Research Report

By Matthew Marden & Melinda-Carol Ballou

Software drives business innovation and performance optimization and helps enable execution and competitive position. Proactive, consistent quality management for business-critical applications is key for most organizations as a backbone for execution and adaptability. Given the visceral impact of downtime and performance degradations in a volatile worldwide economy and the agility enabled by areas such as ERP and other business software solutions, the demand for effective testing has never been greater. The cost savings of finding software problems early in the life cycle and creating effective business process quality and infrastructure management for quality can be geometric in scale.

IDC recently interviewed organizations that use the Worksoft automated business process testing platform for SAP and other business applications. Study participants confirmed findings from the previous IDC study, most importantly, that they generate significant value with Worksoft by reducing the friction associated with testing and lowering the cost of testing in terms of staff time and third-party support. They also cited critical improvements in their ability to execute large-scale projects and migrations and in the quality of applications. Based on interviews with Worksoft customers, IDC projects that these customers will realize benefits worth around an annual average of $142,877 per application tested (an estimated average of $1.80 million per organization), which would yield a projected five-year ROI of 548%, by:

• Reducing the staff time and third-party costs required to carry out ongoing regression and other testing activities
• Speeding up the completion of significant migrations, business projects, and SAP upgrades
• Increasing the quality of key business applications
• Enabling development and regulatory compliance teams by providing visibility into business processes to help automate audits

About IDC –

International Data Corporation (IDC) is the premier global provider of market intelligence, advisory services, and events for the information technology, telecommunications and consumer technology markets. IDC helps IT professionals, business executives, and the investment community make fact-based decisions on technology purchases and business strategy. More than 1,100 IDC analysts provide global, regional, and local expertise on technology and industry opportunities and trends in over 110 countries worldwide. For 50 years, IDC has provided strategic insights to help our clients achieve their key business objectives. IDC is a subsidiary of IDG, the world’s leading technology media, research, and events company.