Improving Collaboration between people and between organizations is no longer optional if you want to survive in today’s hyper connected business world. Speed of change, unpredictability and the increasingly social nature of the marketplace make collaboration instrumental to your company’s ability to differentiate. New ways of collaboration are starting to take place within your company, across value chains and in the individual social domain of your employees. At the same time, new architecture and delivery models are bringing many new collaborative tools within reach of every person in your organization, with or without your knowledge or control. On the technology side, a volatile mix of acronyms like SOA – Service Oriented Architecture, SaaS – Software as a Service and Web2.0 is brewing that is drastically changing our view on the role and value of Information Technology. If left to chance there is little hope for success: you need a strategy.
Sogeti Ireland will be highlighting the benefits of Cloud Computing at the Cloud Computing Summit Dublin Sept 9th, come visit.

Cloud computing is an emerging phenomenon that offers enormous advantages, such as shorter time to market, flexible computing capabilities and limitless power, but the cloud market, still in a very early stage, continues to grow and evolve.
As cloud computing evolves, it creates a global infrastructure for new possibilities used in software quality assurance and testing. Businesses can share public or hybrid clouds with each other or create private clouds to be shared within the whole company, instead of using separate options for different enterprise departments. However the cloud is also threatened by some risks. These risks should be addressed to create the highest result in implementing the cloud and avoid threats on the other hand.

I recently explored the benefits innovation has on the economy, businesses and organisations. Some of my key findings were:

• Ireland ranks 19th overall in the most recent and comprehensive Global Survey, and this survey indicates we are not alone in choosing innovation and a key economic policy driver.
• Accelerating and embedding innovation requires both cultural and systemic change. (Financing R & D is just one component)
• Mature innovation cultures seek innovation as a routine on going daily activity not limited to new products and/or services, but in every aspect of the value chain.
• The IT & Software industry has embedded innovation as a requirement to compete successfully
• Innovations from the IT & Software sector are key enablers/facilitators of innovation in business and social life.
• The Top 10 current innovations within the Software Business

The importanct of innovation to Ireland presented itself in the context of the internaional competitive environment and how Ireland compares. This research led me to take down some thoughts and theories on these Software Innovations. Feel free to download

Ireland’s framework for rebuilding our economy in a sustainable way has 5 key action areas of which one is “Building the Ideas economy – Creating the innovation Island”. One of the most recent and comprehensive Global Innovation Studies “The global innovation index 2009-2010” produced by INSEAD and the confederation of Indian Industries , rates Ireland in 19th place overall on a global basis out of 132 countries and rating 60 variables. It also indicates we are not alone in our national goal. I question do we in our industry and country think broad enough about innovation or do we just focus on R & D foreign direct investment!? Innovation is not just about products and services; it’s about people, process, teams, models small changes as well as big changes. Software can be central to innovation in our economy, not just the design and development of it, but also how we go about that process in the supply chain. In addition it can be a key enabler of innovation in any organisation. So let’s not leave it to IDA & EI in the public sector to drive innovation, let’s also ensure we use it to be innovative in our own organisations whether public or private.

2010-2011 World Quality Report Out Now
The World Quality report, prepared by Capgemini, Sogeti and HP, is the outcome of an annual survey of over 30,000 CXOs, IT directors, QA managers and engineers from around the world.

In this year’s report, we revisit quality trends and approaches and take a closer look at related industry-specific issues and challenges. We also examine new trends in application delivery – such as using agile methodologies and testing cloud-based applications – and explore the effects that these new approaches are having on QA practices and techniques.
>>> Download a copy now

On 22 June 2010, Colm O'hEocha and John McArdle presented the webinar 'Agile Adoption: Patterns of Success and Failure'. In this webinar, we looked at how agile and lean software development methods have been successfully implemented and scaled and also outlined some common symptoms and causes of failure in adoption

• Download the slides

View a recording:

Abstract:
Agile methods are becoming increasingly mainstream, with recent research indicating up to 35% of software development now uses a method such as Scrum or eXtreme Programming. However, many organisations are struggling to realise the promised benefits. Success requires far reaching changes in the organisation, beyond the software development process itself.

This webinar will discuss the fundamental changes required for a transition to agile, the benefits promised, approaches to business justification, and common symptoms of issues and their underlying causes.

For organisations either considering or in the early stages of adopting agile, this webinar will provide useful insights from the practical experiences of early adopters.

Agenda
This webinar covered the following:

• Business Justification and Agile Adoption in Industry
• The Agile Adoption Curve
• Common Problems and Solutions
• A Strategy for Successful Adoption

Useful links:

• Download the presentation
• Sogeti Agile Services
• White paper: Maximising the value of good testing practice in an Agile environment
• Contact Sogeti Ireland

Next Sogeti webinar (Focus on Software Quality):Test Case Design with TMap® Next - 7 July 2010This webinar will present a practical guide to the most commonly used Test Case specification techniques as prescribed by the world’s most widely used testing methodology, TMap ® Next. Learn more/Register now

Podcast:
A Podcast is available through the following URLs:

• iTunes
• http://www.blog.sogeti.ie/feeds/posts/default

Increased test coverage by 500%, execution frequency by 300%, and an associated man-day saving of £100,000+ per year

Summary
For Callcredit, a leading innovator in the field of credit referencing, the accuracy, intelligence and reliability of its critical information systems is key to helping its clients make critical purchase, lending and authorisation decisions.

Callcredit recognised the need to implement test automation to cope with the ever growing code base and turned to Sogeti for support.

Over the space of a year, Sogeti has helped Callcredit to automate its regression testing in a project that has increased test coverage by 500%, execution coverage by 300%, and an associated man-day saving of £100,000+ per year. Automation is actively helping to significantly reducing the risk of application errors entering the “live” environments.

Other key benefits include the ability to include more new functionality with each release, improved staff morale and productivity, early confirmation of build quality, fewer execution errors and associated investigation time caused by human error, and a full audit trail.
>>Download the full case study here

New services to enhance development and testing and assist in the transition to Agile.

Dublin; 15 June, 2010: Sogeti Ireland, the IT services company, today announced the launch of a new suite of services that will help clients realise the benefits of Agile software development and testing. Sogeti’s Agile Services can support companies already using Agile approaches as well as those considering the transition to Agile.
>> Read more

Date: 22 June 2010
Time: 11.00am to 12.00 noon BST
Presenter: Colm O'hEocha and John McArdle
>> Register now

Agile methods are becoming increasingly mainstream, with recent research indicating up to 35% of software development now uses a method such as Scrum or eXtreme Programming. However, many organisations are struggling to realise the promised benefits. Success requires far reaching changes in the organisation, beyond the software development process itself.
In this webinar, we will look at how agile and lean software development methods have been successfully implemented and scaled and will also outline some common symptoms and causes of failure in adoption.

Agenda

• Business Justification and Agile Adoption in Industry
• The Agile Adoption Curve
• Common Problems and Solutions
• A Strategy for Successful Adoption

The webinar will be presented by Colm O'hEocha, a software development industry veteran, researcher and consultant in agile and lean methods and innovation management.
>> Register now

On 9 June 2010, Ken Brennock, Principal Consultant, Sogeti Ireland presented the latest webinar in our TMap/TPI Software Quality Series. Test Planning with TMap® Next covered the key test planning practices defined in the world’s most widely used testing methodology, TMap® Next.
The webinar was well attended and had an useful Q&A session afterwards.

• Download the slides

View a recording:


Abstract:
In this webinar, ‘Test Planning with TMap® Next’, we covered the key test planning practices defined in the world’s most widely used testing methodology, TMap® Next.

The TMap® Next methodology details the activities involved in structured test planning including the key aspects of risk based test strategy development as well as test estimation and the creation of the Master Test Plan. Practical techniques for product risk analysis and estimation will be highlighted in this presentation.

Agenda
This webinar covered the following:

• Creating the test strategy
• Performing a product risk analysis
• Estimating the test effort
• Documenting the Master Test Plan

Useful links:

• Download the presentation
• TMap/TPI Webinar Series
• Software Testing and QA Services
• Contact Sogeti Ireland

Next Sogeti webinar:Test Case Design with TMap® Next - 7 July 2010This webinar will present a practical guide to the most commonly used Test Case specification techniques as prescribed by the world’s most widely used testing methodology, TMap ® Next. Learn more/Register now

Podcast:
A Podcast is available through the following URLs:

• iTunes
• http://www.blog.sogeti.ie/feeds/posts/default

Three free mobile apps developed via crowdsourcing at Sogeti’s Mobile Solutions Lab in India are available to download

Sogeti recently launched a new global Mobile Solutions Lab (MSL) in Mumbai, India. The lab is evidence of the group’s aim to maintain its leadership in the development of mobile applications and solutions.

Through the lab’s crowdsourcing site anyone can request a new smartphone application and rate existing submitted ideas and requests. The most popular ideas are then developed and can be downloaded for free. The first set of applications is now available including smart and useful apps for everyday use.

The lab has now started delivering its first mobile applications (apps) – for free. And from now on there will be a regular delivery of new applications, all based on the demands and ideas that show up on the lab’s crowdsourcing site.

“New ideas for mobile applications emerge every day and through the lab we will able to both lead and respond to the exciting opportunities. We are prepared to design and develop applications and solutions that can add value to Sogeti clients, Sogeti professionals as well as the market as a whole", said Declan Kavanagh, CEO, Sogeti Ireland.
Read the press release

The Annual report from our corporate parent Cap Gemini S.A. is now available to view online at http://annualreport.capgemini.com/

At Sogeti, we're currently seeking to fill a number of roles in Software Testing, SAP, Sales and Marketing and other areas.
Visit our website at http://www.sogeti.ie/ for more information or click on the links below:

Recently there was a press release from the UK ISTQB Testing Board(http://www.uktb.org.uk/UKTB_Press_Release_20100315_Final.pdf ) announcing that the British Computer Society's ISEB will discontinue its intermediate and practitioner qualifications in Software Testing and adopt the ISTQB Advanced qualifications (as it previously did at the Foundation level). This transition will be completed by early 2011. This is very welcomed in the industry as there was confusion in the marketplace with two competing qualifications.

However, what is not yet clear is whether ISTQB will award its Advanced Level qualifications to those holding Practitioner qualifications or if any equivalence or otherwise will be recognised for intermediate/practitioner certificates. There has been no official announcement on this and in fact informal communications with the UK board suggests that currently this is not the case. This appears to contradict recent SQS press releases. It further raises the question about whether people should take intermediate training when it is unclear what value it will have moving forward. Those already holding intermediate certificates need to evaluate the value/risk about proceeding to ISEB practitioner in the short term given the uncertainty about its recognition/equivalence by ISTQB.

See also a general description of the ISEB and ISTQB qualification schemes at http://www.sogeti.ie/Product--Services/Training/Training-Course-Descriptions/ISTQB-vs-ISEB/

Disclosure note: Sogeti Ireland thru Insight Consulting provide ISTQB training (previously also ISEB) and Fran O'Hara is a member of the ISTB (www.istb.ie)

Shared Services present a significant opportunity for the Public Sector to improve the quality of services delivered to citizens while controlling costs.
On 26 May 2010, Sogeti Ireland were pleased to have Barry Lowry who leads the IT Assist Program in the Department of Finance and Personnel in Northern Ireland as a guest presenter for the final webinar in our Business Transformation series.
The webinar was well attended and had an usefule Q&A session afterwards.

• Download the slides

View a recording:


Abstract:
In this webinar, Barry Lowry who leads the IT Assist Program in the Department of Finance and Personnel in Northern Ireland outlined how the transformation to a shared services model has radically changed and improved how IT services are managed and delivered creating significant stakeholder value and satisfaction (Government, IT Staff, NICS staff, citizens and suppliers).
In particular Barry looked at IT Assist, the shared services organisation established to provide IT infrastructure support for the Northern Ireland Civil Service staff and beyond. IT Assist set the benchmark and the platform for enabling a range of centralised shared services such as Account NI (Finance), Records NI (DRM), HR connect NI (Personnel).

Agenda
This webinar looked at:

• The IT Assist Program in Northern Ireland
• Benefits of Shared Services in the Public Sector
• Other centralized shared services programs (Accounts NI, Records NI, HR Connect NI etc.)

Useful links:

• Download the presentation
• IT Assist Homepage
• European eGovernment Report - Benchmark measurement
• Sogeti Ireland CIO and Executive Advisory Services
• Contact Sogeti Ireland

Next Sogeti webinar (Software Quality Focus):Test Planning with TMap® Next - 9 June 2010
This webinar will cover the key test planning practices defined in the world’s most widely used software testing methodology, TMap® Next. Learn more/Register now

Podcast:
A Podcast is available through the following URLs:

• iTunes
• http://www.blog.sogeti.ie/feeds/posts/default

In the latest of a series of articles for CIO.co.uk, Liz Benison, Global Director of Operations for Capgemini’s Financial Services Business, talks about the importance of testing in software implementation to avoid destruction and avoid unneccesary costs in production.

Read more on the Capgemini UK website

Astellas Ireland, the pharmaceutical firm, and Sogeti Ireland today announced a new contract to extend SAP application management services for a further three years. The contract, with a lifetime value in excess of a seven figure sum will be delivered using SAP Run™, Sogeti’s SAP application management service.

• Read more

Pictured above (Left to right): Declan Griffin, Client Manager, Sogeti Ireland and Evun Wyer, Corporate Head of IT & Business Systems, Astellas Ireland pictured outside Astellas Ireland’s Damastown plant in west Dublin

Agile – in all it’s variations – becomes an increasingly popular process for realizing software. The roles testers and testing plays in these projects is challenging and new. Testers are no longer considered code-killers, but can play – and are expected to play – a very pro-active role in agile projects.
Read this interesting blog on our parent company, Capgemini's website:
http://www.capgemini.com/technology-blog/2010/01/beyond_agile_testing_or_how_to.php