Nobody and nothing is safe from errors, crashes, or bugs if we are talking about information systems. But sometimes, software failures can make our life very challenging.
Eventually, technology and software have become an integral part of our lives. They ensure our safety, comfort, well-being. Unfortunately, this means that errors and bugs in the payment system can cost too much for us.
After all, today’s software developers make 70 bugs for every thousand lines of code on average. And this fact can already drive any manager into a kind of stupor.
Some companies have already paid a high cost of the software bugs, which is not one hundred thousand dollars. So, today’s trends make it clear: the quality of the code matters. And you shouldn’t save on it.
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When The Bugs Bring Terrible Losses
Software errors are different and can have various consequences. So, if a bug in the game may be in the form of a frozen unit or textures, then some areas may have cases where the bug created a big problem for the whole business.
Let’s go through the loudest cases when the cost of software bugs led to severe problems.
Mariner-1 Sattelite and Expensive Hyphen
This incident took place in 1962 when NASA sent the Mariner-1 satellite to Venus. But something went wrong, and the rocket veered off course. This created the threat of the rocket falling to Earth, so NASA instructed the satellite to self-destruct.
Further examination showed that a programming mistake was to blame. The programmer allowed it when he entered the formula and omitted the macron or the overline. The sensitive program took this as a significant course adjustment and shifted direction. This resulted in a loss of $ 18 million.
Bugs in Electric Cars and Consequences
Perhaps anyone who is even a little familiar with technology will notice that today’s electric cars are sophisticated, innovative systems (if just a decade ago, premium cars had 100 million lines of code, everything much more complicated). Logically, the significance and cost of the software bugs in these systems mean much more because imagine what such a bug leads to in the braking or navigation system.
There were even cases where a bug led to death, as happened in 2016 with the Tesla Model S and Joshua Brown. He trusted the autopilot and did not control the road. At the same time, the car had a situation that was not spelled out in the code, and it did not identify the truck that was driving in front of the car. As a result, the accident and terrible injuries due to which Brown died.
These were just a couple of cases where the bug was costly or even fatal. In the end, even everyday cases when a smart coffee maker malfunctions or a door jammed in the security system are not pleasant cases, so the cost of software bugs can be expensive, and the later you find it, the more costly it is.
3C on Which Software Bug Impact
After all, software bug is a severe business threat. It can lead to high financial costs and significantly complicate life for the three parties.
Career
The technical director’s nightmare is when your software product had a serious software bug, which led to a serious problem and, as a result, to a scandal. Moreover, it can affect your team, or it can cost you the value of the companies’ shares or even your career.
Company
The first thing that a big hit is the company’s reputation. Next, you have to fix this software bug by a well-thought-out PR company and reimburse the client for damages, which is very expensive.
For example, Parasoft says the company loses $ 2.3 billion of shareholder value on average when it announces a system failure. This is not to mention the publicity of the situation, getting into the news, and falling customers’ confidence.
Customer
Perhaps this is the most vulnerable side because they can suffer from bugs financially and in terms of health and life, as we can see. But the most common problem for customers is poor service.
For example, clients uninstall applications in 80% of cases because they freeze or perform poorly. Thus, the client deletes your application and chooses the one offered by the competitor. By the way, this happens with every second app during the month on average.
How Expensive Is to Fix a Bug?
The sooner, the better —- this is the perfect reflection for the cost of fixing a fault in software testing. There are even some studies on this. For example, IBM reckoned that a post-release bug fix was 100 times more expensive than the same bug found during the maintenance phase.
Also, research by Capers Jones found that the post-release cost of fixing bugs was $ 16,000, and a bug discovered during development was $ 25.
This means that a valuable QA budget is spent on bug fixes that could be fixed much cheaper and earlier in the release cycle.
The cost of bugs in software testing depends on different parameters. So, the prices are influenced by such factors as:
- Project Scale.
- Type and number of users.
- The importance of the application.
- The version of your project (app, software, etc.)
Therefore, good software developers strive to calculate risks and identify threats in advance. Then, they test, try and predict aspects that might change.
Is It Possible To Minimize Fixing Costs?
Knowing the problem and preparing for it is to avoid it. So, to reduce the cost of bugs in software testing, it is necessary to do:
- Speed up and automate CI/CD.
- Integrate testing into the process life cycle.
- Orient the development process towards TDD.
- Unit testing for other types.
The thing is that CI/CD automation allows you to fix errors quickly, and it will be much cheaper. Automatic testing will enable you to promptly detect any bug or any errors, create an environment for quick error detection and, thus, reduce the cost of the error process (search, correction, and elimination).
Some companies have gone even further. First, they release versions with known bugs to stay alive and stay ahead of the competition. Then, they quickly fix them and release fixes immediately, thanks to the Agile process. They do not see this as a higher cost but as an opportunity to lead and improve the production process.
Final Word
Obviously, programs are becoming more complex; they are more and more included in our life, which means the requirements growth for code reliability is growing. In addition, the cost of software bugs is increasing, the responsibility for the quality of the code is a heavy burden that that falls on the developers’ shoulders.
What is the way out? Modernize the development process. The complex use of modern techniques significantly reduces the likelihood that a bug in the code will not be detected at the development stage.
Bugs in the app or software are frustrating for the user, a headache for a developer, and a nightmare for a manager. All development participants try to avoid it whatever the cost. But let’s relax and look at the situation calmly. Bugs are not only about anxiety and huge costs. But also the opportunity to make that product better.
And if you are looking for specialists who will help you with this, our engineers will make your life easier and check for fixing and development more pleasant and resultative.