ABSTRACT
Improving quality has become an economic necessity, because customers increasingly demand improved value in the products and services they purchase. Data center operations management is competing with outsourcers, who are winning over the data center function. This chapter examines how the needs for improving the quality of data center operations can be met through the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award (MBNQA) framework. Data center operations managers should promote total quality outside the organization. The MBNQA committee examines how the top management of contestant companies promotes quality beyond their own organizations. Assessing quality is one step in the MBNQA framework. When assessing data center performance, data center managers must measure quality and not quantity. In planning for a total quality environment, data center managers should ensure that all data center staff members understand that quality is part of their jobs and not the responsibility of a quality control department.
