How has the pandemic affected Quality Management?

The ISO 9001:2015 standard requires that an organization should understand the external and internal environment of the organization as well as its Quality Management System (QMS) being in alignment with its strategic direction. In 2020, countries were hit by the Covid-19 pandemic resulting in lockdowns which resulted in societal restrictions. While some organizations successfully implemented business continuity processes during that period, others struggled to ensure business continuity.

Organizations that implemented paper based QMS experienced a lot of many challenges through work from home initiative as operational activities that previously demanded face-to-face interaction could not be held successfully.

Covid 19 impact created an opportunity for organizations to find alternative ways of implementing QMS. In the new normal, ease of accessibility of documented information matters more than ever as remote working became popular. One major opportunity presented to support that was the digitization of the QMS to improve productivity and efficiency.

The electronic Quality Management System (eQMS), often a cloud-based system, provides accessibility of information from anywhere, any time and on any electronic device provided there is internet or mobile data access. Such a system enables continuous engagement between organizational teams without the need to meet face to face or physical presence at the office be located on site. Restricted and controlled access is provided to outside users for specific information sharing or to engage remote employees to address issues in real-time regardless of their location.

The impact of Covid – 19 revealed some inconsistencies in the paper based QMS. These inconsistencies have been lowered through the use of eQMS resulting in transparency in information sharing and an improved quality culture.