For a consultancy business to stand out and maintain its competitiveness, quality in operations is paramount. While measuring quality is subjective in a services business, it can be determined through excellent customer service.
A consultancy business that focuses on better quality can understand its client’s needs and provide guidance effectively. However, for a Nigerian consultancy company, ensuring the quality of services was becoming challenging in line with the changing ISO requirements. Implementing quality management in a consultancy company was a whole other ball game.
This is where the business decided to look for reliable quality management and consulting software to help them identify gaps in quality assurance and compliance.
In this case study, we’ll explore how Effivity’s QMS software helped a Nigeria-based consultancy company improve their quality management and achieve faster turnaround time.
About the Consultancy Company
This is one of the fastest-growing consultancy companies based in Nigeria, offering engineering and advisory services to clients in the oil and gas industry. Their ability to deliver quality services to clients was hindered by inefficient processes, resulting in delays and challenges in maintaining consistent quality standards.
Like many small-scale businesses, the consultancy company wants to stay ahead of the competition in their sector and requires a solution to achieve ISO 9001 compliance. This is to help them improve their services to keep the customer satisfied for the long-term approach.
That’s where Effivity’s Quality Management System (QMS) software for consultancy companies offered a comprehensive solution to their growing challenges.
Challenges Faced by the Consultancy Company
The consultancy company had a strong reputation for providing high-level consulting services, but its internal operations were not aligned with the ISO standard requirements. Here are the key challenges the company encountered:
1. Inconsistent Process Documentation
The consultancy struggled with maintaining updated and comprehensive documentation for all its processes, which impacted its ability to meet ISO 9001 standards consistently.
2. Difficulty in Tracking Compliance
With multiple ongoing projects, tracking compliance with industry regulations and ISO standards became time-consuming and prone to human error.
3. Manual Audits and Non-Conformance Issues
Conducting internal audits was a labour-intensive process, and the identification and resolution of non-conformance issues were frequently delayed due to manual workflows.
How Effivity’s QMS Software Helped Overcome These Challenges
Given the extensive challenges, the company sought a reliable compliance management solution that meets the following criteria-
- Meet 100% requirement of ISO standard
- ISO Training and implementation support
- Flexibility and ease of usage
- License cost
Their need brought them to Effivity, which provides a configurable solution to meet all the ISO standards and many compliance requirements. The software provided the consultancy company with a structured, automated approach to managing quality assurance processes, ensuring compliance with ISO standards.
Effivity helps organizations map out the process and see what’s going on at any time. It enables them to capture, track and maintain all the records through a centralized database.
1. Automation of Documentation Processes
Effivity’s document control system enabled the consultancy to automate the creation, storage, and updating of critical process documents. This not only improved the accuracy and consistency of documentation but also ensured that the consultancy complied with the latest ISO 9001 guidelines. All documents were stored in a cloud-based system, accessible to the relevant teams in real time.
2. Real-Time Compliance Monitoring
The QMS software provided real-time tracking of compliance requirements, ensuring that their processes and operations met the necessary ISO and regulatory standards. Any changes in the regulatory requirements were also updated in real time, helping them stay up-to-date.
As a result, the company could now easily monitor and track compliance across all departments, reducing the risk of non-compliance.
3. Internal Audits and Non-Conformance Management
One of the major pain points was the company’s manual audit process. With Effivity, they could automate internal audits, streamlining the entire process from planning to execution. Any identified non-conformances were automatically flagged, assigned, and tracked to resolution, greatly improving the company’s audit efficiency.
4. Customer Complaint Management
Effivity’s customer management module can track and monitor customer issues and complaints/feedback to maintain their records. This helped them manage complaint resolution, root cause analysis, corrective actions, and effective evaluation of the corrective actions for various complaints.
With Effivity’s web-based solution, the company was able to streamline its operations to meet quality compliance and economic challenges. Effivity allows the organization to respond to changing business as well as customer needs proactively.
Results Achieved by the Consultancy Company
Implementing Effivity QMS brought about transformative results for the consultancy company regarding operational efficiency and client satisfaction.
Faster Turnaround Times
By automating critical tasks, documentation, and audits, the company was able to reduce service delivery times significantly. This led to faster project completions and improved client satisfaction.
Effivity made it easy to manage complaints, schedule follow-ups, and maintain a centralized database so everyone can access it. With this proactive approach to customer complaints and resolution, there was a significant improvement in the closure of customer issues.
Enhanced Quality Control
The ability to track and manage non-conformance issues in real-time improved the quality of services for the consulting company. This resulted in fewer errors and a more streamlined approach to consulting, significantly reducing non-conformances.
Besides, they could also manage and track compliance regularly, always keeping the system audit-ready by meeting all the requirements.
Cost Savings
Automation reduced the need for manual labour, especially in tasks related to compliance and audits, leading to significant cost savings for the company.
Eliminated Parallel Work
Effivity’s centralized communication platform helped streamline communication and collaboration across departments. Since all the relevant parties had easy and equal access to quality management documents and customer feedback or complaints, it contributed to faster decision-making and a more cohesive working environment.
Conclusion
Effivity’s QMS software provided the Nigeria-based consultancy company with the tools and automation to streamline operations, ensure compliance, and deliver higher-quality services in less time.
Effivity’s comprehensive quality management features, from document control to non-conformance management, played a crucial role in transforming the company’s approach to quality management. The consultancy’s success is a testament to how implementing the right technology can lead to measurable improvements in performance, client satisfaction, and overall business success.
