My Big Break  September 6, 2001 Quality is all about competence (adding value to the customer) and caring (doing it with integrity), asserts Navyug Mohnot Name: Navyug Mohnot Past: Fellowship to the university of Rochester on 'Information System' Present: Executive director, QAI, India Ltd. Future: "Making movies, though that's not a professional goal." Strength: "Unalloyed optimism." Weakness: "Unbridled optimism." Wisdom: "If you desire something hard enough, it will, rather magically, manifest itself." My FavourBPO: "Seeing, searching, reading about architecture, interiors, sBPO, anything with design elements." In 1988, I decided, for personal reasons, to return from the US. My specific interest was to address the issue of Quality in the software sector. Back then, the software industry wasn't so hot and India was not even a blip on the IT radar of most overseas corporations. Quality was a concept that was associated only with Japan. However, I found 'quality assurance' and 'process improvement' very fascinating concepts, as they represented a stimulating mix of technical, human and management disciplines. It was also an area that no one was addressing at that point of time. And so, my 1000 mile journey started with a single step. I sold my laser printer (purchased in US) to raise the seed capital for funding my new venture. Years later, I can see that India is more than a wannabe in software; that quality is happening here (ask the world); that CEOs are seized of the issue; and that this is perhaps the only competency that distinguishes us from other low-cost software producing nations. So, here's the good news: Indian CEOs (I can only speak of the software industry) have begun to believe that quality can be a sustainable competitive advantage. They have begun investing in it and are aggressive about implementing it, even while existing as islands, surrounded by a sea of non-quality in infrastructure, services and government sector. I was once checking into a hotel in Atlanta when an elderly American woman asked me if I was from India. Upon hearing my reply she exclaimed "Oh, then you must be a software expert!." Obviously a lot of water has flowed from river Ganges. For QAI and me it's been a very satisfying period. My team and I share intense energy and a common vision. We haven't taken a single potential customer out to lunch in all these years!. I have a foolish amount of confidence about being Competent (adding value to the customer) and Caring (doing it with integrity). That's Quality and at the end of the day, it's as simple as that. Back