Brand Awareness: U.S. Companies Rank IBM, Microsoft, Oracle, HP-EDS, and SAP as Top 5 Vendors for Application Testing Services

This IDC study highlights demand-side results of customer perception of top-ranked providers in the category of application testing services. The results of this study indicate that software brand recognition plays a significant role in influencing enterprise perception of provider testing service capabilities. Vendors are given not only a framework of those players that appear to have competitive advantage as related to customer perception in the area of testing services but also key characteristics of providers that enable such advantage. Further, this study provides IDC insight into what key areas of focus providers need to address to ensure both short-term and long-term success based on customer need and market directions in application testing services.

"Success as a provider in application testing will require players to not only emphasize the cycle time reductions and operational efficiencies gained through the testing value proposition but also highlight how they can deliver on the strategic value tied to testing risk mitigation. Testing organizations are becoming pivotal points of intellectual property as they integrate industry, technology, and business expertise to support client application requirements. This can be leveraged to deepen client support across a range of application services, from application modernization to application outsourcing, in addition to the embedded benefits tied to quality assurance itself." says Rona Shuchat, director of Application Outsourcing Services.