Information technologies and quality management. Towards a new idea of quality?

Abstract

Quality has become one of the most relevant challenges for enterprises that wish to satisfy the needs and expectations of their clients. In this paper, we aim to verify if potentialities of information technologies (ITs) could help to ensure a better quality for enterprises and if and how they influence the concept of quality. In order to pursue this goal, our analysis examines the relationship between technology and quality investigating which of the many ITs, used in enterprises, affects more directly the quality levels and underling the principal effects they produce. Our study considers the specific case of an Italian software house, where it is possible to clarify and understand the role of ITs with regard to our research topic. Therefore, some considerations about the evolution of the classic idea of quality, enabled by technologies, are proposed.