IG Reddy - VP, Solutions Engineering
1. How long have you worked in the IT industry?
I have 18 years of experience in operations management with 11 years specifically in the IT industry. I am an Industrial Engineer with Certification in Production and Inventory Management (CPIM) from APICS, USA and I have a Chartered Financial Analyst diploma from ICFAI, India.
2. What are the biggest changes you have seen in the testing industry over the past few years?
Organizations are starting to view testing as an independent activity rather than an adjunct to the development process. There has also been growing importance for the non-functional aspects of systems and therefore there has been a significant emergence within the testing tools industry, in particular the open source tools. Finally, testing has become a viable long term career option rather than simply an entry to software development - this is obviously great for us as a company.
3. What are the challenges facing you as Head of Solutions Engineering?
It's a very challenging job, especially when we are involved with so many clients, covering a wide range of industries. It certainly keeps you thinking and learning new technologies and approaches - which is the bit that excites me the most. I guess the main challenges fall into 3 main areas:
- Building a value proposition that is mutually beneficial for customers and for our delivery teams
- Showing customers how we differentiate ourselves with our testing solutions - it is a competitive marketplace so we aim to really show our credentials
- Continuing to be innovative and creative, especially when we have to deal with a completely new challenge
Organizations must ensure that their business objectives are realized from their investments in IT - this still proves to be a challenge to many. Testing must play a big part in this by not only ensuring functionality but also by verifying that the new system/application provides the required benefit as stipulated by the business.
Large enterprise organizations have continually evolving business processes and practices, sometimes dictated by governmental regulations. These require advancements in the technology in place, leading to increased system complexity. It is crucial that testing maintains the same pace of advancement with developments in testing technology.
5. As testing is maturing into a recognized discipline, what changes will result from this over the next 5 years and how do you predict testing will evolve?
The testing industry is moving at a faster rate than it ever has and I anticipate many changes. Firstly, I believe test tool vendors will embrace an ASP model for the provision of testing infrastructure including the environments, tools and management processes. Test accelerators will be developed for packaged applications in order to accelerate implementations, upgrades and validation and realization of business objectives. Test productivity improvement tools will be used more frequently covering all aspects such as frameworks, model based testing, process aids and test data management. Finally, I anticipate a growth in the use of service oriented test suites that are executed in an extended enterprise business ecosystem.
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