After spending most of my career leading Quality Engineering and Agile teams inside IT organizations, I’ve seen firsthand what happens when disruption hits—whether it’s a new regulation, a sudden supplier issue, or a shift in business strategy. 

These external events often kick off a wave of internal changes, especially in systems like SAP. And they put a ton of pressure on QA to move fast and get it right. 

I joined Worksoft earlier this year because I’ve lived the reality so many of our customers face: you’re constantly reacting to change, your teams are stretched thin, and you’re still expected to deliver flawless business execution. Now I get to bring that hands-on experience into a product I wish I’d had earlier in my career—and help other QA leaders navigate these same challenges with more speed, confidence, and clarity.

What Happens When Disruption Hits 

Disruption can take many forms—a new tariff, a supplier shutdown, a regulatory shift, or a demand spike. But they all require updates to core business processes that cascade through your ERP. 

In SAP, that often means: 

• Updating vendor or material master data 
• Adjusting sourcing and procurement flows 
• Reworking logistics and fulfillment logic 
• Changing tax rules or compliance configurations 
• Deploying new transport requests or approvals across systems 

Each change might seem small, but can ripple through order-to-cash, procure-to-pay, inventory, and reporting processes. And if they aren’t validated thoroughly? That’s where problems start. 

Where It Goes Wrong 

I’ve seen organizations struggle when testing is left too late. Changes go live without regression coverage. Business users find issues only after go-live. Teams scramble in firefighting mode. 

It’s not for lack of effort. QA teams work incredibly hard—but when they’re relying on manual testing, spread across siloed teams, and working under pressure, it’s nearly impossible to catch everything. 

The result? 

• Inaccurate invoices 
• Broken integrations 
• Shipment delays 
• Compliance gaps 
• Lost customer trust 

The Staggering Cost of Production Bugs 

It’s a well-established principle in our industry: the later a bug is discovered, the more expensive it becomes to fix. Post-release defects can cost 4–5x more to resolve than those caught during design—and up to 100x more in the maintenance phase. 

In ERP environments, a minor configuration issue in one module can cause cascading failures elsewhere. The hidden costs stack up quickly: downtime, lost productivity, diverted resources, and erosion of user trust. 

Shifting Testing Left: ERP Quality Made Practical 

For ERP systems, shifting left—testing earlier in the development cycle—is a game changer: 

• Cross-module impact: Early testing catches ripple effects across tightly coupled modules. 
• Data integrity: Validating data models early prevents errors that can break entire workflows. 
• Customization assurance: Testing custom components as they’re built avoids painful rework. 
• Operational continuity: Proactively finding issues minimizes the risk of business disruption. 

But here’s the catch: manual testing can’t support this pace. Automation is what makes shift-left possible. 

With automated testing: 

• Changes are validated in minutes, not days 
• Developers receive faster feedback 
• Business processes are verified continuously 
• Teams build the confidence to move faster without sacrificing quality 

Stay tuned for Part 2: How QA Leaders Can Build Resilience Through Automation and Agile Delivery Practices.