Future of Software Testing in India

The IT sector story which began in the 1950’s, soared during the 1980’s with the widespread use of internet, mobile devices, social network platforms, computing clouds etc. Then end-2019 began the pandemic, which saw a spurt in IT services like never before! Almost overnight, anything that could go online went online – be it corporate working, education, banking, insurance, transport, logistics, healthcare, restaurant services (through food delivery apps), shopping, entertainment, spirituality and the list goes on.

Pre-pandemic, this level of digitalization would have probably been reserved for fiction writers! Today, there’s an app for almost every human need. Two years of “online living” has changed our way of life in favour of having the world at our finger tips! Software Testing is undoubtedly a vital and absolutely mandatory part of this digitalization. Set in this scenario, this blog will analyse the future of software testing globally and in particular for India.

Let’s begin with what the analysts say about the scope of Software Testing world-wide, because what holds good for the world will hold good for India too, India being an important IT hub of the world.

Gartner a world renowned Information Technology Research and Consultancy Company forecasted that the global Robotic Process Automation (RPA) software revenue which was projected at USD 1.89 Billion in 2021 is expected to continue to grow by double digits through to 2024. Software Testing will definitely have a share in this pie, as RPA has been making great strides into this sector too.

Narrowing down to Software Testing per se, according to Markets and Markets – a prominent and trusted market research company, the world’s Automation Testing market was estimated at USD 20.7 Billion in 2021 and is forecasted to rise to USD 49.9 Billion by 2026 – that’s a good 19.2% CAGR for the said forecast period. As per this report, the reasons that are driving these global forecasts are: rising demand for scalable and adaptable delivery models; and increasing adoption of mobile and web based applications. Their forecast spells good news for India as they expect the highest CAGR to be in the APAC regions of Australia, Japan, Singapore, New Zealand, and Hong Kong and especially in countries with humungous customer bases viz. India and China. The reasons they ascribe to this positive APAC region forecast are: the rising demand for adoption of advanced technologies for various industry applications in the region; and also governmental initiatives for adoption of new technologies.

Training our focus on India, let’s examine some pertinent facts that give a sense of the direction in which our IT sector and consequently Software Testing industry is heading.

We have the National Association of Software and Services Companies (NASSCOM) – the trusted Indian non-governmental trade association and advocacy group that brought out a report while FY 21-22 was still in progress. Their report revealed that the Indian IT Sector was a net hirer as 1,38,000 new IT jobs were added during the year. It must be remembered that a major portion of the year was still pandemic-ridden, when people across sectors were losing jobs! Perhaps you may say that this was precisely a pandemic-driven hiring and wonder whether the trend will continue in future. Well here are some more facts that point to a good run for the IT sector. NASSCOM also found that in FY 21-22 there were initiatives to train more than 2,50,000 employees in digital skills. This is a clear indicator that the supply of skilled IT software personnel is far less than the industry demand. It’s also indicative of the future expectations for this sector. Obviously industry stalwarts expect the trend to continue, or else they would not block their money in imparting digital training skills. It is worth a reminder here, that software testing is an integral part of the digital sector, because every mobile app, web-based app, software package, software management system etc. just cannot reach the end-user until the software tester has certified it.

Let’s now turn our attention to Nasscom’s 2022 CEO Survey, which reflects the minds of the decision makers in the industry. The key highlights of the survey are given below:

• Positive outlook for technology spending and hiring. FY 2023 poised to be another growth year for the industry.
• Attracting and retaining talent – number one priority of the industry. Digital skills will continue to be in high demand; focus on up-skilling to accelerate.
• Innovation and Partnerships across the ecosystem, key to accelerating digital capabilities. Higher investment in R & D, Products, and Platforms.
• Cloud, Cyber security, Data and AI – top tech priority areas for industry for solution development. Centers of Excellence (CoE) being set up in areas like quantum. Cloud adoption continues to accelerate; 3 times rise in cyber risks driving increased cyber security deals.

This survey clearly points out that the decision makers are continuing to back the digital technology industry because the scope is still vast. There is an emphasis on investment as well as on hiring. It’s also clear that the industry is facing a shortage of suitable talent and hence efforts are focussed on hiring, up-skilling and retaining talent.

Here’s yet another important report that gives us a sense of the future of Software Testing in India. NASSCOM Annual Outlook 22-23, based on NASSCOM Enterprise CXO Survey 2022, reflects the following important insights:

• 60% CXOs indicate a 6% higher tech spend in 2022 over 2021, with focus areas around customer service, supply chain and sales & marketing. End-user enterprises are emerging as technology job creators – about 30% of respondents intend to increase their technology team by over 15%.
• FY2023 growth estimates for the technology industry reflect the optimism of FY2022. 72% Tech CEOs indicate 2022 Tech spend to be in line with 2021. (NASSCOM Tech CEO Survey 2022.)
• R&D investments are expected to grow between 10% and 20% over last year. Most respondents also expect to maintain or grow their hiring in line with last year.
• FY2023 growth opportunities: Infrastructure and managed services, consulting; Platform BPM, data management & RPA; ER &D will see deeper penetration of engineering cloud.
• The software product segment will see greater off-take of productivity software, cyber security solutions.
• E-Commerce industry is set to get further disrupted by the fast-growing interest around metaverse, driven by the need for more personalised experiences.

As expected, the CXO survey too points in the same direction as the CEO survey, with emphasis on investment and hiring in the digital tech sector, of which software testing is an important part.

One more way to determine the future trend of an industry is to keenly follow the industry bigwigs and watch their investment patterns. Here again we see the big names in the Indian IT sector like Accenture, Infosys, TCS etc. investing into building software for e-commerce platforms. They are setting up separate teams for this purpose – a clear pointer that e-commerce is here to stay, perhaps in a metaverse avatar if we go by the CXO survey. (Metaverse is a virtual-reality space in which users can interact with a computer-generated environment and other users.) E-commerce being highly tech driven, the scope for software testing is indeed going to be vast.

Let’s look at yet another pointer that reflects the scope for software testing in India and in the world at large. Think about this: During the first quarter of 2022, there were 3.3 million apps available for Android users on Google Play and roughly 2.11 million apps available for iOS users on the Apple App Store. Every app faces immense competition because they compete with millions of apps for user attention. With this level of competition, every app that wants to survive has to keep pace with fast paced digital innovations. Apps that do no upgrade will eventually fade out. And every upgrade must be thoroughly tested, and simultaneously try to win the go-to-market race. Obviously then, software testers will be in high demand to constantly monitor, test, and maintain these millions of apps that are already existing, besides the hordes that will continue entering this popular space.

In conclusion, whether it is the surveys, the app statistics, the pace of digital innovation or the actual ground reality of investments by the tallest tech players in India – all are unanimous in the direction in which they point – The digital tech industry has a bright future in India and is expected to have a good run for a long time to come. As mentioned earlier, whatever the type of app or software management system; and whatever the innovations in the digital space – software testing is an integral and essential part of the tech industry, without which the app or software management system cannot be released to the end-user. The verdict is clear: Software Testing has a great future in India.

A key factor that needs a separate mention is what has been underlined in the surveys – the lack of ‘skilled digital talent’. The scope for Software Testing in India and in the world at large is vast and long-term. However, the hunt is on for the right talent. If you are one of those wanting to enter this promising industry or even wanting to upgrade your skills to industry standards, it is important to choose a software testing course that will ensure you make the grade.

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