The software testing/QA industry relies on three steps for functional testing: Defining test requirements (what do I need to test?) Test case creation (creating detailed instructions) Test scripts (using these test cases to develop scripts operated by a functional test execution tool, e.g., Micro Focus QTP, Tricentis Tosca, and Selenium Grids). Broadly, these three ste[...]

  Since its creation, the software testing services industry has focused on regression testing, i.e., ensuring that previously developed software still runs after a new build. Regression testing is the core of all QA activities and has been widely adopted as part of multi-year managed services contracts. The financial services industry, with its extensive application estates updated by[...]

  Capgemini is aiming for low or no maintenance and support fees as part of its ADM offering. Depending on its level of responsibility for development activities, the company commits to reducing maintenance and support activities and is, therefore, making a bold statement unheard of in the IT industry. To achieve such high aspirations, the company believes Sogeti's application t[...]

  IBM recently announced its acquisition of Salesforce Platinum Consulting partner, Waeg. The company, whose name means “wave” in old English, expands IBM’s Salesforce service presence in Europe and is IBM GBS’ second Salesforce services acquisition in 2021, following 7Summits in the U.S. It is also GBS’ fifth acquisition since IBM announced the intended s[...]

  We recently talked to passbrains, the crowdtesting pure-play with dual headquarters in Hamburg and Zurich that has just been acquired by German IT service and VAR vendor, msg. The acquisition is timely for passbrains. Its founder died in the summer of 2020 at a critical time, as the firm was developing the 2.0 release of its crowdtesting platform and diversifying its client base[...]

  QA pure-play Qualitest recently briefed NelsonHall on a new AI-based offering the company launched in 2019. The testing services industry began to deploy AI-based offerings about three years ago, starting with AI-based analytics use cases, looking at where and what to test better. Since then, the focus has shifted to AI-based automation, looking initially at the automated creation[...]

  We recently talked to crowdtesting specialist firm Testbirds about how the firm has adapted to COVID-19 and the macroeconomic conditions. In the past two years, the crowdtesting industry has realigned its capabilities around agile testing, primarily providing services for mobile apps and websites along with chatbots and connected devices/wearables. The realignment has been success[...]

  We recently talked to Shishank Gupta, the practice head of Infosys Validation Services (IVS), about how the practice is adapting to the COVID-19 pandemic and ensuing economic crisis. Of course, the initial focus has been on employee health, helping clients, and enabling its employees to work from home, getting access to tools, applications, and connectivity. The QA practice i[...]

  We recently had an update from NTT DATA regarding its Salesforce services activities across the different countries it operates in. At a global level, the company’s priority is to scale up its Salesforce services capabilities, with recruitment as a priority. Salesforce keeps making horizontal M&As at a fast pace while verticalizing its software products. NTT DATA is mirr[...]

  Deutsche Telekom (DTAG) recently announced it is moving T-Systems’ communication services activities with enterprise clients (TC division) and Government clients (Classified division) to Telekom Germany. Accordingly, T Systems’ TC and Classified divisions will be folded into Telekom Germany’s B2B Communications division that currently services small businesses and m[...]

  In the world of testing services, crowdtesting stands out. While efforts towards automation are accelerating in testing services/quality assurance (QA), the perception that crowdtesting is labor intensive and relies on communities of tens of thousands of testers seems at odds with this. This perception is no longer valid: the crowdtesting industry has changed. Managing crowdtestin[...]

  NelsonHall has commented several times on how vendors have been introducing AI into their QA/software testing activities; for example, to enhance defect analysis and prediction. We have talked less about the use of RPA because it did not seem to bring much innovation on top of what testing software products already offer. Testing software products have been around for over 20 year[...]

  NelsonHall continues to explore how cognitive is reshaping software testing services, and here I look at how Amdocs is automating chatbot testing. The market is shifting from continuous testing to cognitive Over the last year, for many testing services providers, the focus evolved from creating continuous testing platforms (in the context of agile and DevOps adoption), to incor[...]

  Software testing services continue to show vitality in their adoption of tools to increase automation. One of the areas in which vendors are investing heavily is AI, not just leveraging AI to increase automation through an analytics approach, but also in testing of AI systems. Back in November 2017, we reported on how Infosys was expanding its testing service portfolio in the areas o[...]

  We recently caught up with Sogeti, a subsidiary of Capgemini, to discuss the use of AI and RPA in software testing. In testing, AI use cases are focusing on making sense of the data generated by testing and from ITSM and production tools. For RPA, adoption of RPA workflows and chatbots in automating testing services has to date been minimal. Continued investment in Cognitive QA[...]

  We have delayed the publication of this event note until after Capgemini’s Capital Markets Day this week, when Capgemini confirmed its mid-term ambitions of 5-7% organic growth and an operating margin of 12.5-13%. “In Shape and On the Move” were among the first few words of COO Thierry Delaporte’s closing address at Capgemini’s global analyst and adv[...]

  NelsonHall recently caught up with managed cloud and hosting vendor Rackspace. We discussed Rackspace’s May 2018 acquisition of a Salesforce consulting and systems integration partner, RelationEdge, and how the acquisition fits into its plans. Who is RelationEdge? RelationEdge (RE) was founded in 2013, in San Diego, CA. The company is positioned as a business process reen[...]

    By Dominique Raviart & Rachael Stormonth Deutsche Telekom’s Capital Market Day 2018 included a session in which the new CEO of T-Systems Adel Al-Saleh explained how he intends to turn around the Systems Solutions market unit (T-Systems). Back to onshore vendor profitability standards by 2021 Al-Saleh’s message to investors is clear: the priority is [...]

  Tech Mahindra recently briefed NelsonHall on its new model-based testing (MBT) offering, Automated Test Assurance (ATA). To date, enterprises have shown interest in MBT technology, but take up has been low, partly because they had already invested in creating test cases and test scripts and were reluctant to make a further investment in creating a new a set of process models/diagrams[...]

  Readers of the NelsonHall Quarterly Updates on Tech Mahindra over the last two years will be aware of initiatives that have taken place to turn around the LCC business it acquired, and also of recent investments such as a minority stake in Altiostar. This blog looks at some of the other sectors in which Tech Mahindra operates, and at some broad developments around service delivery. [...]