The surrounding environment and the pace of modern life are evolving rapidly, making the need for digital solutions in everyday work increasingly evident. Changes in technology and the business environment clearly show that digitalisation and automation are no longer just advantages but essential components of growth. “I vividly remember our manager saying that digitalisation is not a choice, but a necessity for sustainable development,” emphasizes Gustavs Garaissils, Strategic Process Manager at SIA “Mācību centrs ‘Liepa’”, who is responsible for developing the support tool – the occupational safety digital assistant ZALO.
“Liepa” is an organisation with more than 20 years of experience, currently operating both as a provider of professional development and continuing education and as a competent institution in occupational safety. It offers high-quality training, as well as consulting and support in complying with regulatory requirements and creating a safe working environment. The company representative highlights that the trust and feedback of partners are crucial for “Liepa” to grow and develop new services and products. This feedback led to the creation of a new solution – the support tool ZALO, a digital assistant for occupational safety.
“We had been thinking about introducing digital solutions for quite some time, as the entire sector is rapidly digitalising. This is important not only to strengthen competitiveness but also to organise and streamline internal processes. We came to a logical conclusion – now is the right moment to act and purposefully move towards development. After analysing existing tools in the industry and listening to clients’ daily challenges, we developed a convenient and user-friendly digital assistant that significantly simplifies occupational safety management at all levels of a company,” says Garaissils.
A digital assistant that helps work smarter and better
Occupational safety systems involve a large amount of documentation, and one of the key goals was to reduce paper consumption and administrative burden. ZALO is designed as a practical digital assistant that helps manage all essential occupational safety measures in a structured, unified, and transparent system, including safety briefings, mandatory health checks, and other related processes and tasks. It is not just a document management tool – it enables smarter, more transparent, and more efficient daily work.
“As we like to say, thanks to ZALO, company management can sleep peacefully at night, knowing that everything in occupational safety is under control. From our own experience, before implementing the digital system, one of the biggest challenges was data structuring and accessibility. Information was often stored across different folders, servers, and files that were not interconnected. This created situations where information technically existed but was practically unusable because it was difficult to find, track, and keep up to date. ZALO solves this by providing a unified environment where all data is structured, interconnected, and easy to access. It also significantly improves traceability – it is clear who did what and when,” explains Garaissils.
In occupational safety, a formal approach is often observed, where emphasis is placed on signatures rather than knowledge. ZALO promotes a more meaningful approach – employees review relevant safety information, test their knowledge, and only then confirm it with a signature. The system supports this understanding by presenting information in a structured way tailored to each employee’s daily tasks. Another key benefit is clear accountability. The system shows who is responsible for what, what has been completed, and what still needs to be done, reducing confusion, misunderstandings, and risks.
“Thanks to ZALO, the highly regulated and seemingly complex occupational safety process becomes understandable and transparent for everyone – not only specialists and management but also employees themselves. Another significant benefit is time savings. Companies can move away from countless Excel sheets, folders, and manual processes previously used to ensure compliance with occupational safety requirements,” highlights the project lead.
Increasing efficiency and competitiveness
After consulting with IT specialists and presenting the vision for ZALO, it became clear early on that the project could not be implemented with existing resources alone and required co-financing. The project was successfully realised thanks to the digitalisation support programme under the Recovery and Resilience Facility implemented by the Investment and Development Agency of Latvia (LIAA), aimed at promoting the digitalisation of business processes in small, medium, and large enterprises. The company also highlights the successful cooperation with IT product developer “Iconcept”, whose professional approach made it possible to implement the solution effectively.
“The goal of the support is to enhance the competitiveness of Latvian companies and increase productivity. We are very grateful for this opportunity, as without this support the project would have been significantly more difficult to implement. In our view, digitalisation is crucial for the development of Latvian businesses – it enables more efficient work, process optimisation, reduced administrative burden, and data-driven decision-making. It allows companies to achieve more with the same resources and become more competitive both locally and internationally. Working in both occupational safety and education, we clearly see how digitalisation supports the development of knowledge and skills within companies,” says Garaissils.
Although “Liepa” has only recently implemented ZALO in its daily operations, it is already evident that work efficiency and productivity have significantly increased, as previously manual document preparation processes are now largely automated. On-site visits have also become more efficient, requiring far less preparation time. ZALO has also helped attract new clients and opens opportunities for companies that are just beginning their digitalisation journey.
“We can already confidently say that we will continue on this path to offer the most convenient and effective occupational safety digital solution on the market. We will keep listening to our clients’ needs and may also use co-financing opportunities in the future to automate other processes,” adds Garaissils.
Latvian entrepreneurs have access to a wide range of state and European Union-funded support instruments for business development, available on the unified business portal business.gov.lv and its subsite liaa.business.gov.lv. There, companies can find information about various programmes – from funding for innovation and new product development to export promotion, international cooperation, digitalisation grants, technology implementation, and productivity improvement.
The project is co-financed by the European Union Recovery Fund (NextGenerationEU) under the Cohesion Policy Programme for 2021–2027. The article has been prepared with support from the Recovery Fund, and the views expressed are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the European Union or the European Commission. Neither the European Union nor the European Commission is responsible for them.
