By: Nick Niranjan Kalidass - NQFS Management Solutions

In 2025, quality professionals are being asked to do more than comply—we are being asked to think differently. The World Quality Day theme challenges us to move beyond systems and standards, and toward purpose-driven, people-centered quality.

The Problem: Quality Has Lost Its Soul

For many organizations, ISO 9001 has become a ritual of documentation rather than a driver of transformation. Audits are reduced to tick-box exercises. Certification is pursued for market access, not operational excellence. And small suppliers are excluded by cost, complexity, and rigid frameworks.

The Illusion of Rigor “Certification Bodies Have Become the Gatekeepers of Quality”

In today’s quality landscape, certification bodies have shifted from being facilitators of improvement to gatekeepers of legitimacy. They control access to market trust, procurement eligibility, and regulatory acceptance—not through meaningful engagement, but through the issuance of certificates.

This gatekeeping has led to a system where:

•          Compliance is commodified—quality is reduced to a purchasable badge.

•          SMMEs and informal suppliers are excluded—unable to afford or navigate rigid certification  

               processes.

•          Audits are ritualized—focused on documentation, not transformation.

•          Credibility is outsourced—organizations rely on external stamps rather than internal culture.

Certification bodies often issue one or two nonconformances—not to improve systems, but to preserve the illusion of credibility. These token findings mask the reality: many audits fail to interrogate real risks or challenge ineffective practices. It is quality theatre.

“The ISO Committee Sets the Standards—But Doesn’t Control the Gatekeepers”

The ISO technical committees are responsible for developing global standards like ISO 9001. They define the principles, clauses, and intent behind quality management systems. But here is the paradox: they have no authority over how those standards are implemented, audited, or certified.

This disconnect creates a dangerous vacuum:

•          Certification bodies interpret and apply standards with little oversight or accountability.

•          Audits vary wildly in depth, rigor, and ethics—often shaped more by commercial interests  

              than by ISO’s intent.

•          Organizations can be certified despite having token systems, poor practices, or no real

              culture of quality.

Rethinking ISO 9001: From Badge to Bridge

ISO 9001 is not the villain—it is the misuse that undermines its value. When applied authentically, it can build trust across supply chain, empower teams to take ownership and align operations with customer value and SDG goals. This requires courage, not just compliance.

“From Vision to Viscosity: How Quality’s Founding Principles Were Drowned in Paperwork”

The great quality thinkers—Deming, Juran, Crosby, Ishikawa, Feigenbaum—did not preach paperwork. They championed culture, leadership, systems thinking, and customer focus. Their principles were bold, human-centered, and transformative.

•          Deming taught us that quality begins with constancy of purpose and ends with pride in

               workmanship.

•          Juran emphasized fitness for use and the trilogy of planning, control, and improvement.

•          Crosby declared that quality is free—if you build it right the first time.

•          Ishikawa gave us the cause-and-effect mindset and the power of team-driven problem

              solving.

Emerging Themes from 2000–2025

•          Human-centered quality: Psychological safety, ethical leadership, and team empowerment

•          Systems thinking: Viewing quality as interconnected processes, not isolated controls

•          Customer value: Designing quality around what customers genuinely care about

•          Digital transformation: Integrating data, AI, and automation into quality systems

•          SDG alignment: Linking quality to sustainability, equity, and community impact

A Call to Action for Practitioners

Let us reclaim quality as a force for good. That means:

•          Decoupling quality from certification

•          Empowering SMMEs and informal suppliers

•          Auditing the auditors

•          Centering quality around people, ethics, and impact

Quality as a Force for a Better World

Quality is more than a system; it is a promise. A promise to deliver with integrity, to protect with vigilance, and to improve with purpose. When rooted in values, not just verification, quality becomes a force that uplifts communities, empowers small enterprises, and restores trust in institutions.

In a world facing inequality, climate risk, and fractured supply chains, quality offers a quiet revolution. It teaches us to listen deeply, act deliberately, and build systems that serve people—not just paperwork. It connects the cleaner to the CEO, the farmer to the retailer, the informal supplier to the global market.

If we think differently, quality can do more than meet standards—it can set new ones. Ones that reflect dignity, sustainability, and shared progress.

Let us reclaim quality as a tool for transformation.

Let us use it to build a world that works—for everyone.