How Six Sigma certification is beneficial for those who are already working in the Quality assurance aspects of any kind of process? Exactly what is the nature of a SME in BPO sector and where does a Six Sigma certified person stands? Are Subject matters Experts something like Doctorate Degree holders?

Hello Mrityunjay,

If someone is working in QA, Lean Six Sigma learning is a great value add. I can say this as - before getting in to this field of Lean Six Sigma, I was a QA expert (a third party auditor for quality assurance programs and carried out 400 plus audits).

Subject Matter Expert is needed in many Lean Six Sigma projects and forms a very important part of the team. In most technical processes - a Lean Six Sigma expert is likely to be handicapped in the absence of SME.

Let us understand this with a real life example.

"A bank has 2500 Lean Six Sigma certified professionals (LSSCP) who are all change experts with DMAIC expertise. Every time, there is a change in a government policy anywhere in the world, an LSSCP is assigned to the change project. This LSSCP is not supposed to know about the exact legalities involved in the change. In some cases, the LSSCP does not know the exact banking (existing) process when he is assigned. In such a situation, while the LSSCP leads the DMAIC project, he needs two key people in his team - One, someone who is the process owner - knows the exact sequence and details of existing process. Two, the legal expert who knows the exact legal element in the change."

To answer the other part of your question using this example, the legal expert may have gained his expertise based on his experience or qualification - not necessarily a doctorate.

In a BPO, the relevant SME in a project could be a person who knows the technicalities about the dialler settings in an outbound process or could be a CRM expert who knows the existing CRM settings and the changes possible with current technology. (or approachable technologies).

Some companies have progressed to ensure that Six Sigma competence is passed on to some members in each function. This ensures that SME is more easily accessible for at least the within function Lean Six Sigma projects.

Hope this helps.