75% of survey respondents say software testing plays very important role in business

JAKARTA, Indonesia, Nov. 12, 2010 /PRNewswire-Asia/ -- Maveric Systems, a leading independent software testing specialist, today highlighted a growing demand for software testing within banks, financial institutions and insurance firms in Indonesia. This finding was the result of a regional survey conducted by Maveric Systems recently, involving 150 customers from the banking and financial services vertical in the region. A significant number of responses came from participants in Indonesia.

The survey findings were shared on the sidelines of the second CXO Software Testing Summit 2010, held in Jakarta at the Shangri-la today. The event was attended by representatives from Bank Bukopin, Bank Mandiri, Prudential, State Bank of India, amongst others. Highlighting the various models of outsourcing, testing tools, performance testing and project management, the Summit gave a glimpse into the world of testing and what to look out for while making a decision related to testing. The Summit ended with a panel discussion where participants shared their views on the challenges and trends in the industry.

"The financial sector in Indonesia is seeing unprecedented growth, and with this comes the responsibility of ensuring business continuity. As a result, we are seeing a growing interest in software testing as banks, financial institutions, and insurance firms gear up to address the challenges presented by large-scale upgrades or revamps of core and support applications," said Ritendra Banerjee, Senior Vice President, Maveric Systems.

Mr. Banerjee added, "The global software testing market is estimated to reach US$56 billion by 2013, and this rapid growth will require nearly 30,000 professionals globally in the next year. In Indonesia, the estimated spend on software testing is upwards of US$150 million for banks and financial institutions on a conservative basis, with the top five players spending close to 33% of this figure." Maveric Systems is currently engaged with Indonesia's largest bank in developing an enterprise test process improvement strategy.

According to the Maveric Systems Regional CXO Software Testing Survey:

• Around 75% of respondents said that software testing played a 'very important' role in their business, with 25% saying it was 'important'.
• 40% of respondents felt budget-related issues were the main constraints to software testing, with 20% citing the inability to demonstrate Return on Investment.
• 30% of respondents felt the inability of vendors to understand company processes while developing testing posed a major challenge, while 50% were faced with a shortfall in skilled manpower for software quality testing.
• All respondents have earmarked budgets for software testing over the next three years.

Financial institutions are under pressure to provide better risk management and transparency, while simultaneously coping with growing trading volumes, high volatility and the need to reduce IT and operational costs. As these companies roll out technology solutions to improve efficiencies and address regulatory and compliance issues, this presents a new challenge of having to test, and maintain the software through its entire life-cycle, from pre-release to upgrade. Given that organizations today are highly dependent on software-driven systems, this has become a top priority for CXOs in the region.

Presenting at the Summit, P Venkatesh, Director, Maveric Systems shared, "Through our experience with several large-scale testing projects in the region, we believe there are a number of factors CXOs need to consider as they build software testing into their plans." 

Mr. Venkatesh outlined five best practices for end user organizations to keep in mind while developing a software testing strategy:

1. Design early: With over 40% of defects arising due to an insufficient understanding of business requirements, it is necessary to design tests in parallel with software development or customization. This eliminates extensive reworks, and helps to identify gaps and enable timely resolutions.
2. Use model-based designs for end-to-end business processes: This helps organizations avoid duplicating efforts across testing phases, and offers measurable indicators against key drivers and business rules.
3. Plan for Critical Functionalities Testing (CFT): Poor quality software that gets pushed to Integration Testing and User Acceptance Testing phases results in costly time wastage as it goes back to the drawing board. CFT enables organizations to create a push-back mechanism at an early stage that greatly reduces the number of man-hours on the project.
4. User Acceptance Testing (UAT) to include migrated data: Over 50% of production issues arise due to problems with data, not applications, as data migration from legacy systems is a complicated process. Adding migrated live data to test data during the UAT allows for the identification of migration and transformation-related issues prior to software go-live.
5. Use of automation for regression testing: Typically, organizations continue enhancements to keep up with business changes and new products. Regression tests help prevent defect leakages, and once automated, can substantially reduce go-to-market time.

Maveric Systems is aggressively expanding in Southeast Asia, and considers Indonesia a high-growth market for its business.

About Maveric Systems Ltd

Maveric Systems is a globally trusted independent software testing specialist with a strong and dedicated focus in the E-governance, Banking, Financial Services, Insurance, Telecommunications and Healthcare sectors. Rated at a high 94% in customer satisfaction, Maveric brings end-to-end software testing capabilities to a wide array of client engagements. Maveric's client portfolio includes a wide array of leading government organizations, telecom companies, banks, financial institutions, insurance companies, product companies and system integrators worldwide. Headquartered in Chennai, the company has offices in Bangalore, Mumbai, Dubai, London, Kuala Lumpur, Riyadh and New Jersey. For more information on Maveric Systems, please visit www.maveric-systems.com

Press contact:

Rice Communications for Maveric Systems
Daniel Hilarion Lim
Consultant
Email: daniel.lim@ricecomms.com
Tel: +65-6221-8322

Shruti Soni
Senior Consultant
Email: shruti.soni@ricecomms.com
Tel: +91-9873354750