Sustainable business from one QMS
As a QHSE/CAM manager, you have a lot to manage. Continuous improvement covers all aspects of companies and organizations. If risk management is also part of your scope, it becomes even more beautiful as well as comprehensive. In the field of sustainable business, there are current developments, which will also land on the QHSE/CAM manager's plate. Of course, ISO14001 was already known as an environmental standard. But CSRD and the environmental and sustainability aspects associated with it will be added.
Multi or mono?
With the increase in regulation on corporate sustainability, we also see all kinds of digital tools popping up that specialize in managing those issues. CSRD in particular seems to be an attractive market for such tools. The question we sometimes get lately is whether it is smart to use such a tool, or whether it is better to use your QMS for that. This is a legitimate question and we would like to address it.
Is specialization always a good thing?
You can expect specialized environmental/CSRD software to function for the purpose for which it was created. We have no value judgment on that. You could investigate that for yourself if you think it's worthwhile. In a tour of the fields, you will discover what the main differences are. But as you do that tour, a few questions immediately arise.
How does that specialized software connect to your other software, such as an ERP (enterprise resource planning) or a QMS (quality management system)? What does it cost to create and maintain those links? And how many systems do you want to have in place at all for certain task areas in your organization?
In our experience, the linkability of sustainability/CSRD software with other systems is far from obvious. If you're lucky, API links are woven into the architecture of that software. But that is not often - or only partially - the case. Is there a full API for all the data in the system or is only a limited number of data points linkable? In addition, you might wonder how many business processes you want to connect with links. After all, after the initial investment, links also require maintenance and associated costs. It is good to know that the challenge with links is always on two sides. If your own software can link everything you can think of, it's still not the case that the same is true at the other end of the line. So the motto is, the less you depend on links the better.
Apart from the above, IT departments would rather have fewer rather than more systems up and running. Costs aside, concerns around information security play a role in this. The more applications you use, the bigger the risk scope for IT. The basic attitude of every IT department is understandable and rightly so: no additional software if it is not necessarily needed.
What does integration thinking produce?
In 2016, ISO2HANDLE was founded. At that time, there were many specialized software packages in the market for standards- and industry-oriented quality and risk management. So you had separate packages for ISO9001 and VCA, as well as packages for healthcare, transportation, petrochemicals and the food processing industry. If you were unlucky, you were working with more manuals and software packages side by side. That didn't make the QHSE/CAM manager's life easy. Unsuspecting employees usually didn't know which manual to look at, and chaos was complete.
At the time (and still), ISO2HANDLE had a 180-degree change of heart. Soon after its founding, a framework was developed from which it was relatively easy to manage literally almost any standard or guideline imaginable. One system that effectively supported the principle of continuous improvement. Continuous improvement by consistently working from a PDCA cycle. That ISO2HANDLE system is completely independent of standards, but can effectively facilitate all known standards.
Corporate sustainability and the CSRD directive
So that's what integration thinking delivers. One system from which you can effectively manage every conceivable standard via the PDCA cycle. A system that you can also configure flexibly yourself and without technical knowledge so that it fits your company situation exactly.
Components for corporate sustainability and CSRD have since been added to that system.
With the sustainability module you manage everything around waste, CO2 registration and hazardous substances. You easily control your registration, management and improvement cycles via the ISO2HANDLE platform.
There is no quality and risk management software vendor as complete as ISO2HANDLE. Everything you need to manage quality and risk in the broadest sense is in ISO2HANDLE's sustainability app. All the features you could ever need in one ISO27001 certified SaaS solution.
Sorry for this long commercial, but we're just really excited about what we have here waiting for you. And we're not the only ones. Just read the customer stories on our website. These are customers who reap the benefits of the most complete and user-friendly system in the market every day. A system that can do everything and that continues to develop and improve without you having to do anything.
Want to take a look at that system? Then request a short online demo. Want to know more about the CSRD guideline? Then read our CSRD article.
