When it comes to prevention and protection at work, administrative simplification is a very important concern. After all, automating procedures and exchanging personal data digitally ensure clear reporting and streamlined communication between the various actors in the field.
In 2021, the External Service for Prevention and Protection at Work, Mediwet, started a collaboration with BDO. The aim? Expert guidance on the selection and implementation of new management software. How does Tom Laureys, Director HR, Legal & IT at Mediwet, evaluate this cooperation?
About Mediwet
Mediwet is a government-recognised External Service for Prevention and Protection at Work. For its member employers in Flanders and Brussels, it fulfils two core activities: medical surveillance and risk management.
“From these two pillars, we provide various advice and assistance, risk analyses, occupational medicine, measurements in the field of occupational hygiene and toxicology, occupational safety, ergonomics and psychosocial well-being at work,” Tom confirms.
Selection process for management software
Based on the need to automate internal procedures, share (medical) data more smoothly and securely with other partners and offer customers specific risk assessment tools, Mediwet's management decided to launch a management software selection process. Tom explains: “This was a complex exercise, as we had to map our current business processes and outline our future way of working, while not always having an idea of the possibilities ourselves. Since BDO is active in audit and IT tailored to the healthcare sector, we decided to partner with them to help guide and monitor this process.”
Expert support
This cooperation started through contacts between Tom and Koen Claessens of BDO. “As partner for BDO Belgium's Risk & Assurance Service department, Koen was our logical first point of contact,” Tom indicates. “Then Senior Manager Renaat Toppets came into the picture, still our central contact at BDO to this day. Renaat helped put his shoulder to the wheel throughout the selection and implementation process of our new management software, and he did an excellent job!”
Objective quality control
One of the tasks Renaat carried out was to determine, via workshops with Mediwet employees, which wishes and needs new software should meet. “This thorough study phase led to an extensive set of specifications to which interested software suppliers could respond,” says Tom. “This yielded 'usual suspects', but also some surprising market players. This allowed us to explore the software vendor market with an open mind.”
Renaat also assisted Tom and his colleagues in the selection, assessment of software demos and the final choice of the best package. “Within Mediwet, we don't have the knowledge and expertise in-house to draw up specifications ourselves and coordinate their concrete follow-up. Thanks to the cooperation with BDO, we have a reliable partner on board who controls this process from A to Z and at the same time monitors the implementation process of the management software. An external partner like Renaat objectively watches over the quality of our software and the working method of our implementation partner. He is strict but fair!”
Proactive communication
In any case, communication between BDO and Mediwet is excellent. Tom is full of praise for how proactively Renaat communicates: “I see a high level of commitment and the will to resolutely tackle practical bottlenecks in the selection and implementation process. Because Renaat is always present at our two-weekly meeting with our implementation partner, we play short ball together on potential bottlenecks. That approach pays off!”