At the recent EIQA awards, held in the Burlington Hotel Thursday 12th October, Friends First were awarded the prestigious prize of EIQA National Q-Mark Financial and Insurance Services Winner 2006. This is a great honour given that we have only been involved in the Q-Mark programme for four short years.
Friends First were up against three very strong competitors; Hibernian Direct Ltd, Bupa Ireland and HC Financial Services Group Ltd, all of whom realise the benefits of bringing a Quality culture to their organisations.
"This award is a tribute to all Friends First staff have who such a strong belief in what we do. From the most junior member of staff right up to the top of the organisation, we are and continue to be, committed to excellence." Ann-Marie Quinlan, Quality Specialist Friends First.
Q-Mark is a quality programme comprising of four elements, Company Commitment, Motivated People, Excellent Business Systems and Processes and Better Company. The ideology behind the framework is that if you continually improve in the first three elements of the programme, the remaining element, Better Company, will follow. Holding the Q-Mark proves that quality is at the heart of all processes within the company and the building blocks that underpin the Q-Mark framework have entrenched the quality ethos throughout the business.
