Quality should be the top priority

The word 'Quality' has never been on top of the agenda for the channel
community as a whole and solution providers in particular. Their only mantra has
been business and more business. However, the perception seems to be changing
now. A lot of them have begun to give serious thought to quality as a way to
enhance their standing in the market, which in turn should help them in getting
more business.

Interestingly, a new awareness of quality has dawned amongst the channel
community. Words like ISO and TQM are on almost everybody's lips. The underlying
motive is of course, better business prospects. Although, most of the people are
inclined towards ISO certification, logic dictates otherwise. However, in the
long run, rising quality standards can only prove

beneficial.

Realizing its potential, the entire industry seems to be jumping onto the
quality bandwagon. But, they don't seem to be sure about how to go about it.
Ideally speaking, there are two ways of achieving quality. One, aim for TQM
(total quality management) and in the process achieve ISO standard. The other
way would be to go straight for ISO certification.

Here, a number of questions arise. Which of these two routes solution
providers are taking? How are they going about implementing these concepts? Most
of them are heading towards ISO certification. Their view is that the TQM
concept takes more time and effort than the ISO certification, which can be
achieved in less than two years.

All that is fine, but why is ISO certification important? Experts believe
that it results in enhancement of confidence level amongst the employees.
Productivity also goes up considerably. Then, information availability at all
levels is easier and faster. Lastly, status of each project can be tracked in a
better way and customer satisfaction can be monitored for repeat orders. In
addition, ISO certification forces companies to discipline themselves, as it is
a continuous improvement process.

Essentially, the philosophy behind ISO is that a well thought out system will
produce predicted quality consistently, with consistency in the implementation
of the system at every stage-not only is design, production or manufacturing-but
in policies and actions of all departments.

Having talked about the need for quality and certification for the channel
community, it seems that I too need to focus on the same. Two issues back in the
edit "Hard drive market is getting exciting", I mentioned one Sharad
Khurana being the new country head of Seagate. Actually, it is Rajesh Khurana.
My apologies to him as well as Seagate. Hope Rajesh will not withdraw his offer
to take me out for a drink, which he promised last month!!

Asim Raina