Back on the road to success

When you took over the association ten years ago, it was in a shambles ...

I was partly surprised by the problems the association had had. The president at the time, Sami Holzach, had informed me. But I didn't realize the full extent of it until later.

What were the problems?

Firstly, the raison d'être of the association was severely questioned because its core competence, training, had been outsourced. This meant that an important and large part of the association had disappeared. I had the feeling that it almost had to reinvent itself.

Which only went through new revenue streams?

Yes, the second problem was financial. The years 2003 to 2005 were very loss-making years. The association lost well over 100,000 francs every year. And the reserves were also very small. So it was anything but an easy situation.

Certifying people - a big hit

How did you proceed?

First of all, the foundation of existence had to be put in place. The association has four business areas: association work in the true sense, business excellence, personal certification and the participation in the subsidiaries, ARIAQ SA in French-speaking Switzerland and SAQ-QUALICON AG. I analyzed these business areas in detail. And then discussed together with the board of directors where the leverage should be applied.

What solution did you come up with? I saw relatively quickly that the greatest potential certainly lies in personal certification. That would be the easiest and quickest to expand. Are such personal certificates of achievement in vogue?

Absolutely! With a certification, professionals prove the quality of their professional competencies, which is crucial for their career path.

Personal certifications make theoretical knowledge as well as practical skills visible, transparent and internationally comparable.

And the SAQ is profiling itself as a certification body in the process?

Yes, we are certifying more and more people in different areas with our partners in training. When I started, people certification focused on quality management. Then IT certification and occupational safety were added. That picked up over time, became a very successful story.

This speaks for a large market demand ...

And we were able to cover those. When we had achieved the pick of the software testers, we just as successfully entered the requirements engineer certificate. Parallel to this came the certification of Hermes specialists - this is a management method for IT projects at the federal government, where we also started very successful certifications.

So the bottom line is that it's a lucrative area of business?

We simply bet on the right card. And we were a bit lucky that the market just opened up and some people were waiting for us to come with our offers.

What is the reason for this pent-up demand?

Our personal certifications are in line with globalization. They are worldwide, based on recognized criteria according to ISO/IEC 17024. We at SAQ do not train, but we do take the exams at the end. The certifications are embedded in an international system, which is why there is a high level of acceptance in the market.

Where was there still a need for action when you took office?

The priority was to plug the holes. So cost savings were the order of the day. The most important thing was to buy a new IT tool. When I started, there were two completely separate tools. Their functions were now combined. And we brought the accounting back in-house. Before that, it was all outsourced. So the best thing was to increase sales through personal certification and save on overheads at the same time. In 2006, one year after I started, we were back in the black. Since then we have been in the black without interruption until 2014.

So the association is on the road to success again?

Yes, not only with the personal certification, but we have also been able to expand Business Excellence; this is now running better than before.

So Business Excellence went rather badly?

We have worked on the market there, but overall it is a niche and will remain so. With Business Excellence, you will never reach the market breadth as with personal certification. So: small but mighty.

Do you see business excellence primarily as a business?

No. We assume that many organisations today apply and implement the criteria of the EFQM Excellence Model. Many do, but without a performance record or external recognition. There is a large number of unreported cases.

The SAQ is left out with its offers?

Of course, companies order our brochures on the EFQM model. But not all of them want to participate in the Levels of Excellence or in the ESPRIX and European Award. They say we do it for ourselves, we don't want to present ourselves on this platform.

Where does this reluctance come from?

This is due to the requirements, which are quite high, which becomes a problem for smaller SMEs. That exceeds the capacities and available resources. If SMEs want to do this, they often need external support, accompaniment and advice, and that then immediately becomes very expensive. And: Many companies are obliged to align their management system with certain standards such as ISO 9001 and do not see the connectivity and added value of the EFQM model.

Nevertheless, more and more are venturing into ...

Yes, especially in the last three to four years. Many companies have to demonstrate efficient use of resources. That's where the model offers support. And we have managed to make the products more marketable. We primarily come to those who say, yes, we want to do the official training. For example, the introduction to the EFQM model at our subsidiaries or other partners such as the Lucerne University of Applied Sciences and Arts. Once they have successfully taken the first steps, they receive the EFQM award from us, which then also applies to the further excellence levels. Nevertheless, the pyramid effect remains: it gets narrower towards the top.

Does the association help with consultations?

No. But we take a very close look at the reports and identify potential improvements that should make the companies more competitive. If a company puts its mind to it, it should really make a difference.

That's up to the experts at the SAQ then?

With SwissBex, we have established a competent organisation for this purpose. A core team of validators and assessors is doing a dedicated job. Two specialist groups are subsumed: HENS for healthcare and TEN for tourism. They are fully dedicated to business excellence. This is also a reason for the steady growth in this area.

What is an SAQ member to you, a contributor or a little more?

Well (laughs), the first one would probably be a bit low, but of course, whoever pays a contribution expects something in return.

This mainly concerns quality managers?

Yes, but the function and image of the quality manager have changed considerably compared to the past. In larger companies, this is often still a full-time job with a staff function, but in SMEs it is becoming less and less.

And what's the rule?

Quality management has been delegated directly to the front, to the line. Today, everyone is responsible for the quality of their work. Nevertheless, someone has to be responsible at a higher level, as the ISO standard prescribes. This lies with a member of the management, but in addition to quality management, the people concerned have many other tasks.

And how can the association help them?

It is still true that the person responsible for quality management does not have an easy position. As a lone fighter in the company, he cannot exchange very much internally. And I see it as the task of the association to give them a home where they can maintain contacts among their peers and exchange ideas, especially in the sections. That is one function of the association. The other is to familiarise them with innovations so that they don't have to find out about the market themselves. We provide information about new trends at an early stage, for example about the changes to ISO 9001 and 14001, which are coming in the autumn, with checklists and other aids. The section events on this were all very well attended.

For a long time, the sections felt neglected by the association ...

This has certainly improved; the contact between the office and the sections is also much more intensive on a personal level than before.

Without sections, the association loses its "soul"?

Exactly! The eleven sections are all organised on a militia basis. Of course, resources are limited. Section directors in the militia system can only be burdened to a limited extent, they still have their jobs and their families. Therefore, it is our task to relieve them of organisational and administrative tasks as much as possible, so that they can concentrate fully on their events.

How many events is that on average?

This varies from section to section, with an average of three to eight per year. There is a tendency for the number of events to increase. Topics and speakers are the responsibility of the sections. We in the office take care of all the administration, i.e. membership administration, changes, printing programmes, sending out invitations and accepting registrations. And we take care of the exchange of information between the sections and the reporting.

That sounds like a well-established relationship ...

What is very pleasing when you look at the section boards is that we have boards that have been doing this for years to decades. There is a great deal of consistency. Incidentally, this also applies to our two specialist groups, Medical Devices and IT. Both work very actively as militia organisations.

So overall, a relatively stable structure ...

Yes, the big break came with the outsourcing of training. That was a very deep cut at the time.

But now the training belongs to the association again.

Correct. When I started, SAQ had a 51 percent stake in ARIAQ and a 50 percent stake in SAQ-QUALICON. Today, ARIAQ is 100 percent owned by SAQ again. In SAQ-QUALICON, we have acquired all but 5 percent of the shares. And we will buy the rest in 2016, then the company will be fully owned by SAQ again.

The resurrection of the old strong SAQ?

In another form. The two organisations in Yverdon and Olten will continue to operate as independent legal entities. Of course, we could fully reintegrate them into the SAQ, which would have financial and tax advantages, that's obvious.

And what's stopping you?

The big disadvantage is: training and personal certification under one roof is not possible. The two must be very clearly separated. This is what the Swiss Accreditation Service prescribes: Those who train may not test, and those who test may not train. We would therefore have to outsource our showpiece, the certification of persons. That's why this is not an issue for me.

What are the biggest challenges for the association?

Looking back on the last ten years, the SAQ has been very active and is on an upward trend. So the association will still be needed in the future. But of course there are challenges. The biggest one is to secure the militia system for the future. All associations have to struggle with this: finding enough people who want to get involved in a good cause on a voluntary basis. Because the regional activities for the exchange of experiences among the members, also to cultivate conviviality and camaraderie, remain enormously important for us.

What are the further tasks for the future?

The second challenge I see is dealing with the fact that quality managers no longer have a full-time job. This is still a function among others. Since a large part of the companies are ISO-certified, I assume that the demand for services through SAQ will remain. We want to push that.

What about personal certification?

Here the task is to constantly place itself anew in the market. The latest project is the "Customer Advisor Bank". The certificate can become a business card for banks. We developed it together with UBS and oriented to ISO 17024.

Is the SAQ heading into new areas?

Together with the Executive Board, we are in the process of exploring this. Healthcare could become a separate business segment. With attractive services, we can be successful in this rapidly growing market.

At the Swiss quality award ESPRIX, others are now setting the tone ...

That's right, we no longer have a monopoly, in the market we now have competitors, but we are still an important stage for organisations on the way to the national price. We are committed to the market economy, so we can live with it, deal well with the situation.

The SAQ is now organising the "Swiss Quality Day" together with the SQS.

We are very happy about that. For a long time, the relationship with SQS was distant - to say the least. Now we have a good partnership again. SQS deals with the management systems, and we with our subsidiaries train the people, qualify them for implementation. This effort over the last two years has proven its worth.

Finally, are you optimistic about the future?

Absolutely! As far as SAQ's future prospects are concerned: we are in the process of building up a great deal, which also involves investments. And think about "Swissness". The importance of quality is increasing, especially in connection with the strong Swiss franc. I also see this as a challenge for the association.