UALITY STANDARDS - Control freaks

As customers demand improved quality standards, PC dealers and resellers are having to scale the accreditation mountain to provide better levels of service.

This time last year it all seemed so simple. Prime minister Tonyesellers are having to scale the accreditation mountain to provide better levels of service. Blair had not long been in power and it was incumbent on the new government to do something about the troublesome millennium bug.

Then, someone within Whitehall had a wheeze - why not introduce a government labelling scheme for IT so that customers could buy computers and software guaranteed as bug free? As it transpired, the idea didn't get beyond the squashed louse logo phase. Bombarded by a litany of well-rehearsed objections by the IT industry's leaders, a few weeks ago, the government finally confirmed that any labelling was to be on a voluntary basis only. And Britain has joined the ranks of most other nations which have made similar rulings - with the curious exception of Tunisia where computers will be officially guaranteed bug free even if the camels aren't.

But what this story demonstrates more than anything is how IT products and the issue of quality are inseparable, especially as computers continue to make deep incursions into everyday life.

While the channel might have got off the year 2000 hook, what it is less able to ignore is the momentum towards quality standards, particularly those of an operational nature where accreditation can mean the difference between winning a licence, or even being allowed to tender for a contract.

Scaling the quality standards mountain, whether it's to win a gong for how you treat customers and staff or how you handle processes from design through to production, is not for the faint hearted. There are no official figures, but many PC dealers and resellers are known to fall by the accreditation wayside, particularly with ISO 9000 where implementing the standards and having them audited can leave firms exhausted and questioning the net gains (see box p43).

If the aim is to secure an edge in sales pitch, dealers catering for the masses are unlikely to gain an advantage - most high street shoppers probably wouldn't recognise an ISO medallion from a flying saucer. It is at corporate sales level that the ISO kudos is likely to kick in. As for the kite-marking of products, forget it - tin imported from the Far East can be notoriously unreliable, which means UK dealers have to be their own judges of quality. Much the same can be said of imported software.

This leaves management procedures, as outlined in ISO 9000 and TickIT - the DTI initiative aimed at making ISO 9000 more pertinent to the computer and software industry.

Mike Atkinson, chairman of the Computer Software and Services Association's (CSSA) quality group comments: 'For the industry at large there's no compulsion to register either for TickIT or ISO 9000. But the degree of enthusiasm for such schemes is high and has been so for the past decade.

Certainly the big-name players have gone in for certification and, of late, smaller companies have been getting on board. A lot of that has been customer and peer pressure.'

The industry's top guns - IBM, Compaq, Dell and the like - invariably have at least ISO accreditation, and many have signed up for similar initiatives, such as Investors in People. Having gone through the mill themselves, especially on the management processes side, they are more likely to demand the same of their partners, especially those who sell to the important corporate sector. IBM's partner accreditation process has long been one of the industry's most rigorous and in the US a review is thought to be imminent and Compaq - now with Tandem and Digital under its belt - is likely to follow suit in imposing tough new registration criteria on the channel.

Gartner analyst Marilyn Truglio says: 'Obviously a company such as IBM will lay down its own standards to suppliers, but it will also dictate quality accreditation terms to resellers according to the level of business they're pitched at.

'Getting accredited to ISO or whatever can be demanding for channel partners in terms of time and costs. But if they don't comply, the chances are they won't be able to trade the beans - and they'll end up bust or bought out.'

Negative impetus aside, the CSSA's Mike Atkinson believes another factor likely to propel take-up of quality standards is the recent scrapping of a mandatory requirement - that where IT companies are involved in ISO 9000 assessment, TickIT certification criteria must be applied by assessors.

Otherwise, says Evans, the general emphasis of ISO certification holds true - to demonstrate that, when it comes to company procedures and customer service, you run a tight ship.

'It's important for big companies if only because of the boardroom politics, though smaller dealers and Vars have to weigh up the benefits much more carefully,' he admits. 'Small companies tend to blow around in the wind a lot as far as finances are concerned,' he says. 'It only takes one anticipated order not to come through for every variable cost to be clamped down on.'

But there is an alternative route via the European Foundation for Quality Management and its Business Excellence model, introduced in 1992 and due to be upgraded next April. Largely based on self-assessment, its methods - while overlapping with ISO 9000 - are generally hailed as superior and more encompassing, often taking up to three years before firms can go for the top Excellence Award.

According to Debbie Reid, who works for the foundation's UK body and is in charge of the SME sector: 'The business model is a generic poke in the ribs. It's designed to make managers think harder about how they lead and motivate, or how they develop policies and strategies.'

She says that while her own organisation works quite closely with the BSI and its ISO 9000 standards, there is a fundamental difference in their approaches. The Business Excellence model echoes the recent shift in the British tax system, which allows the self-employed to certify their own accounts rather than be subjected to an annual mauling by Her Majesty's inspectors.

Reid adds: 'With ISO 9000 you either get the standard or you don't, and procedures are also externally reviewed and audited. But with our model, you undertake to do it by yourself for yourself - though you can volunteer to have external validation.'

IBM, for instance, is a member of the UK foundation and actively encourages its own supply chain to adopt the model. But it is early days for judging the enthusiasm, or otherwise, for the Business Excellence model - even though the UK foundation already boasts an IT and telecoms sub group.

Firms from the channel might well have signed up for the model, but the programme's deliberate emphasis on DIY improvement, mostly devoid of external interference, makes it difficult to assess how they are faring.

That said, the model - loosely based on the theories of US guru Malcolm Baldrige - involves a more holistic approach to business success, and not just the factors that lead to customer satisfaction. This might include an organisation's business results or its policies, strategy and people management. Even a firm's impact on society might be taken into account.

For firms that opt to go down this path, the overwhelming advantage is that there is no concept of accreditation or certification - the emphasis is on self-improvement. While the coveted Excellence Award is always up for grabs, it is the only aspect that involves an element of external verification by a team of volunteers. Moreover, in the UK only four organisations received the award last year, including Hewlett Packard and BT.

But in bringing self-assessment to the quality awards circus, isn't the British Quality Foundation and its EC counterpart adding confusion for the layman over what yardstick can, or cannot, be trusted?

The CSSA's Mike Evans, is succinct in his response: 'Yes,' he says, 'and while self-certification can be something of a red herring, it is nevertheless what quite a few US firms are now pushing for. They argue that there is no need for third party accreditation when they have there own internal procedures in place.'

Whitehall ministers, rebuffed by the industry's response to their year 2000 labelling initiative, might be forgiven for feeling a sense of deja vu.

ISO 9000 EXPLAINED

The umbrella standard most IT firms currently work towards is ISO 9000, an internationally recognised gauge for quality procedures overseen in the UK by the British Standards Institute and other accredited bodies.

It can be thought of as a family of standards and documents which are further broken down to the subsets 9001, 9002 and 9003, respectively reducing the scope of assessment criteria. A firm, for instance, involved in the full gamut of design, development and production processes might opt for 9001 certification, whereas if the company - a reseller, for example - is not responsible for design or manufacturing, it might need only the relatively lightweight 9003 accreditation.

ISO 9000 both supersedes and embraces two other standards, the old British BS5750 hallmark and its European equivalent EN29000.

Firms seeking ISO 9000 acceptance have to undergo a two-tier process: first a period of self-acclimatisation to the ISO model, which can take as long as a year to implement; then formal certification by a recognised assessor, whose own credentials are verified by the United Kingdom Accreditation Service.

One of the past criticisms levelled against ISO 9000 was that it is not IT specific. This led, in the early 1990s, to the Department of Trade introducing another initiative, TickIT, to ensure that software houses especially adhered to quality control procedures and that their ability to do so was verified by suitably qualified auditors seconded to a specially established division of the BSI, known as Disk.

Typically, companies opting for ISO 9000 certification can expect to spend up to £10,000 on fees from start to finish, the bulk often on hired management consultants, though once accreditation is acquired, the costs can often be recouped in terms of new contracts with government departments and other major customers.

YES, ACCREDITATION IS DEFINITELY WORTHWHILE

Denise Bennett, managing director of ISO 9002-certified disk and tape storage suppliers ABA Systems, London: 'We found the exercise definitely worthwhile. It made departments talk to each other and work out how to co-operate better, and it also meant we had a proper system in place for tracing complaints.'

Gary Kirby, operations manager of PC dealer and system builder, AJP Business Systems, North London: 'We're in the throes of going for ISO 9002 accreditation and hope to get that through by December this year.

Externally, the accreditation gives us a selling point while internally it forces us to organise ourselves better.'

Sue Clayton, market analyst at Microlease, Harrow - suppliers of PCs and workstations. ISO 9002 accredited: 'We signed up for the quality standard in 1989, when it was called BS 5750, and we continue to make a big song and dance about it - putting it on all our literature. But then we're not just box shifters. A lot of our clients are corporates and government departments and they expect this kind of accreditation for their suppliers.'

Paul Turner, director of Bath-based ADC Metrica, global comms software house that works through the channel: 'We've just passed our audit for ISO 9001. It's taken us only six months, and we're now rolling it out to offices worldwide. But it wasn't as hard as we thought it was going to be, if only because there was a lot of internal commitment at the outset.

We also made our procedures very lean, without loads of manuals or flow charts to wade through - a factor that frightens a lot of potential participants.

Instead we put the information on the Web, and that made it quite easy to win the whole company over. It's already helping to win work, especially in North America and Europe. When you're pitching, the invitations to tender invariably ask you to provide substantial detail about which quality standard you are audited to. All we do now is tick the ISO 9001 box and move on.'

NO, IT'S NOT WORTH IT

Graham Hallett, head of sales at Om Tool Europe, Kingston - image capture and scanner specialists: 'Some years ago, before we were acquired by a US organisation, we did look at the TickIT initiative but then abandoned it. Basically, it wasn't worth all the bureaucracy involved.

That's not to say we won't look at some other standards initiatives in the future. But otherwise, we've got far more important things to worry about.' Ian Wellard, managing director of Purley Computer Services, Surrey - PC supplier mainly to corporate customers: 'We don't subscribe to any quality standard because we believe we give a quality service anyway.

Besides, once you've achieved the standard they tend to change it and you have to start all over again.' He adds: 'I know other dealers who've undergone accreditation but, internally, they haven't changed their procedures much. It's all a bit of a con.'

Hiru Wu, managing director of Gemma Systems, Edgware - suppliers of multi-user PCs: 'We don't have the resources to go in for any standards. But maybe we will look at it in a couple of years' time, especially if all our rivals start going down that route too.'