Forward-thinking organizations are employing a digitally enabled approach to environmental monitoring and product sampling programs and have seen the justification for doing so in new ways. Not only does a digitally automated approach to testing yield accelerated time-to-information, and therefore a more preventative stance… it can also drive new business benefits. This diverse panel of experts will relate their different perspectives as they have witnessed and participated in the early adoption of advanced technology and related data management techniques – as practitioners, educators, and technology developers. These perspectives will come together in this panel discussion session to reveal how to justify investment into digital innovation to achieve not only a more preventative stance, but also deliver multiple positive ROI impacts across a range of operational measures. Attendees will learn: • The means by which digitally automated testing programs reduce time-to-information and deliver “data democratization”. • Why it is time to re-think how we access and use data to inform food safety and sanitation program decisions. “What if the data found you when issues are trending, versus you having to go find the data?” • How new waves of graduates and young professionals are equipping themselves with advanced technology and data management knowledge and expertise, and why this is already impacting your organization. • Effective ways to articulate both the scientific and business benefits that underpin the justification for investing in digitally transforming food safety testing programs • How digitally transformed testing programs can change audits and regulatory inspection experiences