Baldrige stories turn up in unlikely places, like the article, “Striving for quality has real payoffs,” on Computerworld (April 20, 2010). Al Kuebler describes his experiences getting hired as the CIO for a start-up business that was organized, built, and operated according to the Baldrige model.

During his job interview, Kuebler learned that efficient IT service delivery would be required, but that the most important measure of IT performance would be ensuring that every business function had the information it needed to make better, faster decisions for the customer.

Kuebler started his work on this issue where he needed to start: with his customers. His IT team met with each business component to establish their business needs. They then “created a diagram of the overall flow of essential information for the entire business and each component within it.” They verified their diagram with each business unit before presenting it to senior management.

This dialogue was enlightening. “I knew precisely, for the first time in my career, how the business made its profit and in what ways the IT function’s performance was a factor in generating client satisfaction, growth, and profitability,” wrote Kuebler.

The company Kuebler helped launch was AT&T Universal Card Services, which won the Baldrige Award in 1992. To my knowledge, it’s the only organization that was built from the start on the Baldrige model and that went on to win the Award. If I remember correctly, it received the Award just three years after the company was formed. A few years later, a new CEO took over the company. He didn’t share the passion for Baldrige and the system that had vaulted AT&T UCS over nearly all of its competitors in a very short time was abandoned. And AT&T UCS floundered. It is now part of Citigroup.

Kuebler concludes: “If you were to ask me whether a business case can be made for IT quality initiatives around avoiding cost, improving service, and increasing revenue, I would have to say that the evidence is compelling.”

The evidence is equally compelling, and the business case just as strong, that integrating the Baldrige model leads to world-class performance.

To read more about integrating Baldrige, click on these articles:

• 10 Questions to Ask about Everything You Do
• How to Integrate Baldrige
• Leading the Integration of Baldrige
• 5 Added Values of the Baldrige Process
• Experts Tell You What to Fix
• 10 Steps to World Class

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