Testing was initially seen as a means of identifying bugs or breaking, then fixing, an application before it moved into production. The trend over the past decade, has been to look at testing as working with the business and application development teams to improve quality from the time that the business request or demand has been made, through build and into production/operations. Quality processes, procedures and methodologies are identified to reduce wastage, cost over-run and project failures. Developing a structured approach to test maturity will enable organisations to:
• Be targeted and pragmatic on areas to be improved
• Support and take advantage of more flexible delivery practices
• Make use of innovation to ensure the end product is fit-for-purpose

The latter point, innovation, is now considered as a value-add to quality management and it is required to ensure applications are delivered fit for purpose. The various gaps ready to be filled by innovative models are Innovation in Testing Knowledge management, effective use of social media and crowd in testing, and strengthening test processes and test analytics.