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"Steton's solution has allowed Sodexo to proactively manage our auditing program, substantially increasing our efficiency and accuracy."

--Mike Dunn
Zone Director for Quality Assurance & Food Safety for Sodexo

Sodexo, Inc. (www.sodexoUSA.com) is the leading provider of food and facilities management in the U.S., Canada, and Mexico with $6 billion in annual revenue and 120,000+ employees. Sodexo, Inc. offers innovative outsourcing solutions in food service, housekeeping, grounds keeping, plant operations and maintenance, asset management, and laundry services to more than 6,000 corporations, healthcare, long-term care and retirement centers, schools, college campuses, military, and remote sites throughout North America. Headquartered in Gaithersburg, MD, Sodexho, Inc. proudly serves as the official food service provider for the U.S. Marine Corps.

The Challenge: Inefficient Data Analysis

Although Sodexo had relied on paper audits to monitor food and physical safety in the past, the challenges of a technology-driven marketplace and the necessity to transfer information instantaneously made it critical for the company to identify a new system that would offer the speed and precision essential to Sodexo's objectives. "The data we collected was difficult to organize into a manageable review format," said Mike Dunn, Sodexo's Director of Product Quality Assurance. “The Steton Quality Suite system has provided us with a mechanism to quickly and easily identify food safety and physical safety deficiencies and implement corrective action plans."

The challenges faced by Sodexo are common to paper-based and partially automated food and physical safety auditing programs. It was clear that an enhanced system would provide Sodexho with the velocity and functionality needed to achieve their auditing objectives in the most effective and efficient manner possible.

The Discovery: Value and Commitment

Sodexo wanted a solution that was powerful and scaleable with the assurance that it would meet their specific needs. According to Dunn, “We looked to Steton because they had a solid reputation for innovative development and the capability and capacity to address our needs. In addition, it was evident they were committed to the future of this technology. From a business perspective, we needed a functionally superior product that could grow with us. Steton Quality Suite (SQS) definitely exceeded our expectations."

The Solution: Technology with SQS

“SQS gives us a consistency you just cannot achieve with books and paper," states Dunn. “By using SQS we significantly improved our efficiency, thus increasing the annual number of compliance audits completed throughout our company. More importantly, the improved audit technology has given us the opportunity to raise the bar on our ‘satisfactory' or ‘passing' scores, which resulted in decreased risks for the company."

Automatically generated customized reports provide Sodexho with immediate knowledge, key insights, and decision-making power that was simply not possible with a manual or quasi-automated system.

According to Dunn, "Steton's system has allowed Sodexho to proactively manage our auditing program substantially increasing our efficiency and accuracy. The key is to identify trends early, then activate the tools necessary to correct any revealed deficiencies."

The flexibility of the SQS program allows Sodexo to not only examine data from a company-wide perspective, but also by division and sub-division. In addition, SQS provides the mechanism to create reports for different sub-hierarchy levels. As audits are completed and uploaded onto the web-based system, an audit report is generated and automatically e-mailed to the Sodexho operation and its management team.

“Recent technology has allowed us to create an audit summary report that is sent via blackberry pager to the executive team members as soon as their division's latest audits have been uploaded to the system," adds Dunn.

The ability to identify and correct deficiencies early has enabled Sodexho to successfully manage risk. According to Dunn, “We've seen a direct correlation between improved audit scores and a decrease in risk to our business due to food and physical safety concerns."

The use of SQS also has provided Sodexo with a competitive advantage. “To obtain our contract with the United States Marine Corps, we were required to have real-time audit data available electronically," states Dunn. “Our utilization of SQS positively impacted our bid for the Marine Corps contract."

Value: Greater Control at a Lower Cost

As costly and inefficient as paper-based and semi-automated systems are, selecting the wrong technology or choosing in-house development can send costs spiraling out-of-control.

A key to successfully integrating technology for managing quality and safety programs is to implement software that is developer independent. Software that is user-friendly, with in-depth administrative controls, is imperative for a successful long-term and cost-effective solution. Sodexo has recognized these advantages with SQS. Dunn states, “The continual advancements of SQS provide us with in-depth administrative control over our food and physical safety audit programs. Our program costs are more easily kept in check utilizing SQS. In fact, our administrative costs have actually decreased."

3rd Party Auditors: Maximizing Efficiency

Sodexho analyzes data from 7,000 food and physical safety audits conducted each year at their 3,500 facilities. With the SQS system fully implemented, Sodexho determined that it was feasible to have a third-party auditor, NSF International, Inc., perform their extensive audits.

According to Dunn, “SQS allows us to put comprehensive tools in place to manage third-party auditors. For example, if an auditor, who has been trained in all of the Sodexho standards, comes across a situation that is not clear-cut, we have a tool in place to help them. The SQS software gives the auditor an opportunity to refer to a more in-depth policy statement associated with each question." These in-depth policy statements are accessible throughout the audit on the same handheld computer device used to conduct the audit. This dramatically improves audit quality as the risk of auditors misjudging their findings is minimized.

More on Steton: Empowering Organizations

Established in 1996, Steton is the leading provider of mobile data collection and reporting software for quality and safety professionals responsible for public health and consumer safety. Steton empowers organizations to avoid loss and increase compliance through improved data accuracy, corrective action management, and real-time reporting.

A snapshot of Steton's clients include the top three quick-service restaurants in the world, the world's number one retailer, leading food processors, the global leader in contract food service, the world's largest hotel chain, leading third-party auditors and labs, government agencies, airlines, correctional facilities, and the list goes on. These prominent organizations have turned to Steton to help protect their most valuable assets — people, products, and brands. Steton's rapidly expanding list of clients across multiple industries has made Steton's software the technology standard for quality and safety professionals.