How do I maintain the quality of my products and services?

Sustainable procedures are essential. They provide solutions that support and enhance the quality of products and services.

First, we look at the amount of money spent by a corporation. If the process is inefficient, the corporation must spend more money:

• to hire more people to do the same work,
• on infrastructure and material costs associated with them,
• on any eventual damage,
• on any errors associated with each individual’s procedures.

Any unchecked quality issue during the process compounds when the processes increase. This results in significant losses down the line. Remember Benny and Neha’s company Zeyka? In the beginning, there were significant damages to the artwork during delivery. There were two possible reasons. They were either working with a logistics provider who was delivering the product carelessly. Or Zeyka’s personnel were not wrapping the cargo properly.

Proper onboarding, instructions, and inter-employee communication is essential to overcome such problems. It is also critical to track progress by delegating authority to each employee. Why? Because it enables course correction and faster real-time decision-making to avoid errors.

Holding frequent meetings between employees also helps a company. It encourages employees to be more productive and confident in sharing their thoughts. This is a great way of gathering feedback, reviewing work, and brainstorming ideas.

Employees play a critical role in providing good products and services. Having a strong bond with them is critical to achieving excellence. Regular upskilling and hands-on training maintain staff productivity interest and company growth.

Quality training can be aided by experienced management. Their previous experiences can help prospective employees understand potential pitfalls. They help in allocating roles and responsibilities, defining protocols for various activities, and standard operating procedures (SOPs) to streamline operations.

Effective communication and constant engagement always help an employee feel fulfilled. Create team frameworks and horizontal collaboration among teams. They feel valued when they have autonomy, rather than having all decision-making power delegated to a single manager. In the long run, it helps them learn and perform better.

Another technique to improve quality is through customer feedback. Regular feedback via prompts online or in-person is valuable to any organization. At all levels of client engagement, it assists in identifying concerns at each stage. Filtering and resolving persistent issues improves quality across the customer experience value chain.

Informal customer feedback is also an option. It is based on looking at their web search, social media, and other remarks about your firm. Let this be a continuous task. Also, recognize that clients can only contribute insights based on their own experiences. This is at the firm’s front end.

Back-end procedures can be streamlined by examining them regularly. This can be done with the help of staff and specialists. Conducting surveys will help.

Throughout this process, emphasis should be on doing several brief surveys. This will prevent the stakeholders from becoming overwhelmed by the queries. Multiple-choice and rating questions are simple and quick to answer. Allow people to contribute on their own. Let them provide information that isn’t included in the survey.

Remember, a survey should be considerate of a person’s privacy. It should not encroach on their digital or personal space or time.

At the same time, market research should keep a close eye on the competitive market. Be on the lookout for any new market development, product, or service that may be gaining traction. If you come across any, make sure to weigh the benefits of incorporating it into your operations.

Track the industry’s growth and general quality of products and services. Trends show where consumer sentiment and demand are changing. This will allow you to prioritise and refocus your plan ahead of time. Learn from the market’s achievements and failures, not only your own.

About the Writer
Anchal Srivastava is an architect, urban planner, writer, researcher and scholar. She is a certified GIS specialist from IIRS, ISRO, Dehradun. She is a graduate of the School of Planning and Architecture (SPA), Delhi and Dr. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam Technical University (APJAKTU), Uttar Pradesh. She has experience working at the Town and Country Planning Organisation Delhi, Jabalpur Smart City Limited, Suresh Goel & Associates (SGA), APS Green Architects & Associates, and as the head architect at SSAP and Shantiniketan Buildtech Pvt. Ltd.

About the Editor
Nidhi Joshi is a writer, architect and artist. She experiments with art, calligraphy and all things Interior Design. She is a graduate of the Bharati Vidyapeeth College of Architecture, Mumbai. She has experience interning at PG Patki Architects.

About the Illustrator
Priya Bansal is an architect and a generalist, currently based out of Delhi NCR. She is a graduate of the School of Planning and Architecture (SPA), Bhopal. She has experience working with Studio Juggernaut.