Keynote 2

Testing Software for the “Next” Economy

Smita Mishra

13:45-14:45 CEST Wednesday 8th June

The World Economic Forum in its Global Risks Perception Survey 2020, published the Global Risks Horizon that rates:

  • Cybersecurity failure and digital inequality as the clear and present dangers – Short-term risks (0 – 2 years)
  • IT infrastructure breakdown, cybersecurity failure and tech governance failure as the knock-on effects – Medium-term risks (3 – 5 years) and
  • Adverse tech advances as existential threats – Long-term risks (5 – 10 years).

 

On one hand we have hi-tech advances happening where exclusive software is being built to support fancy projects like reaching and exploring mars and making space travels available for non-astronaut individuals who can pay for the same. And there are cryptos, and bitcoins and VR. And AI forever!

On the other hand, there are mindful technologies evolving to serve sustainable development use cases in the area of climate tech, agri tech, edtech, health tech, fintech…etc trying to make the world a safer place for all in a very inclusive way.

There are businesses preparing to serve the next billion users who will move out of poverty and have economic access to spend on technology for the first time.

How does this change what testers do? Do we understand the new users of these new technologies as to what would quality mean for them? Are we as testers geared up to meet their needs and test for our customers of the Next economy?

Let’s learn what the world thinks could be technology risks and how can we as testers align better to the new world view.