technical agility, and intelligence demanded by digital transformation initiatives.
Join us to explore proven methods of how insurance carriers are maximizing ROI and minimizing the time-to-value of digital transformation initiatives by:
• Aligning data governance with organizational and project objectives to reduce implementation effort and duration
• Leveraging automated controls for data quality, including balance and reconciliation of data in motion to avoid operational disruptions and maintain regulatory compliance
• Increasing efficiency and capability through centralized data integrity solution
The First Mile - Single Family Loan Document Processing in 37 MinutesBuddha Logic
Charles Weidman, President & CEO of Buddha Logic discusses their recent ECM implementation with Brian Mueller, CHFA Manager - Integrated Records Management.
How Nisa Retail improve service & cut costs through APMIntechnica
Find out how Nisa Retail cuts support costs and boosts long-term client retention with IT performance experts Intechnica, through using Compuware dynaTrace APM.
68% of employees would prefer to enroll online
...but only 38% of employers believe that.
Join our panelists in a discussion about the benefits of switching to a digital enrollment platform - complete with examples and case studies to support successful online enrollment.
This presentation talks about how to scale up the local CA practice to global standards. Technology, Knowledge and experience are with us, lets use them well so that we can go Global and achieve a better sense of professional satisfaction.
Maximize ROI of Insurance Digital Transformation Initiatives with Proven Data...Precisely
Many insurance carriers are transforming the way they do business by deploying new software technologies, migrating data and services to the cloud, and leveraging artificial intelligence (AI) to speed decision-making. Data is at the heart of all these initiatives, and it has a direct impact on success or failure. When that data is integrated into upstream or downstream processes, it can also have a broader impact on the operational, analytical, and compliance needs of the organization. The traditional, and often ad-hoc, tools and processes that organizations employ to support data quality, data integrity, transaction reconciliation, and exception management are often inadequate. They do not provide the speed, technical agility, and intelligence demanded by digital transformation initiatives.
Join us to explore proven methods of how insurance carriers are maximizing ROI and minimizing the time-to-value of digital transformation initiatives by:
• Aligning data governance with organizational and project objectives to reduce implementation effort and duration
• Leveraging automated controls for data quality, including balance and reconciliation of data in motion to avoid operational disruptions and maintain regulatory compliance
• Increasing efficiency and capability through centralized data integrity solution
Lewis Hopkins presented at Oracle OpenWorld 2017 with our partner Canon. Learn about the key features for security and controls in PeopleSoft and how Accounts Payable automation addresses changing regulations, complex vendor networks, and fragmented business processes. Review some of the steps for best-practice techniques in securing your application, and the applications available to assist with this process. The session also elaborates on how organizations can avoid serious errors, poor performance or in extreme cases fraudulent transactions.
Data-Driven Risk Assessment for Litigators and Transactional Lawyers - Connie...Daniel W. Linna Jr.
ABA Business Law Section Meeting, New Orleans, April 8, 2017
Data is useful only if you can act on it. This program will help you develop data plans and capture "small data" tailored to your organization’s needs. We will also introduce tools that will help move you from ad hoc, anecdote-driven decision making to methodical, data-driven decision making.
Speakers:
Connie Brenton, Senior Director of Legal Operations for NetApp
Daniel W. Linna, Jr., Professor of Law and Director of Legal RnD – The Center for Legal Services Innovation at Michigan State University College of Law
Jamie May, Associate General Counsel, University Hospitals Health System
Forrester Webinar: Building a Compelling Business Case for Boosting your GRC ...NAVEX Global
Building a business case for GRC is not an easy task. Chris McClean, VP at Forrester Research, is a worldwide authority on GRC programs. In this webinar, he will explain how to use data, insights and tools to help you shape or grow your GRC program—and better protect your organization by reducing risk and ensuring compliance.
Building a Compelling Business Case for Boosting your GRC ProgramNAVEX Global
Randy Stephens from NAVEX Global and Chris McClean from Forrester discuss how compliance officers can make a business case for investing in high performing compliance programs.
Data Governance That Drives the Bottom LinePrecisely
The financial services sector is investing heavily in data governance solutions to find, understand and trust customer data, while also managing compliance risk around an ever-evolving regulatory landscape more effectively.
But do you still find it difficult to get management support for data governance budgets? Do you have the tools you need to determine the “business cost of data” accurately? Can you show the CFO an ROI projection he can count on? Are you able to answer, “Will I see results on the top line or the bottom line?” Are your business line leaders able to identify areas that are losing money due to data problems?
If you answered no to any of these questions, join Precisely in our upcoming webinar that will focus on how Financial Services companies can monetize the return on investment for data governance and how to relate it to business results that every senior leader understands.
Join this on-demand webinar to learn about:
- How to select data initiatives based on corporate goals and strategy
- How to connect the dots from data challenges (quality, availability, accuracy, currency) to specific business metrics around
- How to quantify the data contribution to improving business performance around
- How to leverage metadata and linage to get a 360-degree understanding of your data
- How to evaluate data assets by assigning measures and defining scores.
- How to assign accountability to assets and processes
- How to define and execute the workflows needed to implement corrective actions
- How to highlight the benefits of data governance
Key Considerations When Choosing Cloud-Based SoftwareKareo
Practice Management software is a critical component of any medical billing company. As technology continues to advance, 'cloud-based’ is being touted more than ever. Join us as we take a deeper look at what a cloud-based solution can offer your business, discuss the key features and benefits of transitioning to the cloud, how to ensure that you have the support needed for a smooth transition, and the data security red flags you should be looking out for.
What is Business Centric IT and how do you create greater IT value for the business? This presentation takes a look at how this is possible. Contact me for more information and how The CTE Group can help.
This presentation covers examines the business management side of law firms, including metrics for law firm marketing, law firm technology spending and law firm profitability. It is broken into the following sections:
- Six Numbers Law Firm Stakeholders Should Know
- Investing time in your law firm
- Law practice vs. Law firm business
- Developing a roadmap
- Evaluating Clients
- Working within your budget constraints
With increased outsourcing of critical business functions it is more critical than ever to assess the risks posed by outside vendors and manage the ongoing relationship. In fact, regulators and auditors are focusing more and more on how vendors and contracts are managed and maintained by institutions. While vendor management is a “must-do” to satisfy financial industry regulatory requirements, it can also serve as a strategic initiative that can create a better run institution. Vendor Management can also be used as a way to improve efficiency, financial management, and profitability by reducing expenses and minimizing risk. Learn more at: www.nafcu.org/quantivate
Having the right talent to achieve revenue growth is important to business owners. Learn about creative business models to identify and acquire talent to achieve business objectives while containing costs.
How to Build Data Governance Programs That Lasts: A Business-First ApproachPrecisely
Data analytics and Artificial Intelligence play an increasingly pivotal role in most modern organizations. To keep those initiatives on track, enterprises must roll out data governance programs to ensure optimal business value. Data governance has become a fundamental element of success, a key to establishing the component of the data integrity framework in any business. The most successful data governance programs use a business-first approach, delivering quick wins and cultivating sustained success throughout the organization. Unfortunately, many organizations neglect to implement such programs until they experience a negative event that highlights the absence of good data governance. That could be a data breach, a breakdown in data quality, or a compliance action that highlights the lack of effective controls. Once that happens, there are several different paths a data governance initiative might take. A typical scenario often plays out this way: The executive team calls for implementation of a company-wide data governance program. The newly-minted data governance team forges ahead, engaging business users throughout the organization and expecting that everyone will be aligned around a common purpose.
11 Tips for Implementing a Contractor Management Systembrowzcompliance
The use of contractors can be both a great opportunity and a challenge. Contractors and suppliers bring specialization of skills and equipment. However, they can also bring risk to the companies that employ them. More and more companies are seeing the need for prequalifying contractors and suppliers. This could include verifying insurance requirements and tracking safety trends, to ensuring social responsibility and financial health.
Identifying risk and protecting your company brand are key considerations when managing your supply chain. Contractors and suppliers bring specialization, but they also bring risk to your organization. BROWZ has over 17 years of experience developing and implementing supplier pre-qualification programs for the world’s largest organizations. We’ve seen the elements of a successful program.
How to Evaluate the Safety Performance of Contractors Using leading & lagging...browzcompliance
Join BROWZ for a webinar discussing using both lagging and leading indicators to evaluate the safety performance of contractors. We will be discussing how to track a contractor’s safety statistics and OSHA/MSHA violations, auditing safety programs, and also performing safety management systems assessments.
Making the case for contractor management - Examining the safety benefits of ...browzcompliance
The issue of managing contractor EHS performance is an ongoing concern among organizations of all industries. Many contractors perform non-routine work at sites that are not directly supervised by an EHS manager, or any manager at all.
The National Safety Council recently published a report on the efficacy of outsourced contractor management systems. They aimed to investigate if suppliers, contractors, and vendors realize improved safety performance as a result of their participation in third-party contractor management systems.
Join the National Safety Council and Campbell Institute member, BROWZ for a presentation of this report and its findings. This webinar will also include a presentation of the five crucial steps in the contractor lifecycle as compiled from a Campbell Institute study of over 14 industry-leading organizations.
Contractor Safety Beyond Compliance - Modeling OSHA’s recommended best practi...browzcompliance
In this presentation, the speaker will address how the many pieces of safety/health are put together to fit into a larger management system – where the whole is greater than the sum parts. Host employers who hire contractors can utilize the seven core elements to assess their supply chain companies – using a beyond compliance approach to vetting their suppliers.
Journey to Safety Excellence – Tagline or Tangible Resource?browzcompliance
In 2014, the National Safety Council kicked off an initiative called “The Journey to Safety Excellence,” a result of the Council’s understanding that many small to medium sized companies do not have the same safety resources and networking capabilities as larger corporations.
To that end, the Council put together free assessment tools, resource information and a networking structure that smaller companies could utilize at no cost — so they could start down their own path of safety excellence. In this presentation, attendees will learn how businesses of many types can benefit in utilizing the free resources.
This webinar takes the audience through the steps of continuous safety process improvement, and talks through a real-life scenario of how a company could utilize each aspect of the Journey to Safety Excellence resources.
To join or learn more about The Journey to Safety Excellence, visit: http://www.nsc.org/Measure/Pages/journey-to-safety-excellence.aspx.
An Overview of OSHA Regulations and Safety Program Audits at BROWZbrowzcompliance
During this webinar we’ll discuss the topic of written safety programs, and the level of program detail that your client and regulators are expecting. We will give a regulatory overview, and provide information on how to read an OSHA standard. We will also show you the level of detail we will provide if your program is deficient. Lastly, we will provide you with recommendation options for assistance on program improvement.
We believe the content of the webinar will answer questions you may have about the SURE Audit process, and put you on a path for a successful audit.
What we'll cover:
• About BROWZ auditing & supply chain qualification
• Uploading written safety programs
• Regulatory overview
• How to read an OSHA standard
• BROWZ audit results
• Resources for written safety programs
• Q&A
Reasons for Supplier Prequalification Failurebrowzcompliance
Driven by global and regional economic development, strategic management of the supply chain continues gaining attention as a contributor to competitive advantage. In today’s marketplace, competition has moved from “among organizations” to “between supply chains”. As companies increase their dependence on their suppliers so does their risk exposure. As a result, supplier selection and management are a strategic necessity for organizations, and prequalification programs have become a cornerstone of supply chain risk management.
BROWZ helps you identify risk in your supply chain, prequalify and continually monitor the partners you hire, manage employee-level data on your suppliers, conduct safety auditing, and source new suppliers.
What is life like before and after implementing BROWZ?
[Webinar] Contractor Management: What is the Return on Investment (ROI)?browzcompliance
This webinar will outline a process for assessing the economic value of investing in contractor compliance management. We will outline the business conditions that make contractor management an imperative for many businesses, including the expected costs associated with effective management. Next, we will consider the potential direct and indirect costs of “doing nothing;” that is, deciding against an investment in contractor management. Finally, we’ll explore the process of outsourcing compliance management to a vendor who offers a complete contractor management solution.
Contractor Management Strategies in a Complex Worldbrowzcompliance
Managing contractor safety can be especially difficult in an increasingly global world with international workforces. Join the National Safety Council and new Campbell Institute Member, BROWZ, as they cover the findings from the Campbell Institute’s research project on contractor safety and management.
Just what does the BROWZ process look like?
Follow the path to see how each department at BROWZ helps both your company and your supply chain be better trained, qualified, and socially responsible.
Learn more at www.BROWZ.com.
2015 has been an incredible year for BROWZ. From new products, opening new office locations, launching a progressive mobile strategy, and winning multiple awards, BROWZ has seen an incredible amount of growth this year and shows no signs of slowing down.
How to improve your contractor management programbrowzcompliance
dentifying risk and protecting your company brand are key considerations when managing your supply chain. Contractors and suppliers bring specialisation, but they also bring risk to your organization.
BROWZ has over 12 years of experience developing and implementing contractor prequalification and management programs for the worlds largest organisations. We’ve seen the elements of a successful program.
This webinar will focus on 11 ways to improve your contractor management program highlighting specific areas to address when designing and implementing a program.
Elevating Tactical DDD Patterns Through Object CalisthenicsDorra BARTAGUIZ
After immersing yourself in the blue book and its red counterpart, attending DDD-focused conferences, and applying tactical patterns, you're left with a crucial question: How do I ensure my design is effective? Tactical patterns within Domain-Driven Design (DDD) serve as guiding principles for creating clear and manageable domain models. However, achieving success with these patterns requires additional guidance. Interestingly, we've observed that a set of constraints initially designed for training purposes remarkably aligns with effective pattern implementation, offering a more ‘mechanical’ approach. Let's explore together how Object Calisthenics can elevate the design of your tactical DDD patterns, offering concrete help for those venturing into DDD for the first time!
State of ICS and IoT Cyber Threat Landscape Report 2024 previewPrayukth K V
The IoT and OT threat landscape report has been prepared by the Threat Research Team at Sectrio using data from Sectrio, cyber threat intelligence farming facilities spread across over 85 cities around the world. In addition, Sectrio also runs AI-based advanced threat and payload engagement facilities that serve as sinks to attract and engage sophisticated threat actors, and newer malware including new variants and latent threats that are at an earlier stage of development.
The latest edition of the OT/ICS and IoT security Threat Landscape Report 2024 also covers:
State of global ICS asset and network exposure
Sectoral targets and attacks as well as the cost of ransom
Global APT activity, AI usage, actor and tactic profiles, and implications
Rise in volumes of AI-powered cyberattacks
Major cyber events in 2024
Malware and malicious payload trends
Cyberattack types and targets
Vulnerability exploit attempts on CVEs
Attacks on counties – USA
Expansion of bot farms – how, where, and why
In-depth analysis of the cyber threat landscape across North America, South America, Europe, APAC, and the Middle East
Why are attacks on smart factories rising?
Cyber risk predictions
Axis of attacks – Europe
Systemic attacks in the Middle East
Download the full report from here:
https://sectrio.com/resources/ot-threat-landscape-reports/sectrio-releases-ot-ics-and-iot-security-threat-landscape-report-2024/
Observability Concepts EVERY Developer Should Know -- DeveloperWeek Europe.pdfPaige Cruz
Monitoring and observability aren’t traditionally found in software curriculums and many of us cobble this knowledge together from whatever vendor or ecosystem we were first introduced to and whatever is a part of your current company’s observability stack.
While the dev and ops silo continues to crumble….many organizations still relegate monitoring & observability as the purview of ops, infra and SRE teams. This is a mistake - achieving a highly observable system requires collaboration up and down the stack.
I, a former op, would like to extend an invitation to all application developers to join the observability party will share these foundational concepts to build on:
DevOps and Testing slides at DASA ConnectKari Kakkonen
My and Rik Marselis slides at 30.5.2024 DASA Connect conference. We discuss about what is testing, then what is agile testing and finally what is Testing in DevOps. Finally we had lovely workshop with the participants trying to find out different ways to think about quality and testing in different parts of the DevOps infinity loop.
Smart TV Buyer Insights Survey 2024 by 91mobiles.pdf91mobiles
91mobiles recently conducted a Smart TV Buyer Insights Survey in which we asked over 3,000 respondents about the TV they own, aspects they look at on a new TV, and their TV buying preferences.
Dev Dives: Train smarter, not harder – active learning and UiPath LLMs for do...UiPathCommunity
💥 Speed, accuracy, and scaling – discover the superpowers of GenAI in action with UiPath Document Understanding and Communications Mining™:
See how to accelerate model training and optimize model performance with active learning
Learn about the latest enhancements to out-of-the-box document processing – with little to no training required
Get an exclusive demo of the new family of UiPath LLMs – GenAI models specialized for processing different types of documents and messages
This is a hands-on session specifically designed for automation developers and AI enthusiasts seeking to enhance their knowledge in leveraging the latest intelligent document processing capabilities offered by UiPath.
Speakers:
👨🏫 Andras Palfi, Senior Product Manager, UiPath
👩🏫 Lenka Dulovicova, Product Program Manager, UiPath
PHP Frameworks: I want to break free (IPC Berlin 2024)Ralf Eggert
In this presentation, we examine the challenges and limitations of relying too heavily on PHP frameworks in web development. We discuss the history of PHP and its frameworks to understand how this dependence has evolved. The focus will be on providing concrete tips and strategies to reduce reliance on these frameworks, based on real-world examples and practical considerations. The goal is to equip developers with the skills and knowledge to create more flexible and future-proof web applications. We'll explore the importance of maintaining autonomy in a rapidly changing tech landscape and how to make informed decisions in PHP development.
This talk is aimed at encouraging a more independent approach to using PHP frameworks, moving towards a more flexible and future-proof approach to PHP development.
Epistemic Interaction - tuning interfaces to provide information for AI supportAlan Dix
Paper presented at SYNERGY workshop at AVI 2024, Genoa, Italy. 3rd June 2024
https://alandix.com/academic/papers/synergy2024-epistemic/
As machine learning integrates deeper into human-computer interactions, the concept of epistemic interaction emerges, aiming to refine these interactions to enhance system adaptability. This approach encourages minor, intentional adjustments in user behaviour to enrich the data available for system learning. This paper introduces epistemic interaction within the context of human-system communication, illustrating how deliberate interaction design can improve system understanding and adaptation. Through concrete examples, we demonstrate the potential of epistemic interaction to significantly advance human-computer interaction by leveraging intuitive human communication strategies to inform system design and functionality, offering a novel pathway for enriching user-system engagements.
5. How Much Does Compliance Management Cost?
• Staff and resources to manage the program.
• Records storage and retrieval systems
• Auditing costs
• Software packages to create and manage processes
• Staff to address contractor questions pertaining to compliance
• Resources to notify contractors of expiring documentation
or deficiencies
6. You Don’t Have to Manage Compliance Alone
• Consulting fees
• Software licenses
• Administrative costs
• Financial and operational impacts of improved contractor relationships
• Efficiency improvements from customized programs that address
unique business needs
7. The “Do Nothing” Alternative
US businesses annually spend more than
$125 billion in total expenses on more
than 6 million workers who suffer from
fatal and non-fatal workplace injuries and
occupational diseases/hazards.
8. Potential Direct Costs
• Fines and Penalties
• Damages & Repair Costs
• Lost Time
• Litigation Costs & Civil Damages
• Increased Insurance Costs
9. Tallying up Indirect Costs
• Strained employee relations
• Overtime to offset production down time
• Management & supervisory investigative time post-incident
• Reputation damage
• Poor employee morale
• Psychological impacts on affected employees
• Future difficulty hiring new employees
10. A Roadmap for Success
• Find the Right Partner
• Dig into the Software
• Get Your House in Order
• Implement Best Practices
12. Dig into the Software
• Software-as-a-Service/Web-based delivery
• Uptime guarantees
• Advanced risk assessment tools and functionality
• Hosting in a high-quality data center and reliable application
availability—legitimate compliance providers should be able
to provide credible documentation
• An easy-to-use interface with intuitive compliance icons
13. Dig into the Software
• Configuration options that make the solution adaptable for
your business
• Multi-lingual capabilities
• Data integration options to work with existing systems like ERP
• Ability to override compliance requirements
• Customization options
• Value added services such as online training courses
14. Get Your House in Order
• Financial Stability
• Environmental Health & Safety
• Quality Systems
• CSR/Sustainability
• Legal
• Insurance
• Business Continuity
• Diversity Status
• And more...
Pat Cunningham bio-
Pat Cunningham has a Masters in Occupational Health & Safety Management and over 25 years of experience in the field of safety. In addition to his appointment to the VPPPA Education Committee, Pat is a Delegate to the National Safety Council. Prior to BROWZ, Pat worked for Xcel Energy as the Director of Corporate Safety.
During that time, he was tasked with forming a contractor safety and qualification department for Xcel Energy. With this new department, Pat and Xcel Energy gained significant insight into the metrics of supply chain compliance to company protocols, the need for in-house employee training, supplier training and internal compliance of company policy.
Brett Armstrong Bio-
Brett Armstrong is Vice President at BROWZ. He's been with BROWZ for over 13 years, and he's had experienced managing teams that have supported the world's leading organizations, during the implementation and ongoing management of supply chain qualification programs.
Earlier at BROWZ, Brett led the operations team for more than 7 years, this experience provides him today with the foundation and understanding necessary to support the communication needs of our clients and contractors.
Brett:
The news is full of work place safety disasters and regulatory bodies around the world are scrutinizing workplace health and safety more than ever.
In recent years the U.S. and Canada have increase penalties for work place accidents. Countries in the developing world are introducing new legislation to protect workplace safety. In the United States, OSHA requires an employer to assume primary responsibility to ensure that employees have what they need to work safely, are knowledgeable about the hazards of their work, and can perform needed safety procedures.
No organization is immune from accidents and it’s only a matter of time before a safety incident occurs at a worksite. A recent study by Conoco Phillips estimates that “for every single workplace fatality there are at least 300,000 at-risk behaviors” taking place.
Meanwhile, to save costs and streamline operations, many organizations are turning to contractors to supply them with goods and services they previously kept in-house. Experts predict contingent workers—already 30% of the US workforce—could climb to 40% or more in the next 10 years.
Though it might seem cost effective in the beginning, hiring the wrong contractors could turn out to be extremely expensive in the long run, especially for companies in industries that have risk-prone work environments. If a contractor has not received proper screening, or an unqualified contractor is hired without checking their credentials, their inexperienced acts may lead to an accident occurring at the worksite which could lead to a string of problems and uncertain economic consequences.
For Procurement, Environmental, Health and Safety, Operations, and other departments, this means even more insurance policies, professional licenses, safety manuals, OSHA/MSHA logs, and other documents to study and retain. To manage employee and contractor compliance, it’s not inconceivable that the staff of an average sized owner/operator could be monitoring 5,000 to 10,000 documents at once.
This burdensome number begs the question: why worry about contractor compliance at all? Do owner/operators bear the responsibility to ensure that contractors are compliant with safety requirements? After all, contractors aren’t really employees.
The answer to each of these questions is a resounding ‘YES’. Not managing contractors effectively could lead to expensive problems such as hefty fines, compensation for damages, and potential litigation.
Let’s examine a few of the reasons why it makes sense to invest in contractor compliance management.
REDUCED RISKIf contractors meet all prescribed regulatory and safety requirements the risk to a company of an incident being caused by that contractor is significantly reduced.
UPSTREAM ACCOUNTABILITYEven though you do not employ contractors directly, as the owner/operator you could be potentially liable for fines, medical expenses, workers compensation, and penalties related to incidents that occur at your worksite. It is essential that you prescreen contractors to ensure their compliance and safety-focus.
LITIGATION & LIABILITY In the US, after a safety incident, it’s not inconceivable that the owner/operator will be sued for damages related to the event. Many litigating attorneys have a policy of “sue everyone and see what sticks”. That means that any organization, employer, or any person remotely connected with the incident is likely to be named as a party in a lawsuit.
SARBANES OXLEY The 2002 Sarbanes Oxley act means that many organizations have now included safety goals as part of their corporate governance. A contractor compliance management program can help to guarantee that all workers are meeting corporate standards.
MEASUREMENT MATTERS When organizations explicitly state their safety and performance expectations contractor performance improves. Measurement drives behavior change and communicating a focus on safety will influence contractors to respond appropriately.
Pat:
By now it’s apparent that the owner/operator must own the responsibility for ensuring the compliance of contractors at their worksite. This means active programs and policies that monitor compliance. Your supply chain and operations are too critical to have them dependent upon “trusting” contractors to do the right thing. While many contractors are honest and never purposefully non-compliant, it remains your responsibility as the owner/operator to ensure that every contractor working for you adheres to regulator and safety standards. But too often, administrative headaches get in the way of effective contractor screening.
To ensure contractor compliance you need processes in place that will enable you to prequalify, monitor, and re-qualify all contractors who work with your organization. Implementing such a system of contractor compliance management can improve the safety of your workplace and ensure that your organization has a defensible position in the event of a lawsuit or investigation.
Let’s take a closer look at each of the critical components of any compliance management program.
PREQUALIFICATIONQualifying contractors before the work begins is a two-phase process. First, your organization must determine and define the criteria for contractor selection that meets your organizational risk profile and safety standards. Second, your compliance management program must incorporate processes to ensure that all contractors engaged by your organization meet your defined thresholds, prior to them being allowed to be hired or access your worksite.
MONITORING Compliance is not a static state. Contractors hire new workers. Safety programs are updated. Insurance and licenses expire. Information changes constantly. Your program of contractor compliance management needs to monitor documents and information on an ongoing basis and alert contractors when they have information that is ready to expire. Out-of-date information can be just as detrimental as missing information. Only through ongoing monitoring of contractor information can you ensure that compliance requirements are consistently being met. Further, your program should alert all functional areas of your organization on a regular—or real-time—basis about the specific compliance status of any contractor and prohibit contractors who are non-compliant from accessing the work site.
REQUALIFICATION When information changes or is out-of-date your compliance management program should proactively notify contractors about any documentation that is required to remain compliant. Your program should build an auditable trail of notifications and communicate with the contractor on a regular basis about upcoming expiration dates. Contractors should also have a prescribed method to submit their updated information and receive notifications when they are once again compliant.
Brett:
In January 2011 The Ponemon Institute, LLC released a report called The True Cost of Compliance. The study surveyed over 46 multinational organizations over a 12-month period about their legal and regulatory compliance management activities. The study found that companies, which increased their compliance spending, also saw a positive correlation in decreased costs associated with non-compliance. In other words, an investment in compliance is one that can yield returns. Further, the Ponemon study concluded that of the money spent on compliance, 60% of costs were expended on administrative overhead and 40% was used to pay consultants, acquire software licenses, and conduct audits, etc.
So its not unreasonable to expect the same kind of economic reality when assessing the value of contractor compliance management investments. Spending on compliance appears to be cheaper than the spending that can be expected for non-compliance related costs.
When evaluating a contractor compliance program and calculating the cost of a potential investment, an organization must first decide whether they want to manage the program in-house or outsource contractor management to a specialized vendor. The costs—and the outcomes—associated with each approach can be dramatically different.
The following list details the common direct costs associated with an in-house contractor compliance program.
Staff and resources to manage the program.
Records storage and retrieval systems
Auditing costs
Software packages to create and manage processes
Staff to address contractor questions pertaining to compliance
Resources to notify contractors of expiring documentation or deficiencies
When managing contractor compliance internally, companies shouldn’t overlook the costs associated with adequate staff and resources required to manage compliance documents, monitor documents for expiration, validate appropriate insurance endorsement language and proactively contact contractors to collect updated documentation. Attempting to reduce the costs of internal compliance management is difficult.
One thing, to keep in mind is utilizing lower skilled or lesser-trained administrative employees without proper knowledge of regulatory requirements, EHS, or insurance standards could leave your business at risk.
Recognizing the need to manage compliance is certainly a step in the right direction, but, too many organizations that keep a program in-house also rely on manual tools to run their program. These businesses manage contractor populations by relying on staff to enter the appropriate data into a spreadsheet, verify its accuracy, and keep hard copies of all documentation in a filing cabinet.
There are several problems with this approach. Errors arising from manual data entry are a well-documented occurrence, with research showing that people typically generate one error for every 300 keystrokes. The longer the character string (such as insurance policy numbers), the higher the error rate. One study showed that error rate climbed to near 100% when people enter strings of 15-characters or more. Therefore, additional costs need to be considered to cover data and quality control processes.
Managing contractors out of filing cabinets and/or spreadsheets is time-consuming, inefficient, and ultimately costlier. Most importantly, companies that rely on outdated, inefficient methods to track and manage this data are taking extremely high risks.
A single error or expired piece of documentation can shut down operations or bring on civil penalties for a company. In rare but real instances, they can also cost lives. In the US, and globally, governments hold prime employers responsible when things go wrong:
Both OSHA and MSHA often assess higher civil penalties against the prime employer, mine operator, or general contractor than against the subordinate company directly involved in the violative action, because the agencies deem the primary employers to have a higher level of culpability or a better understanding of regulatory responsibilities.
Brett:
The costs and issues required to effectively manage contractor compliance in-house can quickly spiral out of control. Luckily, there are specialized vendors who offer solutions that can manage contractor compliance across your entire supply chain. These vendors offer a combination of software and outsourced administrative support to streamline contractor engagement and communications. These vendors can help to define and apply your criteria related to corporate, regulatory and legal compliance and then manage your contractors to those standards.
When considering outsourcing your compliance management program to a vendor the following costs should be considered:
Consulting fees
Software licenses
Administrative costs
Financial and operational impacts of improved contractor relationships
Efficiency improvements from customized programs that address unique business needs
Later in this presentation we will outline a Roadmap for Success should you wish to engage an external vendor to help with your compliance management program.
Brett:
Whether by a conscious choice, ignorance of potential consequences, or some other circumstance, there are organizations that opt to passively manage contractors and “hope for the best.” In other words, they do nothing programmatically about contractor compliance management. If the costs of managing compliance seem significant, the potential costs of a workplace safety incident that results from a non-compliant contractor can be positively staggering by comparison.
OSHA has determined that US businesses annually spend more than $125 billion in total expenses on more than 6 million workers who suffer from fatal and non-fatal workplace injuries and occupational diseases/hazards.
The total settlement cost for a West Virginia mine disaster where 29 men were killed cost the owner/operator $210 million. The settlement was divided into $46.5 million as compensation to the miners’ families, $128 million for improving safety, and $35 million in fines. In addition, those who accepted the payouts are still able to pursue individual civil lawsuits against the company.
The February 7, 2010 explosion at a natural gas power plant in Middletown, CT that killed six people resulted in $16.6 million in penalties. OSHA cited three construction companies and 14 subcontractors for a total of 371 safety violations, 225 of which were considered deliberate violations.
In a recent incident, a rail contractor’s employee suffered permanently disabling injuries after failing to follow safe work procedures at a Wyoming metal/non-metal mine. The mine operator was heavily fined by MSHA, a criminal prosecution of the trainer ensued, and a personal injury action resulted in the jury awarding more than $6 million. The mine operator, the contractor and several individuals employed by the companies were all named as defendants in the tort action.
Brett:
The direct costs of an incident related to not managing contractor compliance will differ from situation to situation, but are likely to consist of the following:
FINES AND PENALTIES Fines and penalties make up a substantial chunk of expenditure for companies because of incidents tied to improper contractor compliance management. Various local and international organizations such as OSHA, MSHA, HSE, EPA, and others impose rules and regulations to protect the safety of workers and breaking these rules will lead to citations.
DAMAGES & REPAIR COSTS If a contractor working at your site causes an accident, your organization will be required to make reparations for damages to anyone injured in the incident and for any property destroyed.
LOST TIME Workplace incidents interrupt normal production. It will take time to restore operations after any incident. New workers may require training to replace those who have been injured. That means lost productivity and revenue that may not be recoverable.
LITIGATION COSTS & CIVIL DAMAGES Any incident could lead to a series of lawsuits and the owner/operator could be held liable for the injury claims, damages and fines above and beyond the costs assigned to the contractor.
INCREASED INSURANCE COSTS After an incident an owner/operator will pay more for insurance and workers compensation premiums. These increased costs will be used to offset the cost of likely claims, administrative fees, and the risk of potential future incidents.
Brett:
According to the American Society of Safety Professionals, the indirect costs of a worksite incident are estimated to be 20x the direct costs of the same incident. While harder to quantify than direct costs, the indirect costs of a worksite safety incident are no less important and may include:
Strained employee relations
Overtime to offset production down time
Management & supervisory investigative time post-incident
Reputation damage
Poor employee morale
Psychological impacts on affected employees
Future difficulty hiring new employees
In the end, the decision to actively manage compliance versus “hoping for the best” comes down to the risk tolerance profile of a business. However, numerous cross-industry studies have shown that a proactive investment in safety and compliance management will decrease the likelihood of a workplace incident and provide a company with a defensible position in event of an accident. Ultimately, as the owner/operator you must decide; do you want to spend some amount now on contractor compliance or potentially spend much more in the future on damages and fines?
Should you make the choice to invest in contractor compliance management, our next section details a roadmap to assist with your program implementation and the selection of a vendor partner.
Pat:
Implementing a formalized contractor compliance management program is a significant initiative that can have an immediate impact on your organization and insulate the business against the risk of potential financial liabilities. For these reasons, it helps to have a solid plan to guide your activities during start-up and implementation.
Since 2002 BROWZ has been helping Fortune 500 companies in the mining, chemical, manufacturing, energy, pharmaceutical, and other industries with their contractor compliance management initiatives. Based on experience helping many companies to get started we suggest the following roadmap for success:
Find the Right Partner
Dig into the Software
Get Your House in Order
Implement Best Practices
Pat:
Contractor compliance management is a complex and administratively intense activity. An effective program requires automation that may exceed the scope of your in-house capabilities. Contractor compliance also requires time and attention that your existing staff may not be able to spare. Therefore, it may make sense to work with an external vendor who specializes in contractor compliance management services and solutions. The amount of consultative assistance that you expect to receive will vary from vendor to vendor. Make sure you ask for specifics about the start-up and on boarding process. Ask to speak with client references. Ask the vendors about their client retention. These inquiries will help you to identify which vendor has the “personality” that will best mesh with your organization.
Brett:
Many vendors base their business on a software package that automates most aspects of contractor compliance management. These tools will form the backbone of your overall program. Therefore, you should conduct an in-depth review and comparison of different vendor tools. At a minimum the software should feature:
Software-as-a-Service/Web-based delivery
Uptime guarantees
Advanced risk assessment tools and functionality
Hosting in a high-quality data center and reliable application availability—legitimate compliance providers should be able to provide credible documentation
An easy-to-use interface with intuitive compliance icons
Brett:
Configuration options that make the solution adaptable for your business
Multi-lingual capabilities
Data integration options to work with existing systems like ERP
Ability to override compliance requirements
Customization options
Value added services such as online training courses
Brett:
Assemble your internal team who will work on the compliance management program implementation. Consult with your risk management, safety, and procurement teams to define the thresholds and compliance requirements that will be used for your contractors. Determine the documentation requirements to support qualification. Your requirements should mitigate risk but be reasonable for safe contractor organizations to meet.
Remember that not all contractors may have the same level of risk associated with their activities and there may be different compliance models. Work with your compliance solutions provider to define the models that most accurately support your business and fit your risk profile. Qualification criteria may could include:
Financial Stability
Environmental Health & Safety
Quality Systems
CSR/Sustainability
Legal
Insurance
Business Continuity
Diversity Status
And more...
Pat:
Remember, you are not alone in this endeavor to implement contractor compliance management. Many organizations have gone down this road before you and you can learn from their best practices and successes. Your vendor partner should be able to help you with identifying and defining industry best practices that apply to your business. At a minimum your vendor should be able to offer recommendations about industry and geographic specific thresholds, activities to monitor, and expected program outcomes and measurement.
Pat:
To successfully manage compliance; your contractors will need to partner with you. Compliance providers should offer services to minimize the impact on your contractors and ultimately your business relationships. Credible compliance solutions offer proactive support to your contractor population such as data entry support, data validation and proactive compliance assistance with both inbound and outbound call support. Don’t settle for traditional call centers, ensure that your compliance provider is willing to assign a single point of contact to every contractor you employ. This will ensure the most efficient process as compliance agents become intimately familiar with your organization and the needs of your contractors.
Brett:
Depending on the complexity of your compliance program, there may be fees assessed to both you and your contractors. Be cautious of compliance providers offering low cost options, claiming to also offer full contractor support. Asking for contractor references is not uncommon, and it will enable you to find out what type of support they truly receive.
Brett:
Less credible providers often have hidden fees or charge contractors “minimal fees” but assess those fees for every site you employ the contractor. A $99 contractor fee can quickly become $1,000 or more if that contractor works at multiple site locations.
Pat:
It’s never too early to begin letting your contractors know that your organization will be implementing a new compliance management program. Keeping your contractors “in the loop” can help to alleviate any fears and address any concerns prior to program start-up. As with any change, there are bound to be hiccups, but your vendor partner should be able to help you by providing materials and information that can be shared with your contractors. Ideally your vendor will also have a designated customer service team focused on addressing the needs of your contractors. In the end, the implementation of your compliance management program should not negatively impact your relationships with your contractors.
Pat:
When implementing your contractor compliance management program remember that what works for your business today may be different tomorrow. Compliance is not a one-time event. Rather, it is a dynamic state that can vary from contractor to contractor and from day-to-day. Flexibility is key, both in the design of your processes and in the software that your vendor uses to support your needs.
Pat:
Each time a contractor enters your work site your organization is at risk. To manage this risk your business must make the decision whether to invest in a contractor compliance management solution. If a contractor has not received proper screening, or an unqualified contractor is hired without checking their credentials, their inexperienced acts may lead to an accident occurring at the work site that could lead to a string of problems and uncertain economic consequences.
Brett:
Research has shown that an upfront investment in compliance management does correlate to reductions in the long-term costs of non-compliance. Therefore, every organization that employs contractors should weigh the estimated costs of a preventative compliance management solution, as outlined above, versus the uncertainty of potential fines, damages, and other economic impacts.
Brett:
When your organization is ready to implement a contractor qualification and management program, or improve your existing processes, BROWZ can help. Our team can help you to implement best practices while minimizing the impact on your contractors by offering superior, dedicated support to help with qualification. We also believe in straight-forward pricing that ensures you – and your contractors – won’t be surprised by hidden fees or costs after program implementation.
We’ll open it up for questions…
Seeded Questions:
This makes sense from a site operators perspective, but how do contractors react to these programs?
I’ve been pushing for these programs for years, but I can get buy in. Any suggestions for changing the culture.
I’m not at my desk most of the time, I’m on the floor with our suppliers. Doesn’t seem like it would be very effective if you expect me to have my computer to check the data. What do others do?
What types of industries do you provide services? Do you work outside of the U.S.?