Firms launch products sans proper testing

BANGALORE: A majority of European IT managers believe that products and systems are launched without sufficient testing, a study revealed.

Businesses across Europe claim software testing is an important part of new product and service delivery. Yet, the responsibility of testing remains solely with IT managers rather than business managers, an independent research by LogicaCMG said.

Lack of business ownership means that testing is inadequately resourced. IT managers report that products and services are launched without proper testing, leading to high failure rates.

The research, “Testing Times for Board Rooms” said that IT directors, IT managers or software developers are responsible for testing in three quarters (73%) of European companies surveyed. One per cent said that testing was the responsibility of marketing, while 9% said it was the end user department's responsibility.

Alex Garrick, general manager, LogicaCMG, said,“Considering that our survey shows that 68% of IT heads think too many products and systems are launched without sufficient testing, and 89% of respondents said they had problem ridden systems 48 hours after go live, it is a surprise to see that IT managers are accepting responsibility without a suitable level of business support. Poor availability of testing resources and capability (cited by 85% of respondents) and skills required to test new developments (78% of respondents) are largely to blame.”