Business Strategy: Software Testing — Appraising the Application Testing Scene in Asia/Pacific

This IDC Financial Insights report provides a snapshot of the testing services life-cycle flow, its key portfolio components and current test methodologies, and delivery engagement models. It also explores why enterprises are pursuing third-party validation services with greater zeal and provides survey-based data on software testing investment drivers.

Cognizant of the fact that a software bug that costs a minimal amount to rectify at the onset would balloon to thousands of dollars to fix if identified only after the software has been deployed, enterprises are increasingly adopting independent testing services to enhance the quality assurance (QA) of their products and services. With a heightened interest in software testing, this IDC Financial Insights study highlights the regional software application testing scene that extends across the software development life cycle (SDLC), from basic functional-level testing to more specialized testing services.

"Organizations are embracing complex infrastructure testing to deal with compatibility and interoperability issues, as well as to manage specialized application testing frameworks," explains Li-May Chew, CFA, associate research director, Asia/Pacific Risk Management Advisory Service.

This IDC Financial Insights further delineates the list of challenges encountered by test providers, and how IDC Financial Insights anticipates the software testing trends and models evolving. It also shares information on the size of the discrete testing services market, and how we envision the enterprise application and product engineering testing services growing from 2008 to 2013.

The report concludes with core pointers for enterprises exploring third-party testing services. It also proffers detailed recommendations for software testing providers, including those specifically targeting the banking financial services insurance (BFSI) sector and technology product vendors.