Forrester report finds that quality software at speed has tangible business results

76% of leaders find improving speed with quality is key to achieving top business goals

More than ever, application development and delivery teams are putting greater emphasis on speed. The competitive pressure to deliver new features and capabilities into their users’ hands has never been more intense. In this high-octane environment of faster and more frequent releases, quality often takes a back seat.

While no organization wants to release problematic software into the market, it’s been a challenge to quantify how building in quality from the start helps realize tangible business goals. That’s why Forrester Consulting, on behalf of Tricentis, surveyed 186 leaders at companies that have made great strides in transforming their testing to a more modern approach. Their results have just been released in Modernize Testing to Accelerate Your Digital Business, a study exploring the priorities, challenges, and best practices of enterprises that have invested in testing transformation — continuous testing, automation, Shift Left — to add value to the business, beyond just the QA department.

Forrester’s findings in a nutshell:

• Improving speed and quality is key to achieving top business priorities, said 76% of respondents. Leaders cited their top three business goals as improving end user experience (UX), improving employee experience (EX), and accelerating digital transformation.
• Top benefits include improved productivity and agility, but leading teams understand that better UX and EX translates into improved bottom-line results.
• Continuous testing pays off at the business level. When the business, testers, and developers all contribute to quality from the very beginning, companies are able to achieve their business goal of delivering quality software at speed.
• Companies that perform continuous testing “excel at test automation,” but there is still a lot of room for improvement. While 60% of leaders have automated feedback loops in place to ensure quality at today’s faster pace, 40% of testing is still performed manually.
• Even leaders sometimes struggle to keep pace. Over half (56%) of organizations prioritize speed over quality, and 54% said they have trouble keeping pace with ever-changing customer demands.
• Focusing solely on speed can have negative consequences. Sacrificing quality for speed can introduce issues that negatively impact CX. Almost half (49%) of leaders believe that their organization has lost revenue due to poor CX.
• Insufficient tooling is the #1 challenge. Leaders cited technological barriers as the top impediment to optimizing their testing practices. Specifically, tools that do not support different types of applications (cloud-native apps, microservices-based architectures, enterprise packaged applications like SAP) and different types of teams (business testers, developers, centralized QA) limit their transformation.
• Partnering with third-party services is on the rise. Some 45% of leaders are prioritizing third-party partners to help modernize their testing. Close second and third priorities are improving developer-tester collaboration and increasing the level and scope of test automation (both 44%).

This study reveals that 90% of leaders believe that investing in testing transformation is critical to enabling continuous delivery. Companies that have made testing a first-class citizen have seen improvements in business agility, as well as in employee and customer experience — all of which lead to improved financial results.

Download the full report to discover the full findings and Forrester recommendations here: Modernize Testing to Accelerate Your Digital Business