Software Testing Influencing Every Industry/Business

Let’s play a game to provide the right setting for this blog! And, don’t forget to send your answers to enquiry@mypathglow.com.

So here we go, put on your thinking cap. Your time begins now!

1) Let’s have an exhaustive alphabetic listing of all the industries/businesses that you feel have been touched in one way or other by the digital revolution. Easy right- because today there is software existing for every conceivable industry and business. (You’ll find a splattering of some industries in this blog too!)

2) The second part of this game: Can you tell us which industries or sectors are NOT touched by software? Well this may be a lot tougher, but do send in your entries because answers to this question, will provide new opportunities for software professionals to enter, and reap the first mover advantage!

If you attempted the game, it will be amply clear that software has indeed influenced every urban industry and sector, and also many rural areas! Whether we look at mammoth industrial giants and business magnates across the world, or small family run businesses, we see a paradigm shift towards digitalisation. Today software has impacted even our friendly neighbourhood shop, which accepts payment through online and mobile payment modes! Extrapolate this fact for medium, large and super large industries, and we find that the demand for software of every kind is explosive across every industry and sector.

It’s no wonder then that the US Bureau of Labour Statistics projected that the employment of software developers, quality assurance analysts, and testers is likely to grow 22 percent from 2020 to 2030, much faster than the average for all occupations. These forecasts are credibly supported by simple logic too. To stay relevant, every industry and sector has, or is migrating to software systems to run and manage their business. Obviously then, whether it’s a manufacturing unit, trader, or service provider; whether an accounting, legal, engineering or consulting firm; whether a hospital, an education institution or an entertainment company – whatever the primary occupation or area of expertise of the industry/business, the demand for software professionals will be felt by each and every one of them, which translates into software jobs growing at a faster rate than all other occupations.

These are not empty forecasts. When we look at concrete numbers, we have Nasscom’s statistics which revealed that while FY 21-22 was still running, the Indian IT Sector was a net hirer as 1,38,000 new jobs were added, and there were initiatives to train more than 2,50,000 employees in digital skills – a clear indication that demand for software professionals far exceeds supply. Undoubtedly, this talent is being channelled into providing software across sectors and industries.

A full listing of each industry influenced by software will not leave space for much else in this blog, and hence we will adopt a categorised approach and train our lenses on the broad business groupings viz. Manufacturing, Trading, and Service sectors, to understand how software is influencing industries across the business spectrum.

Software has been driving many activities in the manufacturing space, which has witnessed a major shift to automated technology-based processes. The reason for this shift is that software-driven processes, improve precision and efficiency, and reduce time and defects in manufacturing, which is vital for every manufacturer.

This sector covers thousands of different industries varying from manufacture of Aircrafts, Ships, Trains, and Automobiles; to production of Chemicals, Clothing, Computers, Consumer Electronics, Electrical Equipment, Furniture, Machinery, Metals, Refined Petroleum Products, Tools etc.; right up to the likes of Food Processing.

With stringent rules in manufacturing units, software has been an important aid, and its presence is seen right from the entry gate through security systems; reflected amply in the core manufacturing processes; manifested throughout the factory area, and inventory management; right up to logistics for dispatching, transporting and tracking manufactured goods. Furthermore, software greatly helps data centralization in manufacturing units, making it easy to control processes, machine and man hours, scrap and losses, thus facilitating informed decision making.

The influence of software is also seen in sophisticated factory equipment, which are connected to the Internet of Things (IoT), using various sensors and gateways. Industries in this sector have also witnessed mass customisation using flexible computer-aided manufacturing systems, to modernise production and obtain an edge over competitors.

All this should be music to the ears of software developers and testers, as it is only possible thanks to software professionals, whose demand is indeed great in the Manufacturing sector, with thousands of different industries requiring their services.

Undoubtedly e-commerce is one sector that is almost entirely driven by software. There’s software that runs the websites of not just the hosting partner but also the innumerable online sellers selling everything from a pin to sophisticated electronic equipment! There’s also software to facilitate buying and selling; online payments, refunds, returns etc.; not forgetting the software for billing, inventory management, and transport tracking. Software also drives information access which is very vital for countering the immense competition in this space.

E-commerce giants like Amazon and Flipkart, revolutionised the way trading is done and their success encouraged many more entrants into the e-commerce arena. The pandemic provided a great spurt to this already booming industry and in fact e-commerce was one of the very few businesses that actually grew in the pandemic. Right here in India, tech giant like TCS, Infosys, and Accenture have invested substantially in setting up separate teams for building software for e-commerce platforms. This is superb news for software professionals for whom the future is indeed bright, in the Trading sector too!

Let’s not forget the traditional brick-and-mortar retailers that were substantially hit by e-commerce growth. These too have woken up to the need to reinvent themselves in order to survive. This trading group too has been increasingly leveraging software in order to stay relevant in the changed trading scenario. Hence many of the bigger outlets have their own websites, use software for their inventory, accounting, administrative, and other functions. Software also runs their payment modules with payment options like credit cards, debit cards, mobile wallets, etc. In fact software has also influenced even the simple street trader who may accept money through channels like Google Pay!

This sector is indeed vast with all kinds of services as diverse as Car Rentals, Equipment Servicing, Media and Entertainment, Legal Firms, Financial Services, Construction, Business IT Services, Healthcare, etc. However, for want of time and space, we will adopt a drill down approach and use Healthcare as an example, to understand the extent of software influence on the Service Sector.

The Healthcare industry is truly a major consumer of IT services, and software demand is ballooning in this industry with the need for digitalisation of patient data, medical records, reports, and medical information. Software drives the various clinical and diagnostic services; sophisticated medical and surgical equipment depend on software for precision and accuracy; Computerised Labs are widespread; Robots have entered the surgical space with Robotic Surgery getting off to a good start; and Medical Research is heavily dependent on software! There’s also software for Medical Analytics, Patient Scheduling, OPD Appointment Systems, Inventory Management, Bed Management, Billing, Accounting, HR, Admin, Housekeeping and Food Services! We even find specialised software for each medical specialisation e.g. Dentists will have customised Dental Software Packages.

The Healthcare sector’s ripple effect has also resulted in a spurt in software demand for related areas such as Insurance, Consultants of various fields, and of course vendors of Health/ Hospital Management Information Systems (HMIS) that provide an integrated IT platform for medical and administrative healthcare software needs.

Similarly, there are innumerable software requirements for the thousands of other industries in the service sector, with each different service requiring a host of customised software. The scope and variety of jobs for software developers and testers in the Service Sector is indeed immense.

In conclusion, it is amply clear that software has tremendously influenced every sector and the innumerable industries and businesses within them. In fact, this is true not just of business, but even our personal lives. Software manifests its presence all around us not just in our waking hours but even in sleep for those with fit-bit devices! The career scope for software testers is enormous not just for now, but also far into the future, because of the growing influence of software in every sphere of life.

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