This is certainly no mean feat in such a competitive marketplace. Reasons for our success in this area include the high calibre of our work force, a product of an excellent education system, and an ability to offer a ‘value for money’ proposition.

There will always be cheaper locations – so we must look for innovative ways to differentiate our offering on a world stage, and I believe we can do this by demonstrating a commitment to software quality governance. Software development typically involves big budgets and in an increasingly difficult economic environment, more organisations are recognising that they need guarantees and assurances about the quality of the products they are buying in order to effectively manage the investment risk.

Software and IT systems are crucial to business operations, yet often timelines are squeezed and sufficient budgets are not allocated to testing and overall quality management. This is despite the numerous high profile examples of software failure due to insufficient testing. Evidence suggests that only a third of IT projects worldwide are deemed successful with costs and timeframes regularly overrunning. Far too often, testing begins too late in the project’s life cycle and resultant defects can cost over ten times more to fix later in the cycle. With this approach organisations end up with software products that are not fit for purpose, often being cumbersome to use, inefficient or insecure.

We are witnessing a trend where software is increasingly being purchased as a service, whereby third parties provide software and IT systems without the need for organisations to host them internally. This model is fuelling a need for ‘Certification’ of software products, placing the emphasis on vendors to ensure that software quality is given the attention it deserves. I believe Northern Ireland has an opportunity to establish itself as a leader in this field.

We can prove that time and money will be saved in maintaining systems within a solid quality management and testing framework. Not only will overall quality be improved and risks minimised but cost overheads will be reduced. Put in these terms, it’s a no-brainer, and in fact if we don’t take the lead in this we risk falling behind our global competitors.

SQS gives companies access to testing services to support certification and adoption of best practice testing standards – providing an independent, impartial ‘marking system’ if you like. After all – it doesn’t make sense for companies to mark their own homework, and an independent ‘mark of quality’ will be a truly high value differentiator on the global selling platform.

Software development is a highly technical and specialised area and companies in NI are showing they have world-class expertise. It’s no different for testing and quality management. No longer can it be seen as an afterthought or a tag-on to an IT project or software product, rather it is crucial to a project or product’s success, and crucial to Northern Ireland’s ability to set itself apart from the masses.

Rob McConnell is Regional Director for SQS in Northern Ireland