It’s an exciting time of year in the environmental health industry. We’ve wrapped up another insightful summer/fall conference season for Hedgerow Software in California, Texas, Michigan and Louisiana for NEHA’s AEC. We were able to reconnect with numerous agency clients across the country while making many new EH friends. There were some common threads across NEHA’s AEC, regional leadership conferences, and state-wide AECs that we wanted to discuss today. Especially as we begin work on our 2024 environmental health trends article (see 2023 article), which is a fun process of research and reflection.
Trend 1 - Agencies must learn to successfully manage moving targets
As we settle into a new normal after the pandemic, agencies have mentioned how difficult it’s become to manage ever-moving targets. Whether it be widely varying program funds with COVID dollars drying up, a highly volatile political climate, and ‘surprise’ or changing regulatory programs, the current state of environmental health has become increasing complex to navigate. One solution discussed has been for more peer networking opportunities across the industry, with agency leaders regularly connecting with others to share stories and best practices.
Trend 2 - agencies are busier than ever
Local economies are flourishing and new operators at restaurants, pools, and other businesses are keeping EH teams busy with permit requests, inspections, etc. Based on recent conversations with agencies across four states, it appears environmental health teams of all sizes are looking for new tools and technology to empower their teams.
Furthermore, with so many new environmental health leaders in place, and higher demands on field inspectors, many agencies are looking for better tools and processes to enable their inspectors and back office staff. As we’ve learned first-hand from agencies, many are faced with 30%+ inspection gaps, which has been a difficult delta to close with smaller staffs and continued headwinds for hiring critical positions. One solution is to increase citizen education and engagement through technology that improves communication, saves resources, and removes low value activities for employees, such as unnecessary travel time. For agencies considering new technology, make sure to read my thoughts on why we need a new RFP process -- a request for productivity.
trend 3 - Project implementations, training and support are top of mind
The next trend is an interesting one. For the first time, environmental health practitioners are asking us detailed questions at conferences about the technology implementation process. Usually when an agency evaluates technology, this question comes from IT teams. This is now a much more common question posed by EH practitioners. We suppose the driver for this topic is due to one of our competitor’s struggles to implement new agencies. We’ve heard many complaints about other projects where the right expectations aren’t being set with agencies about what their technology can solve. Also, how long it will take to implement the technology and effectively train an EH team. If you’re looking for tips to ask a tech provider, please see this recipe for a successful implementation article from earlier this year.
trend 4 - Debate over specialized EH technology vs broad enterprise tools (building and permitting)
In my blog post last year I wrote about the benefits of technology specialization for EH teams vs broader building and permitting tools. Recent conversations have reminded us that it’s still top of mind with agencies. For example, a common request at our booth in Texas was for demos featuring a robust set of programs beyond food and beverage. The fact that other technology vendors are struggling to provide tools to manage an extensive group of EH programs at the onset of an implementation, is disturbing. It’s been made very clear that EH teams need the ability to manage an entire portfolio of programs, not just food and beverage. Make sure you clarify with your technology partner that this can be achieved, or look for better alternatives to support your teams.
What other environmental health conference trends did we miss or should we be thinking about for 2024? Please connect with me on LinkedIn to continue the conversation.
