What is Quality of Service?

Quality of service is a broad term that is used in both customer care evaluations and in technological evaluations. In both applications, it has to do with measuring the incidence of errors within a process that result in the creation of issues for an end user. The goal of any evaluation is to minimize the incidence of transmission issues and the error rates that may result.

In terms of customer care, quality of service (QoS) is often measured in terms of issues that have a direct impact on the experience of the customer. From this perspective, only events that produce a negative effect on the goods and services received by the customer come under scrutiny. Many companies go to great lengths to generate as low a percentage of customer-effecting errors as possible. In general, corporations in many industries seek to have a 2% or less error rate as part of their overall customer care strategy.

Evaluating quality in this manner does not mean companies do not address internal problems that have yet to affect customers. Corporations often evaluate each step of the manufacturing and delivery process in hopes of finding ways to streamline operations to minimize costs and still deliver products to customers in a timely manner. From this perspective, companies seek to eliminate issues before they have a chance to lead to customer-effecting situations.

In terms of technology, the quality of service usually has to do with the efficient operation of various systems. The idea of this approach is to identify any potential issues of data transmission throughout the process in question. This can lead to adjusting procedures or adapting software programs and code to achieve the desired effect while making a more efficient use of available resources.

End users often participate in helping to evaluate the service quality offered by a company, and customers may respond to customer care surveys and questionnaires as part the evaluation process. Within the company, employees and others with a vested interest in the success of the organization may participate in evaluations of various systems and offer input on ease of use, speed, and general accuracy of the technology used in the operation of the company. In both cases, the purpose is to ensure the quality is maintained at the highest level possible.