While software development is getting more complex, its deployment is getting simpler for the end users. They want to access multiple systems from different parts of the earth, all at the same time. In such a scenario, even a small glitch in software operations could mean a big loss of business and here comes software testing into action. IT companies are doing the testing either in-house or outsourcing the task.

Research firm Gartner estimates the global software testing market at $13 billion. A META Group study reveals that the testing business in India was $200 million in 2003-04 and this could increase to $700 million-$1 billion by 2007. Businesses that test their software can expect to reduce actual failures to about 20 percent.

About 30-50 percent of development work is testing and about 80 percent of this can be outsourced. Five years ago, there was no independent testing market in India. Now customers have started perceiving the need for independent testing. India has close to 10 independent software testing firms. SNS Technologies, for instance, has focused purely on product testing since 1989.

Verisoft, which was originally a division of Prabodhan Info Systems, was hived off as an independent company this year and has completed over 139 testing projects plus worked for more than 70 clients. There are other software testing firms as well: RelQ, AppLabs, Maveric, ReadyTestGo, Quexst Associates and Pure Testing.

As of today, major business in testing, like in IT services, comes from the banking and financial services, and insurance sector. The major vendors are Mercury Interactive, IBM Rational, Segue and Compuware. Besides, some open-source tools such as Junit and WAS are becoming popular. So what are you waiting for?