In the last twenty years there has been a big push for improvements in quality that can be gained from certification under schemes such as ISO 9001. Nowhere is this more apparent than in the IT industry. I have become involved in this myself and I am a proud owner of a Quality Assurance Internal Auditor’s certificate. There are tens of thousands of companies who are ISO certified. What are the benefits? Some companies have made genuine improvements to their product or service delivery by going through the certification procedure. Many companies have obtained a marketing competitive edge by advertising that they are ISO certified. ISO certification has become big business. During my research for this blog I discovered a multitude of businesses which are advertising services to companies wishing to join the club. I found very few website contributors explaining from an objective point of view what quality management systems and ISO 9001 are all about; only Wikipedia had much to say on the subject.
Quality management has two main components: Quality Assurance which is all about the processes and procedures that need to be in place to guarantee quality and Quality Control which is all about testing a product or service against a pre-determined standard.
So what is quality? It can be described in many ways but my preferred description is “fitness for purpose”. Over the course of my thirty year career, in the IT profession, I have seen the importance of producing high quality software. The software must match the intended business purpose and it must be produced in the most cost effective way. To repair broken software is four times as expensive as producing a top quality product in the first place. Even if you produce top quality software, you are in deep trouble if it does not meet its intended business purpose.
Throughout history companies and suppliers of goods and services have seen the need for quality management even if it has been on an informal basis without official recognition by outside bodies. Companies such as Mercedes Benz, Rolls Royce and Bentley have established an absolute reputation for high quality by attention to detail and total quality management, and all without the need for outside auditors. They set the standards for quality in the automotive industry and it was difficult for their competitors to emulate them.
But what about the IT profession for which I have worked for so long. When IT was in its infancy there was a lot of resistance to change and the IT industry had to deliver software to exceptional standards to prove that it could make improvements to business processes and productivity. Failure was simply not an option. Regrettably much of the IT industry lost its way after the 1970’s and 1980’s and the industry became bloated and inefficient. Project cost and time overruns became more common as did the complete failure to deliver. In the early 1990’s confidence in the IT industry was beginning to wane. What better way to improve quality management systems and the competitive edge than by gaining ISO certification? You could prove that you were as good as any one else. Once the bandwagon started it accelerated. But, has the quality of IT delivery improved since the introduction is the ISO 9001 scheme? My view is that in general it has not. There has to be a total and continuous commitment to quality and too many companies are just paying lip service after becoming certified. So the old adage of “caveat emptor” must still prevail; so let the buyer beware.
In the course of my career I have taken time off to study wine. There are many lessons to be learnt from how the wine industry applied its quality control systems. In Europe the wine industry has been governed by quality standards since the middle of the 20th century. In 1935 the French government imposed new wine laws as part of the Appellation d'Origine Contrôlée system. This system was used to assure the quality of vine growing and the means of wine production. A similar system has been introduced throughout the European Union and it has had varying results. Suppliers clamour to get into the top quality appellation to improve their sales. In France and other countries the system was subject to much abuse. In bad years when the harvest was cold and wet and the grapes did not ripen properly there was a temptation to add sugar to the fermenting must to increase the levels of alcohol . This practice of “Chaptalisation” is illegal in most wine regions. In times of a bad harvest there was also a temptation for producers in Northern France to import, illegally, riper grapes from the south or even Italy to improve the taste or “quality” of the wine. Many consumers could not tell that their red Burgundy was in fact adulterated with wine from the south of France. At one time the whole French system was in danger of completely losing its reputation. In the 1980’s there was a scandal involving Austrian wines when some unscrupulous producers added industrial based glycerol to the wine to improve the sweetness and the feel of the wine in the mouth. This scandal nearly broke the back of the Austrian wine export industry. Governments were forced to act to improve standards and independent testing. It is only in the last ten years or so, however, that the French authorities have actually tasted the wines as a measure of quality control. Whilst the more stringent measures have lead to a general improvement in quality, it is the force of the market that is really pushing up the level of quality in Europe. Wines from the new World where there are no government imposed standards are making big inroads into the traditional export markets of France, Italy and Spain. This is happening at the lower end of the market, but some American and Australian wines at the high end are now beginning to compete on equal terms with the top wines of Europe. Despite what it says on the label and whether the wine production is subject to quality controls or not, you are best advised to taste the wine for yourself before you buy a case. There is still a lot of bad wine on the market which is fit only to be poured down the drain. Once again let the buyer beware; a lot of poor quality wine which is not worth the money has been certified by the authorities.
A similar situation prevails in the market place for other products and services. A clean bill of health, as certified by an approved ISO 90001 auditor, does not guarantee that that the customer will get what he expects: that is top quality. The certification programme only ensures that a supplier adheres to procedures to deliver a pre-specified product or service. The auditors do not test the final product or service against a market standard. I repeat there is no guarantee that the customer will receive top quality.
From a marketing point of view being approved by a body such as the International Standards Organisation can be very important. Most customers see this is as being a guarantee of a superior product or service. It is a good selling point. However, many suppliers are only paying lip service to quality assurance. The customer must make his own efforts to ensure that the supplier is genuine and not just relying upon a certificate. Often it is better to have the courage to trust your own judgement about who can deliver the right level of quality for your business.
What is the customer to do? The IT industry in many respects is a special case. It is delivering products which have no physical being. It also delivers service. It is difficult for the customer to pre-judge the quality of the final outcome. You can taste a bottle of wine to decide if it suits your needs before you buy a case. You can test drive a car. When you buy software you can perform a proof of concept exercise to give yourself some assurance that the software will meet your basic needs but this can be long winded and expensive process. Once you have bought the software you will probably have to modify it and the software supplier will need to provide design, programming and implementation services. If your supplier is ISO 9001 certified, it does not mean that you will be guaranteed top quality performance. When you commit to a new IT project it is often difficult to back out or it is perceived to be too expensive to replace a supplier who does not come up to expectations. But, if you make the wrong decision and employ people who are not up to standard you face a bottomless pit to throw your money in. It is so important that you apply common sense and hard headed decision making when selecting a provider. Do not allow the fear factor to enter into the equation and satisfy yourself that you have selected the best supplier just because of an ISO certificate. You do this at your own peril. You must be fearless and trust your own judgement. As part of the due diligence process you must assure yourself that the supplier genuinely wants to serve the common purpose of both you as the customer, and the IT industry in general. You should also interview the staff who will be deployed on the project to ensure that they are capable of doing a good job and know how to adhere to the highest industry standards. Above all, seek out the independent opinion of other customers. A supplier who does not have ISO certification may fit the bill better than one who has, so have the courage to select wisely. IT projects are too expensive to be allowed to fail because of a lack of due diligence on the part of the customer. To rely, solely, an ISO certificate is simply not good enough.
When I need new tyres for my car or it needs to be serviced I go to my local garage just down the road which provides a high quality of maintenance at a favourable price. I checked them out with my friends before I used them and on the first few occasions when I visited I verified their work. I trust them to do a good job but they are not ISO certified. They are professionals and their customers know it. Why pass on the extra cost, of becoming certified, to the customer when you do not need to?
I always use my local garage. However, when I am on the road and get a puncture I go to KwikFit as I know they will do a good job but they can proudly display their ISO certificate on the foyer wall too.
