Mr. Naveen: In Pharma, as in other industries, we’re in an age where the needs and obligations of companies are evolving by the second – from accelerated product cycles to keeping up with investor and government demands for Environmental, Social, & Governance (ESG) metrics. Digital transformation, in this context is truly an enabler in keeping up, adapting, and moving at the pace of the industry and importantly, adopting a best-practice based digital solution gives companies access to benchmark with global trends, while still being able to configure the solution to suit specific business’ need. Digitalization can help companies quickly adapt to changing trends, challenges, and opportunities with confidence.
Dr. Reddy's: I agree! The evolving regulatory landscape, old and new diseases, and the need for efficient manufacturing operations mean that pharma companies need to step up and fast. Boosting their digital infrastructure is the only way to succeed in a world where disruptive technologies are changing the pharma landscape at a pace that is faster than businesses’ adaptive capacities. Companies that hope to thrive should look at the digital opportunities in their entire ecosystem – from enhancing their product’s journey through production and delivery to empowering employees and unlocking new revenue streams
Mr. Naveen: EHS digital transformation is the key to keeping your safety culture proactive! It can help pharmaceutical companies improve employee wellness and workplace hygiene, streamline compliance and reporting, increase sustainability, and improve programme performance. Now automating and streamlining workflows is just one aspect of digital transformation. There’s also the immensely powerful EHS data that possesses the ability to inform of critical safety decisions, allocating resources in the right direction, preventing accidents, and saving lives! By deploying a single digital EHS management platform that can manage companywide safety data, EHS teams can drive measurable improvements and use analytics to uncover hidden risks to the safety of employees.
Dr. Reddy's: At Dr. Reddy’s, we prioritise workplace safety by using the My Safety Index (MSI), a quantitative tool to monitor safety culture and management across our sites, measuring parameters like the LOTO index and Contractor Safety Management (CSM) index. As testament to our commitment to sustainability, we’re the first Indian pharmaceutical Company to commit to the Science Based Targets (SBTi) and our EHS Policy has been revised to take a holistic approach towards sustainability throughout our value chain. You can see that safety and sustainability are top priorities! When we looked at the scope of our safety and sustainability programmes, we identified the need for a digital system that could streamline workflows and increase efficiency across our EHS and ESG programmes.
Dr. Reddy's: It was important that our EHS digital partner was aligned with our core values of sustainability and our commitment to workplace safety. We zeroed in on Benchmark ESG | Gensuite, drawn to their best-practice-based EHS and ESG digital platform and a strong legacy of supporting organisations across the world in creating safer workplaces. We expressed our needs for an intuitive and user-friendly platform that can streamline workflows and help our safety leaders make critical decisions. When we implemented Gensuite digital system for our EHS and ESG needs, we adopted a phased approach. Implementing across two phases, we created smaller milestones, aiming at efficiently driving critical safety actions to closure, engaging employees in enhancing workplace safety, and meeting compliance needs. To date, we’re continuously innovating to improve our safety and sustainability culture, exploring newer opportunities and other advanced technologies.
Dr. Reddy's: Our employees are at the heart of our EHS programme! Digitalising our EHS processes has created a lasting impact on our safety culture, engaging employees, and empowering leadership to take critical decisions through impactful safety and sustainability data stories. Sure, we’re saving time, cutting down on costs, and experiencing enhanced employee productivity, but we’re exceptionally proud of the strong safety culture we’ve been able to build due to our digitalisation efforts. We can’t wait to dive deeper into the digital world, reaping all the benefits that advanced technologies like artificial intelligence (AI) have to offer in keeping our teams safe and the environment thriving.
Dr. Reddy's: Under the larger umbrella of the pharma industry, each company is unique with diverse culture and values. However, building a digital EHS & ESG management system from scratch can be timeconsuming and it may take years before you develop meaningful workflows. Look for a best-practice-based digital provider like Gensuite who can quickly automate your EHS workflows and customise their platform to meet your unique needs. As a next step, secure leadership buy-in by showing your leaders the power of data and technology in securing the safety of your teams. When implementing these technologies, start with smaller pilot projects. Use these as a guide to initiate enterprise-wide implementation, moving towards imbibing digital EHS into your organisation’s safety and sustainability culture. We believe that choosing the right digital partner is key – someone who listens to your unique needs, has the domain expertise and works carefully to meet these long after the initial implementation!
Mr. Naveen: Advanced technologies, especially AI, are taking the pharma industry by storm! From drug development to epidemic prediction, AI is fostering innovation, improving productivity, delivering better results across the value chain, and creating new business models. And EHS is no exception! It’s critical to processes across every function of pharma companies. With advanced technologies like AI, machine learning (ML), and predictive analytics, EHS professionals in pharma companies can identify and prevent fatal injuries and improve safety performance with increasing accuracy. Take Benchmark ESG’s PSI AI Advisor™ for instance. It identifies risk factors for potentially serious injuries (PSIs) in real time, helping safety leaders prevent the occurrence of workplace incidents that have the greatest potential for harm, saving lives in the process.
Mr. Naveen: The ESG spotlight is on companies worldwide and pharma companies are no exception! With mounting pressure from investors, government, regulators, and consumers, to report investmentgrade ESG data, pharma companies need to address the challenge – initiate climate action, reduce their Global Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emissions, report progress, and simultaneously keep their businesses sustainable and thriving in the long-term. Benchmark ESG’s intuitive and userfriendly digital solutions help you achieve your sustainability goals by seamlessly collecting and reporting investment-grade ESG data across global frameworks like GRI, CDP, SASB, BRSR, etc. Additionally, our solutions help you harness the power of detailed data and precise analytics to inform ESG strategies & maximise your performance.
Dr. Reddy's: It’s exciting to see how advanced technologies and digital transformation can enhance safety and sustainability processes in pharmaceutical companies. We encourage organisations to be open to this transition and dive into this exciting landscape with hope and optimism.
For more detail visit: www.benchmarkdigitalesg.com/contact-us/
Naveen G V is an Environmental, Health & Safety (EHS) and Management professional with 23+ years of experience spanning across Government, Consulting and Industry sectors. He is currently the Managing Director, AAPAC & Corporate Officer for Benchmark Digital Partners LLC, US & Benchmark ESG Pvt. Ltd., India, a US headquartered Company offering software solutions to global customers in managing their Environmental, Social & Governance (ESG) program. In his earlier role, Naveen was the EHS Leader at General Electric (GE) at Bangalore. Naveen has a Master’s degree in Environmental Engineering and is also a Lead Auditor for ISO 14001: Environmental Management System and RC 14001: Responsible Care Management System covering environmental, health, safety, security, product stewardship and outreach activities.
