Resources & FAQ

We developed the EPIC framework by selecting the most relevant components from the Organizational Excellence Standard and tailoring them specifically for small and medium-sized organizations. While the full Organizational Excellence Standard is a robust and comprehensive model that can take significant time and resources to implement, EPIC is the first purpose-built framework designed for organizations that may not have the capacity, resources, or desire to pursue the more complex OES. It offers a practical, streamlined path to excellence without the heavy time commitment of the full standard.

When we designed EPIC, our focus was primarily on organizations with fewer than 1,000 employees—often even fewer than 500. In fact, the organization we’re currently working with has around 50 employees. Our sweet spot is really in that under-500 range, though EPIC can work for organizations up to about 1,000 employees.

We asked ourselves: What are the most important and critical components of our standards, and how can we adapt them to be more relevant and practical for organizations with 25, 50, or 500 employees? The result is a streamlined framework that keeps the essentials while making it realistic for smaller organizations to adopt and benefit from.

Innovation will look different in every organization—whether you’re in professional services, manufacturing, healthcare, or another industry. With EPIC, our focus is on the process behind innovation: how organizations generate, evaluate, and execute their innovative ideas.

We help organizations ensure their innovation plan considers market trends, customer and employee feedback, and competitive insights. That plan should include a clear roadmap, guiding how ideas move from concept to implementation.

Our role is to help put that roadmap and process in place, and, when appropriate, connect organizations with peers or partners to advance their innovation initiatives. We also emphasize the importance of tracking and measuring the impact of innovative changes to ensure investments are made thoughtfully and deliver meaningful results.

In short, we focus on the process side of innovation—ensuring there’s a clear, structured approach that turns ideas into measurable outcomes.

Yes. EPIC recognition will be its own distinct category, separate from our existing recognition programs. It is purpose-built for small and medium-sized organizations and follows its own criteria and process, ensuring the framework and evaluation are tailored specifically to their needs.