ISO vs. Innovation

Does a quality control system such as ISO 9001 stifle innovation?

You might think that a company could either be good at consistency and quality OR be good at innovation and change. Does one goal preclude the other? Or can you have both?

It's my experience that quality control actually fosters innovation - but innovation of a certain kind. Our ISO system encourages incremental change and improvement - but not 'radical' new ideas.

Our focus on measurable objectives makes us aware of small changes in turn-around times, efficiency, quality and customer satisfaction. When we change processes or technology we can quickly gauge the effects. This feedback gets us thinking about how we can raise our scores - how we can marginally improve everything.

We're always looking for 'soft innovations' - simple things that will make our clients lives easier.(Seth Godin's book Free Prize Inside is required reading at our office!). Is there some way that our service could be ever-so-slightly better? Or perhaps just a little less annoying?

The ISO mindset puts us in Malcolm Gladwell's Late Bloomer category. We are like Cezanne - slowly discovering and elaborating a long term vision. We're not like Picasso - we're not coming up with radical new concepts and suddenly changing direction.

I think we have a proven track record for innovation and product development. But it's not radical blue-sky stuff. We try to get a little bit better and deliver a little bit more value each year. We work closely with our clients; we try to understand them and we build products and services that make them more efficient.