Software Testing : Business Unusual

Why do, often in projects, the Business don’t recognize the value of testing? Why is testing, sometimes, grudgingly included in the budget just for fulfilling auditing requirements?

One of the important reason is that the monetary benefits of testing are not articulated efficiently to the Business. The only thing that stands out with planning the testing activity is the "Cost" associated with it. The development activity could easily be attributed with the returns the end product provides once it hits the market. Whereas the monetary value of testing is not so tangible and hence it requires some skilful ways to figure it out.

Often the cost savings are highlighted with the aid of Automation Testing process. Hence testing activity is has limited perception of either an expense or cost saving activity. As much as cost saving is very important, it doesn’t quite provides the glamour of bringing revenue. There are many ways to approach this challenge. One of the way is to correlate the quality of the application with customer acquisition.

There are many marketing channels to acquire customers. One of the powerful customer acquisition process is through "word of mouth" strategy. If the product provides amazing and smooth experience, there is a high probability that the customer will recommend it to their friends and family. Based on customer feedback/surveys, the value of good testing process can be evaluated and attributed to the revenue brought in by the product.

The more the focus of testing is based on the ultimate outcome of contributing to the revenue and customer acquisition, the more the Business will see the value in it automatically. In fact the Business will love to involve testing with priority.

In the upcoming blogs, I will write on what are the different ways to correlate testing with the revenue generated by the product.