SYNOPSIS

The irrecoverable damages that software failure can cause are evident from the startling reports across the world. In 2017 a report released by Tricentis reveals that global enterprises have testified a loss of 1.7 trillion in assets and affects 3.7 million people across the globe. In 2018 across the US, poor software quality incurred an exorbitant loss of $2.84 trillion collectively. Malaysia has had the luxury of being manually intensive and moving at a pace that it was comfortable with in the past. Unfortunately, the COVID-19 pandemic has taken away all such luxuries and demanded that the new post-COVID world order adopt hightech and high-touch IT survival values to compete against other more advanced countries. It is, and will be, a post COVID world where the silicon-based hardware which runs the intangible ‘intelligent’ software, that processes ‘infinite’ data, at a speed of light, to expedite collation of information and knowledge, that supplements and complements mankind’s survival. In such a world, shouldn’t the ‘sanity of the system’ aka, the software quality should be a norm rather than an exception. This has been so with phone apps that support companies that have been paradigm shifters as well as the underlying Android / Apple OS that support such apps. In the future, there will be more dependence on software and the requirement for ‘quality software’ will only increase with the possibility of legal implications.

It is ‘enlightening’ to notice that a driver-less Mercedes / BMW / TESLA car has everything QA/QC-ed except its software component from bugs, errors, cyber-threats, failures, operational correctness etc. There is no SIRIM equivalent that electrical equipment has, for the software that controls much of the ‘equipment’ these days. This talk will highlight how cyber security core concerns are rooted in software QA/QC as well as give insights into how QA/QC requirements must be mapped onto Artificial Intelligence (AI) applications in the future for its successful implementations. Several industry players who were involved in the MSC Malaysia projects recognized the increasing importance and relevant of software quality across all industries decided to set up the Malaysian Software Testing Board (MSTB) more than 10 years ago with the intent of representing the industry’s interests in software quality assurance (SQA) and promotion of software testing as a profession. When it comes to SQA, it should be the responsibility of all companies in Malaysia to have relevant certifications for their products, internal processes and the staff within, to give confidence to the external business partners, both locally and internationally.


BIODATA OF SPEAKER

Ts. Ir. S. Vignaeswaran has had more than 35 years of working experience in the electrical, computer, software engineering, IT, SCADA, project management and tendering fields. He has been involved in state of-the-art applications that includes cyber-security from the 1990s. He has an Electrical Engineering degree from Monash University (Clayton, Australia) and MSc in IT/BIS from University of Keele, UK. He continues to publish international papers in Engineering, IT, Computer Security and the Project Management fields.

En. Amiruddin Jaafar Sidek brings more than 30 years of ICT practice experience in various roles across multiple industry domains. He has been actively involved in industry development initiatives both at domestic and international levels with strong interest in the areas of software engineering, software quality, standards, and Internet of things. He is a member of the Board of Director of MSTB and leads the Board’s Knowledge Management & Syllabus Working Party, Professionally, he has acquired multiple capabilities which include corporate management, technology strategist as well as strategic consultancy in the areas of technology adoption & implementation, business process improvements and quality management practices.