Inspired Testing extends SA coastal resources with key executive appointment

Leon Lodewyks, Managing Executive of Global Delivery and Coastal at Inspired Testing

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Global software testing company Inspired Testing has reinforced its commitment to testing services in South Africa’s coastal regions with the promotion of Leon Lodewyks to Managing Executive of Global Delivery and Coastal.

Lodewyks, who joined Inspired Testing in 2019 as Head of International Delivery – having spent 15 successful years in the testing and software development industry in the UK – believes the new position will not only consolidate but also enhance the company’s testing reach and expertise across the country and in its key global markets.

“Our delivery centre in Cape Town is widely considered among the best specialised software testing centres in the country, and my position extends from ensuring the optimal management of the Cape Delivery Centre to the effective delivery of all our professional services offerings across the Cape, other coastal areas, and offshore,” he says.

“For all our efforts locally, testing is still not always considered front-of-mind when it comes to corporate software projects, but that is slowly changing. South Africa is quickly catching up to our global counterparts, who are further along the road regarding testing as integral to business-critical software deployment at any scale.”

Lodewyks worked for numerous high-profile companies in the UK as a test manager, where he developed a keen understanding of the importance of testing as a business strategy, particularly in the context of agile development frameworks.

“While many companies claim to follow agile methodologies, this doesn’t always extend to testing,” he says. “Once companies are guided towards best-practice implementation and see the value of testing as a critical part of the agile process, they quickly come around to extending test automation and performance testing throughout the organisation.”

Lodewyks says the primary focus of his new role is raising the bar in terms of the quality of delivery offered to their clients. Among other things, this involves spending more time with onsite teams to help them create additional value to their clients, and remind them of the support offered by the 100-plus subject matters experts in the organisation.

“We’re looking closely at how we identify and upskill the best individuals from a career and personal perspective so the value of the investment extends to our clients. One of the main challenges we see locally is an immaturity of the testing function, so there’s a latent opportunity to provide specialist testing skills – and managed services – through ongoing consultation and the provision of the best possible skills in the business.”

Lodewyks says Inspired Testing has taken the coronavirus pandemic in its stride, having created a strong remote working culture long before working from home became the norm. As an ISO 27001 certified company, it also has the know-how to deliver testing services remotely with the highest possible security and compliance with strict privacy policies.

“Our clients, on the whole, are moving away from manual testing, and looking to us to build them a roadmap that shows them, step-by-step, how the transition will play out to their benefit. But instead of selling them automation as a ‘silver bullet’, which we know it’s not, we’re tailoring our solutions for their specific environments, which they can either take in-house or make use of our resources to execute.

“This type of bespoke service delivery, with a blend of in-house and remote services, is very much the way forward as companies look to regroup and in some cases reinvent themselves at a time when winning local business and global business has never been more competitive.”