Information Technology Reference
In-Depth Information
Chapter
11
Software Testing Practice
and Offshoring
Global forces have changed the way business is conducted today. These same forces
will change the way business will be conducted tomorrow.
Just 50 years back, most businesses were limited to small geographic locations.
Most of them had a presence in one or more cities. Some bigger businesses were
doing business in more than one state and sometimes doing business in some other
countries as well. But most had a presence within one state alone.
With computers enabling companies to do their businesses in any geo-
graphic area and in as many locations as they wanted, companies have grown
enormously and have become truly global. They do their marketing in locations
where they find good markets for their products, source goods from locations
where they find cheaper goods, and manufacture goods where labor costs are
cheapest. At the same time they also try to utilize economy of scales opportuni-
ties whenever possible.
The software industry has also followed this global trend. Bigger software ven-
dors market their products worldwide, and software development is done at loca-
tions where software engineers come cheaper. With more sophistication achieved
in the software outsourcing industry, software testing is now very much decoupled
from software development. So software testing is being done at locations where
labor cost is low yet software testing processes are well developed and thus a thor-
ough testing of the product is possible at cheaper costs. This also helps in achieving
lower costs of software maintenance over the life of the software product. Due to
the growth in specialization, many service providers have come up who provide
excellent software testing services.
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