Only 18 per cent of European
businesses surveyed have fully implemented a digital testing strategy,
according to a new study by market research and strategy company, Pierre
Audoin Consultants (PAC).
“Digital
Testing in Europe – Strategies, Challenges & Measuring Success,”
looks at how organisations are ensuring that the testing and Quality
Assurance (QA) function is able to support the digital agenda of the
business. This is often led by departments such as sales and marketing,
who circumvent the CIO and undertake their own development projects,
while using emerging tools and platforms.
The
study, supported by Accenture, HP, TestPlant, Applause and Worksoft,
found that 26 per cent of organizations in the region have formulated a digital
testing strategy but have not yet implemented it. A further 35 per cent plan to
develop a digital testing strategy in the next year.
PAC
interviewed senior IT and testing executives at 200 large businesses in
Europe, as part of the study. The biggest obstacle in implementing
digital testing strategies is in taking a consistent approach to testing
across multiple channels of engagement, an issue cited by almost half
of all participants. The second biggest issue is that of integrating
digital into legacy systems, which was regarded as a ‘primary’ challenge
by 39 per cent of participants.
Other key findings include:
More than 60 per cent of businesses use the same team to test both digital projects and existing applications.
Nearly
23 per cent of companies currently allocate more than 60 per cent of their testing
budgets to new development in 2015, but this will increase to a level of
27 per cent in 2017.
The
majority of companies use an array of tools (in-house, packaged, open
source) and approaches (virtualization, in-production testing) as part
of their digital testing strategies.
There
is growing interest in crowdsourced testing models. 25 per cent of European
businesses already use them, with an additional 20 per cent planning to use them
in the next two years.
Nick
Mayes, Principal Analyst at PAC, said: “The digital agenda is having a
profound impact on the testing strategies of many European
organisations. It is moving testing closer to the business, driving them
to leverage different tools, methodologies and external partners, and
it is forcing businesses to change at greater speed.”
“The
proliferation of digital technologies in today’s high-velocity,
software-driven business world is pushing every company to rethink and
reinvent its approach to testing,” said Matthias Rasking, Europe, Africa
and Latin America Testing Lead for Accenture. “We collaborated with PAC
on this study to highlight the need for companies to develop a
comprehensive digital testing strategy in support of their business
strategy. The ability to roll out business capabilities continuously,
create a seamless customer experience and protect the brand will be the
difference between companies that can evolve and ones that stagnate.”
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