From the times of the earliest craftsmen through to ISO 9000, quality assurance has been key to any product development. So why is it still not getting the attention it deserves in the IT industry?
A white paper today issued by IDC shows that only 24% of the companies it interviewed were fully satisfied they’d sufficiently nailed quality issues.
Even though the vast majority (80%) of the 60 public and private sector firms in the survey recognised that delays to project delivery could undermine their commercial success, quality issues were discovered late on in the process. As a result, the companies were forced to reduce the scope of the project, throw more bodies at the problem or squeeze more precious budget over it. Probably all three.
Sean Rowlands, director of managed services for Capita Assurance and Testing which sponsored the survey, commented that using such as immature quality assurance regime was “like driving a car only using the rear view mirrors”.