The Economic Times, 21st June, 2001
It is not often that a software company decides to focus purely
on testing, but Bangalore based STAG Software happens to be that
rare entity.
Software industry watchers attribute two probable reasons for
entrepreneurs shying away from getting into the business of
testing. One is because of the general misconception that testing
unlike software services or products business is not a lucrative
proposition. The other is the feeling that testing would figure
at the low end of the market.
Neither of these fears are based on facts, says T.Ashok whose
passion for testing resulted in STAG Software, a start-up which
has positioned itself as a test engineering company.
"Testing is a very niche segment, more so in the high
end consulting space, where stag is positioned. It also has
immense business potential as software firms are realizing that
testing cannot be compromised", he says.Besides his passion
for testing, what makes Ashok ideally suited to start a software
test and analysis firm is his 15-years-plus experience in software
discipline, and having worked in all phases of the software
development cycle - one of the pre-requisites of becoming a
good tester.
Prior to STAG Software, Ashok led the worldwide software test
analysis group (WW:STAG) at Verifone India Ltd, a division of
Hewlett Packard. WW:STAG is a large independent test organization
in Verifone/HP responsible for certifying client server and
electronic commerce software. This group built ground up, is
a well recognized test group within and outside the company.
Ashok has also delivered several lectures and conducted tutorials
on testing in various domestic and international forums and
for many companies. His interests not surprisingly are in the
areas of software patterns, test engineering, object technology,
process engineering and measurement.
As software services companies graduate from plain coding work
to full development (not necessarily developing shrink wrap
products) testing becomes crucial, says Ashok, who has a master's
degree in computer science from Illinois Institute of Technology
and a bachelor's degree in electronics and communication engineering.
Many programmers are forced to do minimal testing to beat the
last minute project deadline, he says. Testing according to
him is a reduction in risk approach. Despite the proves of software
development undergoing significant improvement, making programs
bug proof is not possible as software development involves human
intervention, says Ashok.
While software testing tools help as they automate the testing
process, their use does not guarantee a bug free program. Testing
tools are also focused on specific domains like web or client
server. Software firms not working on domains that the tools
focus on need to develop their own testing tools, he adds.
The USP of STAG is in its adherence to well formed techniques
and methods for testing. It also offers consulting in the areas
of testing, engineering tests to validate products, and shares
its knowledge through specialized workshops.
STAG offers specialized consulting in the arena of test engineering.
These include building test competency, defect prevention, test
automation.
Ashok says that as test tools are available in the market are
generalistic, stag works with its clients to understand their
automation objectives and develop appropriate test framework
using mix of custom made and commercial off-the-shelf tools.
STAG also conducts specialized corporate training in the areas
of test engineering, and periodically conducts public workshops
in software test engineering.
The 20 person strong STAG has grown organically. Its objective
is to help software testing professionals do their job better
and faster and not replace them, says Ashok.
STAG is also building software tools like a fault management
analysis tool, a web based software which is deployable on any
platform like Windows or Linux using any database of choice,
like SQL or Oracle.
R.Subramanyam
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