Insights On

Excellence:
Navigating The Road To Quality In
Today’s Technology-Driven Companies

IN ASSOCIATION WITH

© 2020 FORBES INSIGHTS | 1

Table Of Contents

3 Introduction

4 Quality And The Network Effect

Building Organizations Of Excellence

8
Through Quality

9 The Technology Imperative

10 The Customer Imperative

11 The Employee Imperative

13 Conclusion And Recommendations

14 Methodology

2 | JOURNEY TO EXCELLENCE: Navigating The Road To Quality In Today’s Digital Enterprises

Introduction

The continuing rapid In this research and executive brief, Forbes Insights, in
partnership with ASQExcellence (ASQE) and ASQ, examines

expansion of the digital how quality initiatives are progressing in the digital era, based
on the views and experiences of 1,036 executives and quality
economy—along with professionals from global enterprises.

businesses’ ability ASQE was founded in January 2020 as a trade association

whose mission is to set the standard for quality-driven offerings
to manage sudden and insights worldwide, empowering the member organizations

economic disruption, it serves to achieve excellence. ASQ serves a membership

of quality professionals through educational advancement.

such as the recent Together, ASQ and ASQE complement each other by providing
value for both individual and organizational members through
COVID-19 crisis—has benefits such as certifications, products, tools and services.

significant implications For the purposes of this research, we define excellence

through quality as the achievement by an organization of
for the ability of consistent superior performance, resulting from ongoing efforts

organizations to achieve to establish internal frameworks of standards and processes,

intended to engage and motivate employees to deliver

and sustain quality products and services that fulfill customer requirements within
business expectations.
excellence. Is technology changing the way enterprises look at quality? Is
it enabling quality, or is it introducing new types of challenges?
Technology is cutting both ways, the research finds. There is
a high degree of adoption of digital transformation, seen as
integral to quality efforts. However, the full impact of technology
has yet to be felt, the survey shows. Greater support is needed
to train and prepare the people who will successfully deliver
this transformation.

Since the time the survey was fielded, the world has been
greatly impacted by the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Along with the research presented in this brief, we spoke with
quality leaders about the pandemic’s impact on organizations
and how quality-driven organizations are responding to fast-
changing events that may suddenly upend even the best-laid
business plans.

© 2020 FORBES INSIGHTS | 3

SECTION 1 Figure 1
Do you believe yet-to-be-resolved or

Quality And ongoing quality issues are affecting

the overall competitiveness of your
organization?

The Network Yes

Effect
Somewhat

40%
Banking
49%

Today’s quality
challenges are being Automotive
40%
47%
shaped by influences
outside the walls of the
38%
traditional organization, Airlines/hospitality
49%

the survey finds.

35%
Technology
46%
A majority, 84%, of executives and quality professionals agree
that their quality approaches have a direct effect on their
organizations’ competitiveness—a level unchanged from our
34%
previous survey in 2017. The banking and financial services Industrial goods
48%
industry is the sector most acutely feeling the impact of
this quality gap, followed by the automotive and airline
industries (Fig. 1).
32%
Energy and utilities
51%
This not only includes internal quality initiatives but also
those that engage with networks of customers and suppliers.
The quality issues they face are coming from outside the
organization, including changing standards, quality issues from 31%
Consumer goods
54%
suppliers, communication issues with customers and changing
regulations. Issues with standards and ensuring quality customer
engagements have increased from the 2017 survey, while issues
with internal processes have diminished, from 53% to 44% (Fig. 2). 30%
Healthcare
53%

Quality professionals are more inclined to see changing

standards as an issue (56%) vs. corporate leaders (41%).
Conversely, executives are more focused on quality customer 29%
Services
communications (49%) than are quality professionals (40%). 57%

Quality professionals also show somewhat greater concern with

supplier quality (47% of executives vs. 51% of professionals).
28%
Government
48%

4 | JOURNEY TO EXCELLENCE: Navigating The Road To Quality In Today’s Technology-Driven Companies

Figure 2
What are your most challenging yet-
to-be-resolved or ongoing quality
issues at this time?

2020
2017

Quality issues 49%

from suppliers 51%

49%
Changing standards
41%*

Communication
45%
issues with
38%
customers

Need for greater 45%

data quality 52%

44%
Changing regulations
41%*

Subpar internal/ 44%

operational processes 53%

(*Changing standards and regulations were

a combined category in the 2017 survey.)

© 2020 FORBES INSIGHTS | 5

Sidebar: Quality And The Great COVID-19 Disruption
Even the best-laid business plans may be upended
overnight by fast-changing events. After the Insights
On Excellence survey was fielded in February 2020,
the world was rocked by the COVID-19 pandemic. The
devastating and highly contagious virus has affected
millions while overwhelming healthcare systems across
the world. Organizations, accordingly, have shifted
from business as usual to focus on worker safety,
government-mandated shutdowns of non-essential
businesses and supporting office, professional and
managerial employees suddenly required to work
from their homes. As a follow-up to our research, we
spoke to industry-leading quality professionals about
five implications the health crisis has for quality-driven
organizations and how leaders are rising to meet these
challenges.
Many businesses find themselves reacting to such
events, without having been prepared. “People take
action after bad things happen,” says Janet Raddatz,
chair-elect at ASQ, and former VP of quality and food
safety systems for a major food producer. “It takes a
big event like a major recall or the pandemic to get
companies aligned to have good prevention plans in
place.”
As a result, many organizations have shifted to survival
mode, rather than thinking about longer-term concerns,
says Dani Picciotti, chair of ASQExcellence Board Of
Directors and president of QMS Alliance. “Everything
is now task focused—let’s get this task done, let’s just
keep the business going.”
With COVID-19, “we had to make adjustments
so that our networks could meet the
demands of a constrained environment,”
agrees Luis Wiadacz, manager of quality
and continuous improvement at FedEx
Corporation and an ASQE board member.
6 | JOURNEY TO EXCELLENCE: Navigating The Road To Quality In Today’s Digital Enterprises
TAKEAWAY 1:
Agility Is Key
The key to surviving and thriving amidst the impact
of the crisis has been the ability to adapt and
change—a characteristic that is baked into the fabric
of quality-driven organizations. FedEx’s decades-
long commitment to executive and employee quality
training and daily practices “has definitely put us in
a good position to absorb events like COVID-19,”
Wiadacz says. FedEx’s quality initiatives have
“equipped team members to be problem-solvers,”
he adds. “The work our company has been doing for
decades around the importance of quality has enabled
us to react and develop target solutions to address the
new challenges that we’re facing.”
TAKEAWAY 2:
Define Your “True North”
FedEx isn’t alone. From utilities to banks, a range of
companies have been able to continue delivering
products and services while assuring the health and
safety of employees, customers and suppliers by
identifying and emphasizing the organization’s shared
vision. “Organizations that succeed in these times are
organizations that are well aligned,” says Chad Smith,
owner and master black belt for CI Solutions, board
member of Kibo Group International, Inc. and member
leader of ASQ’s Six Sigma Forum.“ They encourage
the ‘concept of run it like you own it,’ along with
decentralized control and leadership.” Such quality
initiatives provide a “true north” to guide its actions.
TAKEAWAY 3:
Innovation Can Save The Supply Chain
As shown in the results in Figure 2, supplier issues are
seen as the leading challenge to quality management.
Tellingly, the crisis has heightened the requirement
that quality leaders look beyond their corporate
walls to ensure the viability of their businesses, says
Picciotti. “The crisis has had an impact on supply
chains, on getting orders released into production,
requiring coordinating with customers,” she says.
“With things taking longer, I’ve seen more mature
companies able to address process changes—getting
creative, offering discounts, delaying shipments or
spacing out orders.”
With the guidance quality initiatives put in place,
“organizations can approach crises such as COVID-19
more strategically,” says Smith. “They’re comfortable
with experimentation—they learn and that makes
them successful. They’re able to pivot, and quickly
react to what’s going on around them.”

TAKEAWAY 4:
Put Data First
This ability to pivot and adapt to rapidly shifting
circumstances relates to the ability to identify,
collect and analyze data that now streams in from all
parts and processes within and around enterprises.
Raddatz points to increased use of “data mining
from increasingly large stores of data to improve
products and the processes that produce them.”
Just as important as having data is recognizing when
information is incomplete, Smith adds. “We need
to be leveraging the skills of quality professionals
during these tough times, to assess risk and assess
opportunity, so good data is really important. And
leaders should recognize when data is not available
and be ready to adjust and course-correct as more
information becomes available.”

TAKEAWAY 5:
Prepare For The Future
While many books will likely be written on how
organizations responded to the COVID-19 crisis,
it’s notable that quality certification programs have
recently been building in risk management and
preparation to a greater degree. “Events like COVID
give us a whole new perspective,” says Smith. Such
events help “identify big gaps in processes. They also
provide a rare space and time to help us get us out of
our existing rut.”

© 2020 FORBES INSIGHTS | 7

SECTION 2

Building Organizations Of
Excellence Through Quality
Digital transformation opens up many parts of
organizations to direct interactions with customers
and markets.
Employees need to innovate and co-create with networks of Figure 3
customers and partners well beyond the traditional bounds
of their enterprises. This makes a pervasive culture of To what extent do you agree with the
quality—forged by forward-looking leadership—essential to following statements about the leadership
business strategies and the pursuit of excellence. However, of your organization?
for a majority of organizations, building such cultures is still (“Completely agree” only)
a work in progress.

Quality Executives
While close to nine in ten respondents cite quality as part of
professionals
their culture, only 39% can affirm that quality is completely
Openly supports
baked into their organization’s values and actions. Likewise,
another 38% completely agree that their organizations are
a culture of open 41% 38%
dialogue
focused on quality as an explicit business objective.

Similarly, eight in ten respondents indicate that their

Is open to change 40% 40%
leaders are onboard with quality to some degree, but
this commitment does not run deep. Only four in ten say Has made quality
a priority
39% 34%
that their leaders are fully open to change and dialogue
on quality engagements (Fig. 3). At the same time, quality
professionals and C-suite executives are aligned on Motivates staff to
these leadership requirements. Quality professionals give ensure all aspects
executive leadership slightly higher marks than executives of achieving a 38% 37%
mature quality
themselves for taking the lead with excellence through
culture happen
quality initiatives. Both sides see openness to change
and two-way dialogue as critical to their ability to achieve
Is actively involved
superior quality. Both quality professionals and their
in quality programs
35% 34%
business leaders agree that openness and communication
is essential to moving forward.
Openly supports
the organization’s
investment in digital 35% 32%
transformation or
Industry 4.0

8 | JOURNEY TO EXCELLENCE: Navigating The Road To Quality In Today’s Technology-Driven Companies

SECTION 3

The Technology Imperative

Technology is a key enabler of excellence
through quality, but it is not a panacea.
Enterprises are still struggling with aligning technology-
based approaches to quality, the survey shows. While there
is universal agreement that emerging technologies will
strengthen quality initiatives, only 23% of respondents can
fully confirm they have seen significant improvements in
quality-related performance at this time. This is consistent
for both the professionals and the business leaders in the
survey (Fig. 4).
Government agencies and technology companies report
the greatest returns from technology implementations,
with 27% in these sectors reporting positive impacts on
quality efforts. Airlines/hospitality companies follow at
25%, along with energy/utility companies (Fig. 5).
Areas where technology is currently having the greatest
impact on quality include customer service, quality
management, supply chain and performance management.
However, areas lagging include key elements required
to build cultures of quality and excellence: training and
human resources.

Figure 4 Figure 5

Investment in technology at my Investment in technology at my

organization has significantly improved organization has significantly improved
performance against quality objectives performance against quality objectives
(“Completely agree”)

Government 27%

23% 70% Technology 27%

Airlines/hospitality 25%

Energy and utilities 25%

Completely agree Somewhat agree

Healthcare 23%

Services 23%

4% 3% Automotive 23%

Consumer goods 21%

Industrial goods 19%

Somewhat disagree Completely disagree
Banking 15%

© 2020 FORBES INSIGHTS | 9

SECTION 4

The Customer Imperative

The ability to deliver Figure 6

superior customer To what extent do you agree with

the following statements about
experiences and service— your organization’s actions related
to customers?
through a two-way
relationship built on Completely
agree
Somewhat
agree
continuous feedback—is We actively seek

the cornerstone of quality. customer feedback

and input to assess
performance against
37% 51%
customer needs
As noted, respondents report that communication issues
with their customers is one of their top-three challenges,
rising from 38% three years ago to 45% today. Similarly, Customer needs
the percentage of respondents concerned with subpar drive our quality 35% 46%
online experiences rose seven percentage points, from initiatives
30% to 37%.

Customer needs
Overall, close to nine in ten respondents, 88%, also indicate
dictate our 35% 50%
their organizations are concerned, to some degree, with quality objectives
boosting customer involvement in quality efforts. However,
only 37% can completely agree that they actively seek
customer feedback and input, while 35% report that their We effectively
identify customer
efforts are fully driven by customer needs (Fig. 6). Only
expectations for
34% 52%
29% actively solicit direct individual customer feedback as
quality
part of their processes.

The airline and hospitality industry has been most active Our most visible
in linking customer service to quality initiatives, the survey metrics center on
finds. Airline respondents led most industry sectors in performance against
34% 50%
emphasizing the importance of customer needs driving customer needs
not only quality initiatives but also investments in digital
transformation and harnessing the power of data analytics.
Customer needs drive
The automotive and services industries ranked highest in
our investment in
efforts to seek customer feedback. digital transformation
33% 51%
or Industry 4.0

We employ big data

analytics to make 33% 51%
improvements

10 | JOURNEY TO EXCELLENCE: Navigating The Road To Quality In Today’s Technology-Driven Companies

SECTION 5

The Employee Imperative

Technology and multinational workforces pose the
greatest challenges to instilling excellence-based
processes across broad and varied workforces.

Close to half of respondents, 45%, cite technology adoption

issues, and 43% report the need to address cultural
sensitivities.

The survey finds divergent views about the nature of

workforce challenges among quality professionals vs.
business leaders. For example, C-suite executives see
cross-cultural issues with managing quality as a challenge “It’s not that any
for their global workforces, cited by 45% of executives vs.
41% of quality professionals. Quality professionals, on the
employee wants to
other hand, see employees’ ability to leverage technology provide bad quality.
associated with quality efforts as most critical (47% of quality
professionals vs. 42% of executives). Quality professionals
However, it often
are also much more concerned with training people to isn’t clear what ‘good
employ technology for metrics than business leaders (44%
of quality professionals vs. 34% of executives) (Fig. 7). quality’ is. Instead,
Both organizational and technical skills need improving: there is variability.
Leading teams, thinking strategically, overseeing
responding to change management and abilities to work
or
Everyone wants to do
with data and deploy advanced analytics are needed for a quality job, but they
corporate quality initiatives. Both business leaders and
quality professionals agree on the types of skills needed to
need the right tools and
move quality efforts forward. the right guidance.”
Respondents within manufacturing are most inclined to
cite needs for skills that align with quality requirements.
For instance, those in the automotive sector are seeing skill JANET RADDATZ
deficiencies in artificial intelligence (35%) and data analytics Chair-Elect, ASQ
(30%). Those within industrial goods report acute skills
requirements for strategic thinking (34%), teamwork (31%)
and AI (27%).

© 2020 FORBES INSIGHTS | 11

Figure 7

What are the challenges faced by your organization in adapting quality

programs to meet the needs of your entire workforce?

Quality professionals Executives

47%
Properly using technology to ensure quality
42%

44%
Properly using technology for metrics
34%

41%
Quality is a culturally sensitive issue
45%

Workers vary by region in their ability to 40%

take initiative 35%

Lack of shared learning, information, knowledge 37%

throughout organization 36%

33%
Definition of quality varies by regional cultures
35%

32%
Lack of specialized training for employees
33%

Lack of certification training in quality 29%

methodologies for employees 29%

12 | JOURNEY TO EXCELLENCE: Navigating The Road To Quality In Today’s Technology-Driven Companies

Conclusion And
Recommendations
Inspiring Excellence In
An Age Of Uncertainty
Building a culture of excellence through quality is a multi-pronged effort. Executives and
quality professionals must invest in, promote continued education around and raise awareness
of the importance of quality in not only products but also all aspects of operations and
decision making. Based on this research, the following are recommendations to advance the
quality of excellence across the enterprise:

ƒ Measure progress across the board with key
performance indicators tied to the business.
Building excellence isn’t a technical exercise; it’s a call
to transform the entire business. Business leaders and
quality professionals need to understand how quality
and excellence initiatives deliver value to the business.
It’s important to set benchmarks at the outset of an
effort, to help assess the impact of efforts and to
determine where course corrections may be necessary.
That’s why ASQE partnered with Forbes Insights to
build the Insights On Excellence benchmarking tool,
which helps provide your organization with the data
it needs to make better-informed business decisions.
ƒ Promote training and coaching. A culture of quality
and excellence is built on the skills and capabilities of
all members of the enterprise—from top executives
to production-line workers. Everyone has a stake in
quality and should be empowered to deliver on it. At
the same time, perceptions and misunderstandings
partners must know that their management is fully
committed to quality and excellence and be prepared
to commit the necessary resources to achieve it.
ƒ Leverage technology in a targeted way. The amount
of technology available that can be applied to situations
can be overwhelming. It’s important to remember
that investing in expensive technology solutions by
itself will not address issues with corporate culture or
achieve quality-driven thinking. Investments should
be targeted to specific areas where improvement can
be demonstrated.
ƒ Build customer feedback into all processes, and put
customer requirements first. Ultimately, customers
make or break an organization’s success. Their voices
need to be heard and acknowledged continuously and,
no less, be amplified back to all parts of the enterprise.
ƒ Encourage employee and partner input at all levels.

about quality can quickly erode such efforts. Everyone The people working with customers, and designing,

should be on the same page, with the essential skills building and improving products or services every

and understanding of quality techniques. day, have the clearest understanding of what it takes
to continuously improve offerings and how customers
ƒ Gain top-level support and commitment. As the above are responding.
survey data demonstrates, a culture of excellence has
to begin in the leadership ranks. Grassroots adoption
of quality-driven thinking is critical, but employees and

© 2020 FORBES INSIGHTS | 13

Methodology
This survey of 1,036 businesses was global in scope, with 32% of companies
based in North America, 29% based in the Asia-Pacific region, 29% in
Europe and 10% in other regions. Respondents represent a variety of
industries, including manufacturing, automotive, airlines and travel, banking
and financial services, life sciences, energy and utilities, consumer goods
and more. Nearly half (49%) are C-suite executives or vice presidents, while
the others (51%) are quality professionals. In addition, 54% are directly
responsible for ensuring and promoting service and/or product quality.
Close to half, 45%, report the scope of their responsibilities extend across
their enterprises—in some cases, globally.

14 | JOURNEY TO EXCELLENCE: Navigating The Road To Quality In Today’s Technology-Driven Companies

About
ASQExellence And ASQ
ASQExcellence (ASQE) is a global trade association headquartered
in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. The mission of ASQE is to set the standard
for quality-driven offerings and insight worldwide, empowering our
member organizations we serve to achieve excellence.

ASQ is a global professional association with members in more

than 130 countries, headquartered in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. ASQ is
committed to providing enhanced expertise, professional networks,
tools, and solutions to help our members advance their products,
services and industries.

ASQ and ASQE are independent organizations that share a mission of

bringing value and quality solutions to individuals and organizations.

© 2020 FORBES INSIGHTS | 15

 is the
strategic research and
thought leadership
practice of Forbes
Media, a global media,
branding and technology
company whose combined
platforms reach nearly
94 million business
decision makers
worldwide on a
monthly basis.

By leveraging proprietary databases of senior-level executives

in the Forbes community, Forbes Insights conducts research on
a wide range of topics to position brands as thought leaders
and drive stakeholder engagement. Research findings are
delivered through a variety of digital, print and live executions,
and amplified across Forbes’ social and media platforms.

JOE MCKENDRICK
Report Author

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In Today’s Technology-Driven Companies