A Stamp Of Quality

Competition is the name of the game and staying ahead is the key
for survival.' Like others, this rule also applies to the solutions provider
community. Against the face of growing business, and hence increased
competition, solution providers have begun to realize the need to provide their
customers a differentiation factor, in terms of service, products, price and
technology. And one of the many ways to do that, they believe, is acquiring
various kinds of process-related certifications, like the ISO. While these
certifications by themselves do not help increase business, they certainly seem
to help companies get an edge over the competition.

 ISO stands for 'same' in Greek. The International
Organization for Standardization issued the standard to promote the development
of international standards and facilitate the exchange of goods and services
worldwide. The ISO 9000 series was published in 1987 and revised in 1994. Its
implementation and certification is being applied to a wide range of operations
in services as well as industries. In fact, in many cases, compliance to
standards like ISO 9001, 9002 or 9003 is required by customers or government
bodies in their purchasing specifications.

Why ISO?

ISO has a universal appeal and its new model released in 2000 is well suited
to IT, compared to the 1994 version. Companies today believe that the right kind
of interpretation of this model and adherence to the same in letter and spirit
enables them to reap the maximum benefits. Solution providers believe that in
order to provide significant value to the customer, they need to constantly
improve as organizations. This success requires robust processes and rigorous
quality standards.

-Saket Kapur, MD, Green Vision "The certification was certainly a necessary step to gain elevation in business"

In addition, to be the best in the business, solutions providers
have to continuously improve and benchmark themselves against the best-in-class
quality organization. Certifications are, therefore, an external validation of
quality standards. And importantly, most solution providers believe in the need
to leverage on these quality certifications as a strength and differentiator to
aid sales efforts.

According to Rajeev Arora of TQ Vision, a certification provider
based in Delhi, "A certification to ISO 9000 QMS increases the customer's
confidence in the supplier's quality and delivery commitments. Since ISO 9000
QMS is universally recognized, it helps companies to penetrate global markets,
while also improving the performance." Besides, ISO certification helps in
standardization of key processes in a company. "And once they are defined,
ISO encourages organizations to focus on continual improvement," asserts
Kapil Nakra of Whizlabs, another company that helps organizations to obtain
quality certifications. 

Getting It

All ISO requirements are generic and are intended to be applicable to all
organizations, regardless of type and size. Companies need to define, document,
and implement the requirements of the standard ISO 9001:2000 to get certified.
Certifying bodies like TUV Rheinland, TUV Sutherland, KPMG, and BVQI, could help
obtain certification. After selecting the certifying body, the company has to
give information to the certifying body about its nature of business, number of
employees and its geographical presence. Depending on the size of the
organization, an ISO certification can be obtained three to 18 months after the
process has begun.

For this, first, they need to consult an individual quality
auditor or a firm of quality consultants well versed in ISO matters, seeking a
detailed orientation for understanding and, thereby, adequately meeting the
requirements of quality standards. The top brass should then identify the ISO
category under which their organization falls, for example, ISO 9001, 9002 or
9003. There ought to be some system already in existence, either written or
oral, with regard to adherence to quality of the product produced by the
organization, be it a produce or service. The organization has to review the
existing oral/documented quality system, identify procedural areas for
modification, and then decide on what needs to be implemented and how to format
the ISO 9000 required quality manual.

Once through, different members of the organization involved in
the procedure need to agree on a feasible deadline for inviting the
certification body for conducting the necessary audit required for the ISO
certification. Then, they have to make a documented report on planning and
implementation of procedures for ISO Certification. With the help of the report,
they are then required to identify the appropriate personnel/departments for
working on the procedures required to have a compliant quality manual to review
and update the QA manual(s) for compliance with the ISO standard. Here, it is
advisable to produce a flow chart to illustrate the interrelation of all the
procedures. The company also has to arrange for training of the appropriate
personnel at all levels of the organization on the procedures detailed in the
quality manual.

A Must Have

The organization needs to conduct internal quality audits at pre-agreed
intervals to verify compliance with quality procedures. It is the main
requirement of ISO. Then, the organization has to initiate corrective actions on
any deviation found and conduct periodic management meetings to review the
performance of the quality system and the corrective action process.

Finally, it is now the time to bring in the registrar of the
certifying body to conduct the certification audit, which is a very detailed
audit procedure, from auditing the management team to the line team. All the
clauses are thoroughly checked to ascertain whether the employees have
understood the concepts well. An ISO certificate is issued for a period of three
years, after which it has to be renewed. The certifying body conducts periodic
audits every six, nine or 12 months during this time, depending upon the size
and operations of the organization to make sure that they are adhering to the
ISO certification standards.

The Difference 

According to Saket Kapur, MD of Green Vision, "The non-tangible
benefits of the exercise were evident from the existing and prospective
customers who thought of us as a more quality conscious and serious player.
Certain businesses, which required ISO as a pre-qualification, became
accessible. Moreover, the written down procedures and processes brought in more
accountability with the working staff." Though it is very difficult to
assign the increased business solely to getting the ISO certification, Saket
believes that the certification was certainly a necessary step to gain elevation
in business.

Subbalakshmi BM, with inputs from Zia Askari and Gopikrishna mail@dqindia.com