Covid-19 - QA - Digital Priority Curve

COVID-19 has upset the balance globally with its impact on humans and economies alike. Irrespective of any industry you are operating in, CEO’s are facing challenges that have exponentially increased from the ongoing pandemic; some industries like oil and gas, travel and retail are hard hit compared to financial services or the health care sector. However, this pandemic is bringing new world order and companies are already defining their strategies for this new normal. 

Industries like hospitality and travel might not return to their pre pandemic operating volume in the near future, making life difficult for CEO’s as they strategies and find balance between shareholder value and safeguarding jobs of loyal employees. There is another dynamic which is becoming a hot topic of conversation in all the boardrooms, digitalization.  Companies with a predefined digital journey is expediting it, while others are jumping on the band wagon without hesitation. 

Global change curve:

There are four main factors influencing this change, we think the fifth factor is the ongoing global pandemic. 

1.    The rise of Generation Z as the largest share of the consumer population, followed by Millennials who demand a digital native customer experience. 

2.    Harnessing the power of innovation and technologies like AI/ML, Cloud, Blockchain and IOT.

3.    Need for operational agility to stay competitive and profitable. “It is not the big beating the small rather fast beating the slow”, building an org structure with agility in mind is one the biggest competitive advantage any CEO can build for their respective organization. 

4.    Customer insights and data is essential to make right decisions. Personalization is no more an additional service but need of the hour for a digital native customer. Thus, making data the new age currency which is helping companies design personalized experience and services for their respective clients

5.    COVID19 is changing the industry dynamics globally and post COVID business world is going to look very different. Chaos to the new normal. COVID is reshaping the new reality both on personal and business front. As business rush to redefine their business models in the midst of global recession, there are aspects of digital journey that need to be expedited to achieve existing and future business objectives

This chaos is new force of business disruption. The environment, defying any logical boundaries of mindset and principles, is breaking the silos and bringing seismic shift across organization and the norms. The next question that comes to mind is in this business environment why a CEO should or should not have a defined priority set on their mind? Across Digital marketplace, as new technologies emerge, and demand rises for faster time-to-market with the highest quality what should CEO focus be?

CEO’s strategy curve

“To keep his job, CEO in all seriousness from his vantage point has 3 years to fix / grow an organization. 

Board, Shareholders, are the corporate spouse, who continuously engage with CEO for both financial and non-financial drivers. The relationship or lack of, determines longevity of a CEO. Near term and long term, strategic focus is always on CEOs’ mind. Most CEO’s focus on company’s point of departure, its point of arrival and perhaps most important, mapping the route between them. 

To make a quantum leap, strategy needs alignment, alignment with diverse stakeholders, mindset and approach needs transformation, transformation themes need implementation and implementation needs assurance. Quality Assurance may be!!

So, if at all this is true, QA should be the top priority for a CEO. Is there a framework that a CEO follows, to be prepared for the corporate spouse?

Absolutely yes. From our vantage point there are 7 fruits with a respective QA score, in the framework basket.

Fruit 1 – “Go for No”    

QA Score: A-

Most of the CEOs are aggressive and ‘go for no’ by nature. Having been considered low, menial and just another add-on, QA is rebellious and resilient by nature. “No” is what just gets filtered in any vernacular. “Go for No” is definitely an area to build upon and join the mindshare party of CEO.

Fruit 2 – “Speed with Stability”    

QA Score: A-

Successful CEOs master the art of decisive decision making. Dealing with ambiguity consistently makes QA a success. Incomplete information and unfamiliar territories, is why QA is an art for high IQ community. With stability in bag, it’s time for QA to build upon the speed and get into the fast lane alongside CEOs.

Fruit 3 – “Resolve Against Bias”

QA Score: A-

High performing CEOs are known for disrupting and challenging bias of all kinds. Exactly what QA is known for. Both relish the hard-cemented resolve to bring openness in cultures structures and endeavors. A made for each other skill, however needs to be marketed and drummed up to play together.

Fruit 4 – “Big Picture Mindset”

QA Score: F

Buck stops at CEO. With power and authority, comes responsibility to set strategy for an organization. Strategy is all about big picture. Sad state of affair it is that application certification and readiness stop at QA. However, QA doesn’t see beyond an application under test. The big picture at technology level is critical for excellence as a QA. For QA, Big picture mindset and approach for an organization beyond technology. Into the Business realms….long road ahead.

Fruit 5 – “Build Relationships”

QA Score: C

CEOs are a CEO because they build, nurture and hone relationships at all the right levels. QA fails miserably to establish connects and build relationships beyond middle managers or at most CIO / CTOs level. There is a big need to get to a mind of any C level, not just CEO.

Fruit 6 – “War on Talent & Value”

QA Score: F

Mundane it is, but ability to excite, attract, retain the talent and giving the platform to lead the strategy execution that’s a powerful CEO. Focusing talent for only execution of transactions than broader set of constructs folds QA into ‘just another activity’. Talent, and value from talent in any ecosystem demands an urgent relook before dreaming to sit with a CEO.

Fruit 7 – “Beyond the Hubris”

QA Score: F

It’s is life and death for a CEO to filter the noise and focus the attention on short, medium and long-term strategy. When everyone is out with weapons against QA, the community is pushed easily into the shell and cacophony of environment. That’s the end of the beginning of any conversation.

Making the Quantum Leap:

3 “F’s” and a “C” isn’t going to cut into any priority curve. Across Digital marketplace, as new technologies emerge and demand rises for faster time-to-market with the highest quality, QA needs to change from traditional quality control to a predictive quality assurance function. Focus business with new set of drivers based on “Speed-to-Value” and “Technological-Adoption”. QA must evolve as a custodian of critical business functions, business processes beyond code.

For a CEO to consider QA in priority curve, there are five (5) key imperatives of the change:

1.    Shifting Business Landscape

To win in digital marketplace, CEOs need to win with value, win with experience. The value chain is strained with every disruption across digital constructs. CEOs need partner for orchestration across technology and business process at speed with value. QA resiliency is right at cusp to be the best fit for speed through automation and value assurance through insights and predictability across business process output and outcome. Embrace wider ecosystem and accelerate the fail fast innovation.

2.    Changing Operating Model

Speed, CEOs are all about speed. Legacy operating models built for economies of scale are one of the reasons, CEOs don’t care QA much. It’s a profitable but necessary evil. So, let it be. To get back on priority set, QA needs to focus on outcomes, business outcomes the new rules of operation. New operating model rules revolve around buying / providing the QA service, prediction and prevention of quality and vehicles of communication to enable speed. 

3.    Complexity in Technology

The digital boundaries are getting blurred to a point that technology proliferation has hit CEOs and their agenda. That is the sweet spot for QA. Reignite the platforms with cost containment through continuous everything. Microservices or not, beyond shift left and right, shift deep to demystify and remove the production headache for CEO and QA will be in the major league.

4.    Shifting Priorities

For a CEO, priority is very simple – Business outcome + Outcome Value. Cost arbitrage, CEOs detest the mention of it. This is where QA falters. For ages, cost-play at scale has been the QA’s mantra, not anymore. Focus needs to shift to outcome context and design the powerplay to digital value. To gain the entry to mindshare of CxOs, QA needs to assure and ensure value through revenue acceleration. 

5.    Measuring Value

CEOs are investing in metrics, data analytics sophistication. QA surely can lead the initiatives and enable transformation calibration across new digital divides. CEOs are aggressively looking for plug and play, out of the box technologies as assets for predicting leading and lagging outcome value. QA can bring the edge the accelerated adoption through the right metric platform thinking across the digital landscapes within and around the organization. 

The end state of the disruptive imperatives may well bring the QA community forward and support the network with other communities. Post Covid-19, QA can and should jump the chasm with priority for innovation, customer delight, business success and stakeholder happiness.

Authors : Manav Ahuja & Shantanu Chandra