The evolution of quality processes at Tata Consultancy Services

Tata Consultancy Services (www.tcs.com) was established in 1968 as part of the Tata group of companies. TCS has grown to be the largest software and management consultancy organization in southern Asia, with over 14000 professionals under the leadership of Faqir Chand Kohli. It initiated its quality journey in the 1970s as part of its strategy to become a global top-10 software company. Over the past decade (1990-2000), distinct changes have occurred in how TCS disseminates its quality policy internally to achieve enterprise-wide involvement. The article describes the path traversed and the lessons learned. It describes how the quality processes have evolved at Tata Consultancy Service and how the framework of ISO 9000 and then the Software Capability Maturity Model have catalyzed the evolution.