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The world has undergone a metamorphosis.
Digitization and technological revolutions
along with globalization are creating
newer vistas for all concerned whether one is a
customer, a supplier, a manufacturer, a service provider
or any other stakeholder in the business process. This has led to expectations increasing
manifold, which has, in turn, got a cascading effect on
the overall chain of events. As customer
expectations have reached a crescendo, other
stakeholders - not wanting to be seen as laggards - are trying to
catch up with their king's (read: customer's) expectations. This frenetic running around in
the name of customer satisfaction, customer delight,
or even customer ecstasy at times are making a mockery of set rules and norms laid down
by various bodies. On the one hand, every organization, irrespective of the sector it is in,
is trying to differentiate from its rivals by
whatever means possible and, on the other hand, there
are custodians of ethical business practices
crying themselves hoarse at the death of moral values
and ethics in business. All these have created a scenario where it is paramount for
organizations, notably from the services sector such as
education, healthcare, hospitality, travel and tourism to
get them accredited by bodies that are considered
the seal of authority in those sectors.
To quote from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, "Accreditation is a process in which certification
of competency, authority, or credibility is
presented." If one elucidates the definition, one can very
easily say that the accreditation process has come to
the fore only because the men need to be separated from the boys in light of the mushrooming
of organizations, be it universities, colleges, hospitals, travel and tourism service
providers, not to forget the ever-growing customer
demand. The need for accreditation bodies depends on
the national, regional and international
standards, which, in turn, have been laid down keeping
in mind the requirements of the specific
stakeholders from across the sectors.
One school of thought acknowledges
affirmatively, whereas the second quarter is of the opinion
that accreditation in the age of too many is no more
a differentiating criteria. Rather, it is a necessity
in order to offer services by benchmarking against
the laid down norms. To be fair and to see it from
a marketer's perspective, accreditation to a very
large extent definitely helps in creating the right
image in the mind of the prospect. However in light
of the service providers spreading their tentacles
to every nook and corner and everyone trying to
ride piggyback on the accreditation benefit from
one association or the other, does it really add value
to the end user is the million dollar question to
be answered. Accreditation as a branding tool may be a topic of discussion
and debate; however one cannot neglect the advantages that
the accreditation process brings in the cases of service providers like education,
healthcare, etc., which are absolutely essential to the
growth of every nation. The ideal accreditation
process may vary from one country to another, as
one country may have government-controlled accreditation bodies, others may have
private bodies, and a third type may also include something on the lines of a
public-private accreditation body. |
