Software Testing

India to emerge as global leader in software testing

India according to reports has the potential to garner 70% share of the outsourced testing market

India is on its way to becoming a leader in the software testing market with more and more companies outsourcing their software testing services to the India that has a large availability of testers. Over the last few years, the Indian players have proved that they can offer testing services at a fraction of the cost. Software testing, makes sense, since it costs a lot of money and time to find and fix the software bugs or errors in software, once the product is released in the market. Software bugs cost the US economy an estimated $59.5 billion annually, which is equivalent to 0.6 per cent of its gross domestic product. Users and the developers end up paying for the bugs in the software. This loss can be reversed if the companies invest in timely and high quality software testing.

However, software testing is not a new phenomenon, but has been a part of any software development or maintenance process. Companies tested the product in-house by establishing separate testing divisions. This was known as detached testing where the testing team did not consist of developers who wrote the codes and therefore they could test the product better.

However, many companies cannot afford to set up a separate testing division. This is where outsourcing comes in. The companies who cannot invest in a specialised testing division have turned to independent software testing providers in offshore locations like India. Outsourcing software testing services has its distinct advantages. Companies who outsource testing service enjoy a reduced cycle time, a shorter time to market and a high quality of service at a far lower cost. Besides,a third party tester is more like a beta user of the product, who can study the software programme and find critical faults. A majority of the companies, in the US, Europe and Japan, are now outsourcing testing services either to their own subsidiaries or independent testing companies. Research firm Gartner estimates the worldwide software testing market at $13 billion and the global market size of outsourced testing services is around $6.1 billion. India according to reports has the potential to corner 70% share of the outsourced testing market. A META Group study reveals that the software testing market in India will touch $700 million to $1 billion by 2007. The top ten IT firms in India including Infosys, Wipro, Cognizant Technology Solutions and Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) have been quick in creating independent testing practices in-house. Testing is however increasingly being seen as a specialised service. IT companies have started positioning themselves as independent software testing (IST) services providers, offering software testing as a standalone service. There are roughly ten IST players in India of a reasonable size with a combined turnover of around Rs 200 crore. The leaders include RelQ, ThinkSoft, ReadyTestGo, Maveric, Applabs, Polaris Application Certification Enterprise (PACE), IQA Tester and Stag Software.

Testing is now comparable with other IT services in terms of billing rates and compensation levels of testing professionals. The testing service market in India is booming with the rapid expansion of Indian IST firms.However, the challenge these companies face is in finding the right talent. Testing requires a good knowledge of the testing process and knowledge of the domain the product operates in. This kind of talent is not easily available. The testing industry does not have the support of training academies that focus on testing. IST firms at present depend entirely on in-house capabilities to train beginners. The problem of finding talented testing professionals is compunded by the fact that IT professionals view software testing industry as a stop gap arrangement. To the industry's relief, this perception is changing gradually with more and more IT professionals looking at software testing as a serious career option.