Groups and Committees

Testing Research Project Board

Studies have shown that IT implementation failure, 'down-time' and security breaches due to inadequate testing are common across many industry sectors. For instance, LogicaCMG found that one third of system failures in the last two years have been caused by IT upgrades. However, only 11% of UK financial services firms and public sector bodies test system upgrades. These system breakdowns are costly, not only in terms of lost business, but in damage to reputation, employee dissatisfaction and fixing the problems after they occur.

The damage isn't restricted to the company whose IT project has foundered - there is a resultant loss of confidence in the UK IT industry. Consequently hopes for an 'Information Age' are impeded with bad-feeling, mistrust of technology and a cautious (rather than innovative) approach to business. Some recent head-lines, from trade press aimed at users, include, 'Slack testing causes IT failures', 'Stop making guesses about the effort needed to test systems' and 'Users warned as number of software holes soars'.

A study in the US by NIST (“The Economic Impacts of Inadequate Infrastructure for Software Testing”, National Institute of Standards and Technology, May 2002) indicated the potential cost reduction to the US economy of feasible improvements in testing infrastructure to be between 0.2% and 0.6% of US GDP.

The Group found that there was little quantitative data from the UK to support this conclusion. Impartial research into the links between productivity in the UK and investment in IT systems testing will quantify the productivity gains that can be achieved through improvements to the IT systems testing infrastructure in the UK, thereby maintaining business confidence in the Information Age.

Purpose

The purpose of this research is to investigate the economic impact of IT systems testing on the UK economy: the expenditure on testing; the cost to UK business of inadequate testing; and the productivity gains and savings that would be generated by improvements in testing. The report should provide answers to the following questions:

• What is the cost of an inadequate IT systems testing infrastructure to the UK economy as a whole, and to specific sectors within the UK economy?
• What is the potential cost reduction from feasible improvements to the IT systems testing infrastructure within the UK economy as a whole, and to specific sectors within the UK economy?
• What costs do users of IT systems incur as a consequence of inadequate IT systems testing?
• What costs are incurred by IT development and support as a consequence of inadequate IT systems testing?
• Are there any significant differences in these costs between different sectors of the UK economy?
• What is the total spending on IT systems testing in the UK as a whole, and by specific sectors within the UK economy?
• What proportion of the total IT budget is spent on IT systems testing in the UK as a whole, and by specific sectors within the UK economy?

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