WQR: 72% orgs link quality engineering to sustainable IT

The 14th edition of the World Quality Report, published by Micro Focus, Capgemini and Sogeti, examines the key trends and developments in quality engineering and testing (QE&T) and highlights sustainable IT and value stream management as new interest areas for quality teams.

According to the report, there is also significant optimism around the future impact of emerging technology such as blockchain, the metaverse, and other Web 3.0 applications.

Sustainability was one of the new areas explored by this year's report edition. 

Research revealed that while the role of quality within sustainable IT is still evolving, 72% of organisations think that QE&T could contribute to the environmental aspect of sustainable IT.

Respondents are also optimistic about the benefits of green engineering as part of their sustainable IT strategies, with 47% of respondents citing improved brand value ranking as the most important benefit, followed closely by improved customer loyalty (46%).

The report also finds that organisations are increasingly looking at QE&T to support the deployment and success of new technologies, including blockchain and Web 3.0; and to address associated business challenges in customer experience, time to market, security, and cost. 

New technology needs to be tested differently than before, with a different approach and types of testing and quality validation, to ensure a seamless experience for end-users.

Also, 96% of respondents believe they would face medium or high risks of cyberattacks without a quality strategy for emerging technologies. As the pace of technological change is exponential, the importance of adapting cybersecurity strategies to counter the threat of cyberattacks also emerged in the research.

While awareness is growing on how quality strategy can offset various risks associated with deploying new technology, the quality assurance function is transforming at speed from pure testing to actual quality engineering practices. 

For example, 88% of respondents agreed they were at medium to high risk of losing market share to a competitor, and 90% agreed that they face increased costs for deploying new technology solutions without a QE&T strategy.

There is unanimous agreement (89%) that robust data validation capabilities can improve decision-making and efficiency and improve bottom-line profits. 

Test data management (TDM) is an integral part of the software testing lifecycle; however, only 20% of respondents have a fully implemented enterprise-wide test data provisioning strategy. 

Many organisations have serious challenges with implementing an effective data validation strategy; 42% see implementing data validation as a time-consuming exercise, while 47% of respondents said that having multiple complex databases itself is a challenge.

There is a growing recognition of agile development and digital transformation as key enablers of further IT investment. 

There is also a recognition that integrating QE&T at every stage of product development is critical to leveraging the full potential of DevOps transformation.

The research found that organisations report significant improvements by adopting agile development: 64% of respondents cited on-time delivery as the most significant improvement. 

Reduced cost of quality was another key improvement (62%), followed closely by improved customer experience (61%).

However, organisations struggle to implement agile development across packaged applications and enterprise systems. This is due to the complex practicalities of breaking down enterprise resource planning (ERP) workflows and end-to-end business practices into a single backlog.

The World Quality Report is the only global report analysing application quality and testing trends. It has been produced annually since 2009. 

This year's edition has tracked and examined the most critical trends and developments in quality engineering and testing by surveying more than 1,750 senior executives across 32 countries and ten sectors. The expert findings are complemented with commentary, examples and best practices from more than 15 senior executives from various Fortune 500 organisations that participated in deep-dive interviews around these topics.

"The World Quality Report provides great insight into the current state and the future of IT, with an in-depth look at how emerging technologies are changing the quality needs and practices of organisations. This year's findings detail the fact that quality engineering and testing is taking into account that change is continuous, and organisations must be flexible, adaptable, and responsive to meet this challenge while reaching optimal business performance. At the same time, organisations are also focusing of generating value for customers and end users," says Rohit de Souza, Senior Vice President, Micro Focus.

Mark Buenen, Global Leader, Quality Engineering and Testing, Capgemini Group, adds, "Recent years have seen unprecedented acceleration for digital platforms and an overall modernisation of applications. At the same time, supply chain challenges, cybersecurity threats, and the ongoing skills shortage mean the landscape for enterprises has never been more complex. In turn, investment in robust quality assurance and engineering are the foundation of an organisation's ability to remain flexible, responsive, and adaptable. By looking deeper, we can see that this vital function can have a tangible impact on broader business performance, including profitability and even sustainability."