It comes across as no surprise that solution providers today are increasingly opting to go for the coveted ISO certification. And why not? It has a universal appeal and helps improve various processes in a company, based on customer needs. Further, it increases customer confidence in the supplier's product quality and delivery commitments, in addition to helping solution providers penetrate the global market, thus making the cash registers ring louder.
Competition is the name of the game and staying ahead is the key for survival'. Like all else in the industry, this rule applies to the solutions provider community too. 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.
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 act as a buffer to help companies get an edge over competition.
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Infinite Computers Solutions
Bangalore-based Infinite Computer Solutions went in for an ISO 9001:2000 certification in March 2002 and were re-certified in May 2005. Infinite used an external audit agency and spent an initial one-time cost of approximately about Rs 6 lakh. Subsequently, about Rs 1 lakh a year is spent for the process. The validity of the certification is for a period of three years and the renewal costs are about Rs 6-8 lakh.
According to Upinder Zutshi, CEO, Infinite Computer Solutions, "ISO certifications have yielded rich dividends in terms of tangible and intangible benefits. The list of intangibles is impressive. The significant change is in terms of mindset. The organization-wide quality culture has united people in quest for excellence. The tangible benefits are measurable process improvements, which has translated into productivity gains and significant time and cost savings by the virtue of attaining lower defect rates and lesser rework."
Upinder feels that ISO has a universal appeal and is the bedrock of most QMS in the IT industry today. He believes that ISO has helped Infinite Solutions mature its QMS particularly with respect to document control, audits, senior management reviews and vendor management.
"We wanted to leverage 'Quality Certifications' as a strength and differentiator to aid our sales efforts. From an organizational perspective we want to use this as one of our major continual improvements process. Quality is institutionalized at Infinite. So adhering to the certification process is a given for us," he adds. |
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