Test today, test tomorrow

What defines customer satisfaction? What makes a customer come back, time and again, to an organisation? Is it the excellence of the product? Yes. But more than that it is the software that ensures every aspect of the journey and experience is seamless.

Without software that operates to incredibly high standards, customer needs are not met. According to Mandla Mbonambi, CEO of Africonology, it is critical that organisations ensure their software products comply with industry standards, regulations, and laws to ensure that their customers and experiences exceed expectations.

“Software is more than meets the proverbial eye,” he adds. “It’s the customer journey, it’s the security that ensures data and information integrity, and it is the company’s reputation. It has become incredibly important to ensure that the security of the software and the data processed are to extremely high standards and that flaws are detected early in the testing process. This will not only keep the company’s reputation intact, but it will ensure that customers trust you with their information and services.”

This is why software testing is more than just that box that is ticked down in the admin department. Why software testing is what ensures any software delivers to the promises it makes. And that any flaws, failures, and holes are found early in the process and corrected before data is leaked or customers compromised.

This, as the Protection of Personal Information Act (POPIA), expands its reach, will not only ensure that the organisation is aligned with regulatory controls and dodging the dangers of fines or imprisonment, but that it gains one commodity that is more important than any other today – customer trust.

“If the solutions provided by an organisation meet the needs of the market and provide the assurances that customers need when it comes to security, then they will generate revenue,” says Mbonambi.

Software testing provides a solid foundation from which organisations can manage customer and service expectations, and it can provide immediate support in the event of failure. If testing teams are in place and understand the client and the product, then they can immediately resolve any problems before they impact the bottom line.

In the high-speed, go-to-market, be faster than the competition market defined by the pandemic today, software testing is the soft and comfortable blanket that wraps the business in the right kinds of assurances. With high-speed automated testing processes, the business can minimise its go-to-market turnaround time significantly. Automated or continuous testing enables the reusability of repetitive testing processes that minimise testing turnaround times and constantly improve on software quality.

“With software testing, the business is assured of three things – speed, reliability, and consistency,” says Mbonambi. “These three pillars are fundamental to business growth and can mean the difference between success or failure in the current market. They also emphasise the importance of remaining focused on testing despite shutdowns or complexities. These will always be a barrier to the business, whether there is a pandemic or market crash or something else equally unexpected. Don’t stop testing, use it to solve these challenges, and enable the organisation to adapt with more agility.”

As the pandemic continues to put pressure on the organisation, customer, and market, testing can easily be seen as the tool that can be put to the side. It is not. Quality, security, and service will always be the primary factors that determine customer satisfaction and loyalty, and in a market where budgets are tight, the customer wants a partner that they can trust. Software testing must remain a priority so that the business remains ahead of the curve.

“Just remember the SRC – speed, reliability, and consistency,” concludes Mbonambi. “These three words can make all the difference to a corporate bottom line and reputation. They can change how an organisation adapts to the shifting sands of the market and their customers and how rapidly it can iterate its products and services to meet new opportunities head-on. And software testing is the reason that they succeed.”