Software Testing Moves from 'Necessary Evil' to Specialist Service

by Dominique Raviart

Software testing is undergoing a period of rapid change and is increasingly performed as a specialist activity by professionals that conduct testing on a full-time basis. This is a significant change from traditional testing activities, where developers test their own work at the end of the software development life cycle.

NelsonHall's latest ITO report examines the role of specialist software testing services, which typically bring a wider offering that goes further than classic functional testing. Specialist testing services rely on structured methodologies to conduct testing projects and enhance software quality, and increasingly they are delivered from testing factories and offshore, rather than being staffed onsite.

Clients are looking for the following key benefits from specialist testing services:

  • Cost savings: via implementation of best practices, industrialization and labor arbitrage, and away from a staffing-only approach to a testing factory delivery model
  • Less hassle: clients are still viewing testing as a necessary evil, an activity that must be performed to allow software to move into production but that is still disruptive to their development and business user teams. They are eager to focus on their core activities and let a third party conduct testing
  • Expertise: through both access to teams of full-time experts and to service offerings such as non-functional testing (e.g. performance testing, SOA testing, agile testing)
  • Enhanced quality of software: clients are willing to move away from a pass/fail approach to software testing and look at improving the quality of the software they develop by involving testing earlier in the development process

This new 80-page study, entitled 'Software Testing Assessment and Forecast' covers the following topics:

  • The Changing Shape of Software Testing
  • Buy-Side Requirements for Software Testing
  • Impact of Specialist Testing Services on IT Services
  • Market Size and Growth
  • Vendor Market Shares
  • Vendor Selection Criteria
  • Development of New Offerings
  • Challenges and Success Factors

The study is available now as part of NelsonHall's IT Outsourcing program. For more information on the report and the IT Outsourcing program, Rob Hughes at rob.hughes@nelson-hall.com.

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