What is the
cost of a software bug? According to this
article, for Knight Capital, an American global financial services firm, it
was at least $440 million due to a glitch in their legacy software. The loss
was caused by a failure in an update meant to accommodate a new New York Stock
Exchange (NYSE) system that went live on August 1. $440 million was lost in only 30 minutes, before it was manually
shut down. That is not counting the additional damage caused to their
reputation and stock valuation. This is not insignificant – Knight Capital is
not some fly-by-night startup in a garage but rather the largest trader in
American equities.
Knight’s glitch wasn’t the only technology failure we recently saw in the financial sector. NASDAQ OMX was forced to pay $62 million in a settlement compensating investors for the delay in trading Facebook shares during its IPO, caused by a “technical glitch.” BATS Global Markets was forced to cancel their IPO due to a “software bug” in their trading platform.
Knight’s glitch wasn’t the only technology failure we recently saw in the financial sector. NASDAQ OMX was forced to pay $62 million in a settlement compensating investors for the delay in trading Facebook shares during its IPO, caused by a “technical glitch.” BATS Global Markets was forced to cancel their IPO due to a “software bug” in their trading platform.
There is no
dearth of examples of the mounting cost of software failures; you can catch a news
article almost every day about some consumer product or the other, being recalled
due to software issues, all top brands. As we begin to depend more and more on
software, how do we ensure that these losses are kept to a bare minimum if not
avoided totally?
Does the answer lie in more rigorous unit testing as one expert seems to suggest or in using better and safer programming standards as some others may say? Unfortunately, there is no one magic pill , there are just many small steps that will ensure that you have adopted a “Zero Tolerance” approach to software failure, and you need to decide the "what-how-when" that will best work for your company and your team culture.
It’s easy to blame the quality team or the developers for glitches but often the person accepting the poor quality software in a bid to push faster for more business, plays an equal if not greater part in creating a cycle of poor quality, and as a consequence, in the blind rush to release new software not only quality but innovation suffers too.
The shift towards better quality is a cultural shift that needs as many champions as you can muster; it will pay off slowly but surely. But as a Business Leader you will have to convince everyone involved in your organization that testing is not an option and not an extra cost, the ROI on testing more than justifies the need for it.
Does the answer lie in more rigorous unit testing as one expert seems to suggest or in using better and safer programming standards as some others may say? Unfortunately, there is no one magic pill , there are just many small steps that will ensure that you have adopted a “Zero Tolerance” approach to software failure, and you need to decide the "what-how-when" that will best work for your company and your team culture.
It’s easy to blame the quality team or the developers for glitches but often the person accepting the poor quality software in a bid to push faster for more business, plays an equal if not greater part in creating a cycle of poor quality, and as a consequence, in the blind rush to release new software not only quality but innovation suffers too.
The shift towards better quality is a cultural shift that needs as many champions as you can muster; it will pay off slowly but surely. But as a Business Leader you will have to convince everyone involved in your organization that testing is not an option and not an extra cost, the ROI on testing more than justifies the need for it.
To know more about TCL's Independent Software Testing Services, contact
Arun Kumar, arun.Kumar@tcl-asia.com
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TCL is a specialist consultancy in software testing. As a company, our core purpose is to Develop and Deliver World Class Solutions in Software Testing that are Innovative, Structured and Professional.
The company exists to meet the needs of our clients who strive to ensure that their IT projects create value and demonstrate return for their investment. We are geared to deliver services in all areas of software testing including functional, non functional and process improvement.
The first TCL company was based in the UK (Transition Consulting Limited) and the group has now expanded to include enterprises in the US and India. A further expansion into Australia or New Zealand is expected within the next five years.
For more details visit: http://www.tcl-global.com/
The company exists to meet the needs of our clients who strive to ensure that their IT projects create value and demonstrate return for their investment. We are geared to deliver services in all areas of software testing including functional, non functional and process improvement.
The first TCL company was based in the UK (Transition Consulting Limited) and the group has now expanded to include enterprises in the US and India. A further expansion into Australia or New Zealand is expected within the next five years.
For more details visit: http://www.tcl-global.com/
