STEELing for the Future

At QFactorial we encourage our clients to see the opportunity as well as the risk when change is forced upon them. After all, these are two sides of the same coin. We take the same approach with our own strategic thinking. In the current chaotic climate we have sought to visualise a positive future through the clouds of uncertainty.

The outcome is our new strategic focus on what we call the STEEL sectors: science, technology, energy, engineering and logistics. These are the areas where we see the greatest crossover between our core skills and commercial demand.

We arrived at this conclusion and the STEEL acronym by considering:

• Our story so far
• The successes we have enjoyed
• The lessons we’ve learned
• The expertise of our consultants
• The ISO standards that are in demand
• The industry sectors that we think will thrive in the short, medium and long term

It sounds a bit cheesy, but we are STEELing ourselves for the future as we see it. Within the STEEL sectors, we are already equipped to provide full spectrum quality management consultancy, typically around the following ISO standards:

• ISO 9001 - Quality
• ISO 13485 - Medical devices
• ISO 14001 - Environment
• ISO 17025 - Testing and calibration
• ISO 27001 - Information security
• ISO 45001 - Health and safety

We can, and do, cover many other standards, but these are our big six. We are seeing an upsurge in enquiries for help with these standards in the STEEL sectors, so if you are a quality management consultant looking for an associate relationship, please get in touch to see if we can work together. Check out our Associates page.

Aside from helping SMEs to navigate ISO standards and compliance, our other main business stream is strategic quality management. Just before the Covid-19 lockdown we delivered a piece of work for Premier Oil (see more here), showcasing our unique diagnostic approach to understanding a client’s quality management strengths, weaknesses, risks and opportunities. In the last year we’ve completed other diagnostic exercises on topics ranging from process improvement to BMS automation and GDPR. We can apply our methodology to many scenarios because our consultants all have different technical skill sets to support their quality management expertise. The benefit for clients is an independent and authoritative view of quality in the past, present and future, with an option for further support to develop and execute smart solutions.

But we have not just been navel-gazing about strategy during the Covid-19 crisis. We have also made our first product available in our Q!Shop. This is a deck of cards on the theme of Quality Leadership, designed to promote conversation and debate about quality in many different forums. Check out our Q!Conversation Cards, physical and digital formats, in the Q!Shop. This is the first of many products that we will be making available to help leaders communicate and implement quality management. We invite you to buy and try and give us some feedback on the Q! Conversation Cards, or indeed other products that you would like us to supply, e.g. quality guides, tools, trackers, communication aids, etc.

So this is how we are moving QFactorial into the future. We’ve never been ‘old school’ consultants and we are determined to move with the times and the technology. To find out more about our services and products, drop us a note at [email protected].