It’s easy to think of software bugs as nothing more than a minor irritation. But if you look at the cost of them in terms of inconvenience and lost business, they can be a major problem with significant costs for both businesses and individuals.
Faster Pace
In today’s world most things move at a faster pace, and software development is no exception. Product life expectancy is shorter, leading to more frequent changes. Add in the increased complexity of modern software, and it’s little wonder that errors occur and that they can lead to big problems.
There have been cases in the US where software failure has led to the interruption of services for thousands of customers. The annual cost of software problems for the US economy is put at close to $60 billion by the country’s National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST).
For some industries, such as banking and financial services, for example, the cost of software problems can be severe. Not only can it cost the business money, but it can have a financial impact on customers too. Missed direct debits or late payments can cause severe hardship.
Testing Matters
Many of the problems that occur with software could be avoided if it was properly tested before its release. Around a third of that $60 billion cost could be saved by testing, according to NIST’s estimates.
You might assume that testing is something for larger companies because of the skills involved. But even smaller developers who perhaps don’t have the resources in-house can make use of automated software testing services from companies such as http://www.mytesters.com/ to make sure their products are up to scratch before release.
Quality needs to be built in at all stages of developing software. This starts at the design stage and can be carried out as the project progresses with testing of individual modules as they’re added. Of course, final testing of the finished product is important too in order to make sure that it fits the brief and meets the demands of the customer.
Using automated testing allows developers to standardise their approach and ensure that all of their projects are tested to the same standard. It also makes it easier to determine a cut-off point for when the testing process should stop.