CTOs worldwide say CX is now the No 1 priority for QA

The World Quality Report, published by Capgemini and Sogit in conjunction with Micro Focus, is based on a poll of 1,700 chief technical officers and senior technology executives across 10 industries in 32 countries.

This year’s report marks the first time that customer experience (popularly dubbed CX) has topped the list of concerns, with a mean summary score of 5.85 points out of a maximum 7.

Brad Little, Capgemini executive vice president, global head of application services, said: “Quality Assurance is no longer a back office function. It is a critical activity that directly affects customer experience and this year’s World Quality Report demonstrates that IT professionals are more aware of this than ever before.

“IT teams need to be rapidly up-skilling and embracing new technologies in the near future to keep up with the AI and automation-led transformation environment.”

The report reveals that nearly 60% of respondents are experimenting with artificial intelligence  and 45% using intelligent automation. Some 59% say they will focus on predictive analytics in the year ahead.

Teams need to be rapidly up-skilling and embracing new technologies to keep up with AI and automation-led transformation

Brad Little, executive vice president, global head of application services, Capgemini

The research also highlights three roles that will expand to deal with increased QA demand. These include AI QA strategists, data scientists and AI test experts.

Raffi Margaliot, Micro Focus senior vice president and general manager, application delivery management, said: “Customers are now increasingly interacting with businesses on complex technology platforms, through multiple devices, making seamless user-experience a critical aspect of that journey.

"With greater experimentation around AI, analytics and IoT, organisations need to rapidly focus on developing the specialised skills of their testing teams to adapt to the advanced technology landscape.”