When it comes to the software quality testing process, many techniques are implemented to help to ensure potential flaws in programming can be identified from the outset and resolved before your software gets into the hands of real-life users.
Although there is much in the news about external threats to sensitive data, the biggest concerns among businesses are human error and system or process malfunctions.
Knowing you need a better software quality process and actually being able to pick the right programmes for your needs are very different things. There is a huge variety of options available these days that some companies can find choosing software incredibly daunting.
Ryan Bonnici, CMO at G2 Crowd, was reported by Forbes as advising firms to make their decision easier by working out what you need the software for in the first place.
For instance, you can find programs for sales, customer relationship management, human recourses and marketing to name a few. Within each sector, there are also subcategories too, so the best way to get started is to ascertain what benefits you are looking to gain and search for the programs that offer these.
it might also be worth looking into the likes of software development and quality-related programs such as defect management, application life cycle management, and build and deployment tools – which we here at Experimentus can help with.
“It’s worth taking the time to consider which is best for you based on the needs of your business,” Mr Bonnici stated.
He also recommended considering the size of your business and how many staff members will use the software. A firm with fewer than 50 employees will have very different requirements to a multi-national company with thousands of workers.
By determining how many people will operate the technology, you can work out what functions you need it to serve. A smaller company will demand less from their software than a huge one.
The expert also recommended keeping options open and consider new software from different companies as your business evolves and your needs change.
“Some of the most efficiently run businesses mix and match software from dozens of companies,” Mr Bonnici commented.
Whatever IT software you choose, it is best to give it a lot of consideration to avoid wasting time and money on programmes you will not end up using.
According to 1E, businesses typically wasted 37 per cent of their software budget in 2015, amounting to $30 billion (£22.9 billion) spent on technology that was irrelevant to their business’ needs.
For many years, software development has been dominated by a few large companies, but one expert has recently suggested that we could see the landscape changing shape in the coming years.
Writing for the Harvard Business Review, Shishir Mehrorta explained that a new generation of ‘makers’ is coming through and that they are changing software development to bring it closer to its roots – a sector where anyone could program and solve problems.
“I think software is entering a new phase with its own version of the Maker Generation – people won’t want to buy one-size-fits-all solutions made by others, they’ll want to make it themselves,” he asserted.
That could mean businesses of all sizes investing more heavily in people with knowledge of software development to ensure that they have systems, both customer-facing and back-end, that are tailored for their company.
Of course, within the software development process there needs to be testing, and developing a software quality process will be essential to ensure the output works as desired.
However, Mr Mehrorta stated that for a true revolution in software development to take place, there will need to be a change in the interfaces we use for coding and software development. He added that this will lead to some exciting new solutions, but said that “for every brilliant solution, there’ll probably be a hundred not-very-brilliant solutions”.
If you’re already developing software for your business in-house, you may want to explore the idea of continuous testing, which we recently explained can be a useful tool for ensuring your software development stays on track and doesn’t hit any major problems along the way.
