European Application Testing Services Survey 2011: The Change in Approach to IT Quality Assurance

IDC's European application testing services survey of over 400 organizations in six regions finds that there is increased onus on quality assurance (QA) and more organizations are striving to drive validation into the front end of the software development life cycle (SDLC). Research shows that QA/testing functions are maturing with time and QA is shifting from a tactical, ad hoc, and unstructured process to a more strategic and centralized function.

"QA as it is conducted today is often seen as an additional cost and activity that adds extra cycle time to the application development process. While there is onus on restructuring internal testing functions, these are viewed as 'cost centers' versus 'service centers' by top management. This is one of the biggest barriers to QA transformation, as C-level executives cannot see beyond the cost of testing, and lack an understanding as to the real business benefits," said Jennifer Thomson, research director, European Application Services. "Vendors looking to gain from emergent opportunities should focus messaging on both long-term transformational change and near-term savings with short-term projects, with a focus on demonstrating lower QA and maintenance costs while enabling tighter alignment of IT with business objectives."