The quality management space is a very fluid one. As a testament to that, in a short period of time we’ve seen considerable changes in strategies around people and leadership, orchestrating business processes across the value chain, and enterprise IT architecture. One concept that’s been there the whole time, though, is that the earlier you can build quality into your products and processes the better.

From our discussions with industry leading executives, our analysis of today's technology offerings, and the results from the 2012-2013 Quality Management Survey, we've seen that the emerging software category, Enterprise Quality Management Software (EQMS), is making positive impact on operations across the globe. Notably, we've reported companies that have implemented EQMS functionalities are, on average, outperforming others in key quality metrics.

An unfortunate reality in many quality management strategies is the lack of harmony in IT decisions across the enterprise. In the 2012-2013 LNS Research Quality Management Survey, 47% of executives said that a top challenge was having too many disparate quality systems and data sources. As a result, a roadblock to success that most large and distributed companies experience resides in the mountains of unstandardized quality process data that’s never fully leveraged.

The ever-rising need to deliver high quality products and processes have prompted many organizations to invest in enterprise quality management software (EQMS) solutions. EQMS is taking quality management capabilities to new heights by offering a global platform for communication and collaboration on cross-functional issues across the value chain.

For years, executives have strived to create closed loop environments where processes and data in each stage of the value chain benefit from cross-functional communication and collaboration. And for a number of reasons, this has proven difficult. Though, over time, the rising complexity of products and processes has prompted many organizations to reconsider the effectiveness of current quality management capabilities and strategies and invest in emerging technologies to close the loop on quality management.

Managing the quality of products and processes is an area that virtually all organizations are working to improve. To achieve this, companies are moving away from disconnected strategies, processes, and technologies and toward the strategic management of quality under a unified information management system.

Success in F&B has a swarm of challenges that go hand in hand with the ability to deliver high quality products and processes. With hurdles such as shrinking operating margins, managing the complex global supply chain, and an ever-tightening regulatory environment, there’s little room for error across the value chain.

In a short period of time, the Enterprise Quality Management Software (EQMS) market has matured greatly. Today, there are a variety of solutions with automated and holistic quality management processes, ranging from pure-play EQMS to other enterprise applications (PLM, ERP, MES, etc.) with EQMS functionalities.

Tightening regulations, along with heightened consumer expectations are impacting the approach organizations are taking with compliance. To effectively mitigate risk and ensure the quality of products and processes, a robust set of audit management capabilities is required.

With the evolution of quality management, there has been a shift away from manual and paper-based solutions. Organizations are now leveraging the power of automation and integration across the value chain to improve the quality of products and processes. This progression has materialized directly in the Quality Management Software space.