Application testing saves time, money

The increasing regulatory requirements, raising customer expectations, rapid consolidation and convergence in the banking and finance sector, have created the need for sophisticated IT solutions that operate in real-time with continuous availability and reliability. In a drive to provide operational excellence, which is of paramount importance, this sector is looking for solutions that could address the challenges they are facing.

No financial services company would go to market with a completely untested application, yet many companies continue to roll out new or revamped applications in which the testing has been inadequate, ineffective or ad-hoc. Inevitably, says Haydn Pinnell, MD of Gallium, an EOH company, the result of testing deficiencies is time and money lost.

“For example, the cost of a defect in development can snowball to 100 times that cost if not discovered until production, and 10 times more when found in quality assurance testing,” he says. “Even costlier, though, can be the market impact of substandard application performance.”

But, he says, more financial services companies are recognising that testing excellence plays an integral role in high performance. “The global and highly competitive nature of the financial services industry makes speed-to-market urgent and testing critical,” Pinnell adds. “Companies cannot afford to linger on the lower rungs of testing maturity. The consequences can be measured in opportunities lost, brand value damaged by under-performing applications and competitive disadvantage — not to mention the cost of fixing application errors already in production.”

To optimise testing and quality processes, companies should implement processes consistent with best practices to ensure they reap the benefit of standardised methodology and tools. However, in many cases, companies cannot afford the capital investment required to build an in-house core testing competency. “So it can make strategic and fiscal sense for financial services organisations to take advantage of the reach, capabilities and expertise of the right third-party provider's solutions and services,” says Pinnell.

He explains that a leading-edge testing centre can transform culture, processes and technology to deliver sustainable, long-term quality and high performance. It can improve speed to market, lower costs, and raise the availability and quality of applications. “It should have a staff well versed in requirements management, risk-based testing methods, test management, functional and automated functional testing, performance testing, security testing, as well as multiple application technologies and platforms. A global testing centre should also be able to draw on methodologies and best practices gained from dozens of engagements around the world and benefit from ongoing investment in software and proprietary technology necessary to enhance service and execution across its delivery network.”

Gallium Gallium, a member of the EOH group of companies, supplies business technology optimisation solutions from HP Software, specialised technology based professional services, training, managed services, test factory solutions and ad hoc quality and performance testing services. EOH EOH is a business and technology solutions provider creating lifelong partnerships by developing business and IT strategies, supplying and implementing solutions and managing enterprise-wide business systems and processes for medium to large clients. EOH operates in the following three clusters of business units as a fully integrated business: Technology – Through a number of subsidiary companies, EOH is able to sell, implement and support a range of world-class business applications, including ERP, CRM, business intelligence, advanced planning and scheduling, e-commerce and manufacturing execution systems (MES). Consulting – Concentrated under the EOH Consulting brand are business units offering services ranging from strategic and business process consulting, project services, change management, supply chain optimisation and education. Outsourcing – EOH offers comprehensive maintenance and support of clients' IT infrastructure and applications through the rendering of full IT outsourcing, application hosting and managed services. In addition, EOH offers full business process outsourcing (BPO) services. EOH has a presence in all major centres in South Africa and operates in the rest of Africa.

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