Nearly 60% of respondents polled by SunGard said there was an appetite within their organization to improve testing processes on financial services infrastructure, but several obstacles, namely cost, are impeding firms’ ability to properly test their systems.
Aside from costs, the largest obstacles to properly test are insufficient time to meet deadlines, incomplete or ambiguous requirements and insufficient resources, according to SunGard’s poll of 354 COOs, CIOs, project managers, IT managers and quality/test managers in late 2012 and the summer of 2013. The cost of testing, the number one obstacle, exceeded a quarter of a project’s entire budget for 23% of respondents. And nearly 60% said that budget restrictions kept them from improving. the testing process.
Yet as the results show, most want to improve if they could; the survey says that three-quarters of the respondents think having a testing operation underway has a medium-to-high impact on normal business processes and operations.
In terms of what’s driving improved testing, when asked to pick one or more reasons, 53% of respondents cited the rollout of upgrades and new releases, 50% said the introduction of new product and service officering is a driving cause, while 45% said regulatory requirements are a top reason.
Specifically, Basel III is the most common driver of system testing, as 40% said this regulation is boosting the need for improvements to testing. However, the survey found that many firms don’t necessarily have the resources to improve their testing, as 32% use untrained internal personnel or line-of-business resources.
“Testing has become a crucial part of any financial institution’s operations. Regulatory pressures and client demands are driving them to do more things faster and with fewer resources. At the same time, software failures can cost financial institutions dearly in terms of loss of business and reputation. How testing is conducted and by whom is therefore paramount in helping ensure that as much of the risk associated with potential failure is identified early in the testing process and then mitigated where possible. Outsourcing testing processes to a third party and engaging test professionals can help reduce cost and increase performance, helping ensure that operations run smoothly and smartly,” says Stephen O’Reilly, quality assurance practice lead, SunGard Consulting Services.
However, over half of the respondents said they are not considering outsourcing some or all of their system testing.
Most Firms' Systems Testing Could Use Improvement, Finds SunGard
Nearly 60% of respondents polled by SunGard said there was an appetite within their organization to improve testing processes on financial services infrastructure, but several obstacles, namely cost, are impeding firms’ ability to properly test their systems.
« AXA Investment Managers Connects to Latin America through BNP Paribas