I was hanging a
picture and needed a level to ensure that the picture was hanging correctly. I
was just about the run to the garage to get the level when my daughter reminded
me that I had downloaded a level App on to my iPod.
The current
crop of graduates live and breathe technology. They socialize on-line, twitter,
listen to music, watch their favourite programs, find their restaurants and did
their homework using their mobile devices.
Innovative
companies in turn are tuning in and adapting just as quickly and getting rid of
their desk tops, servers and bulky boxes with cloud based computing and
un-tethering their employees with mobile devices. Why own the software when you
can rent it and run it as an App on a mobile device? Indeed un-tethering has an
added advantage in that it no longer depends on the vulnerable fibre optic
cable being accidentally severed. In April 2011, Hayastan Shakrian, a 75 year
old Georgian cut a fibre optic cable while digging for copper consequently
pulling the plug on 90% of the internet users in Armenia for 12 hours!
What is an App?
An App is a piece of software that’s downloaded onto a mobile device such as a
mobile phone or tablet computer. It integrates with the device’s features such
as the videos and or sound and works on the device’s operating system e.g.
Apple’s iOS or Google’s Android.
In the
implementation of a company wide Quality Management System (QMS), it occurred
to me that the reason most companies have such a hard time getting it right is
that they are looking through the wrong end of the telescope. They view the QMS
as another function within the organization. The Quality Department is viewed
as another functional department like Finance, Product Development, Marketing,
Warehousing, and Manufacturing etc. I view the QMS as the operating system (OS)
through which the Apps work. In this analogy the Apps are the products and the
QMS is the operating systems that makes it possible to offer the products with
predictable and consistent performance specifications. Once you get the OS
right, its simply a question of developing and designing the App to work on in.
Similarly, once you get the QMS right, implementing such quality practices as
Quality by Design, you design and develop your product to meet the criteria
specified in your quality policies and procedures.