Software testing awards success

We are very pleased to announce that Box UK has been named as a double finalist in The European Software Testing Awards 2016. A hybrid application project successfully delivered for BMJ has been honoured in the “Best Mobile Testing on a Project” category, while the high quality of usability testing services carried out for the Royal College of Nursing (RCN) has seen the software development consultancy also make the shortlist for “Best User Experience (UX) Testing in a Project”.

Now in its fourth year, The European Software Testing Awards support and celebrate companies’ and individuals’ significant achievements in the software testing and Quality Assurance (QA) industry. This year’s awards programme saw a record 25% increase in entries from previous years, with brand-name organisations including Credit Suisse, Avis Budget Group and Specsavers also nominated alongside Box UK.

Best Mobile Testing on a Project

BMJ first approached Box UK with an ambitious plan to develop a new ‘BMJ Best Practice’ mobile application; requiring that it be completely rebuilt from the ground up to optimise the user experience.

Used by healthcare professionals across the globe, BMJ Best Practice supports clinical decision making at the point of care. To do this effectively, information needs to be accessible anywhere, presented quickly and in a way that supports the patient consultation process.

As a result of the project, the app and its content can be downloaded almost 40% faster than before and requires significantly less memory on any device. Improvements made to the search function and the structure of the search results ensure that users get accurate answers, quickly.

Best UX Testing in a Project

As part of a wider digital transformation project, RCN wanted to make sure the new digital platform being delivered by Box UK would not only meet member needs but exceed them, by delivering a truly exceptional online experience. Consequently, the 430,000-strong membership institution made the decision to use their annual RCN Congress to find out what members thought about their brand-new digital platform, while it was still in beta.

With the help of Box UK’s UX consultants, a combination of usability testing approaches was used to gather feedback, including 114 guerrilla testing sessions which were conducted over the course of the three-day conference. From this, insight was extracted that would help guide future development plans and delivered to RCN as a series of prioritised recommendations.

The reaction of RCN stakeholders to these testing activities was extremely positive, with the institution’s Head of Information Technology Paul Newman commenting: “The way the Box UK team conducted things was fantastic and the response and feedback we have captured I am sure will prove invaluable to the further development of the website. It was an absolute pleasure to work with you”.

A team effort

Speaking in response to the news Benno Wasserstein, Box UK’s Managing Director said: “This latest announcement from The European Software Testing Awards is a wonderful reflection of our commitment to providing clients with exceptional web and software solutions, especially following last year’s finalist nomination for ‘Best Test Automation Project’. It’s testament not just to the skill and dedication of our QA team but also to that of the whole organisation, as everybody has a part to play in ensuring the highest levels of quality in everything we do.”

Judges’ comments

“The European Software Testing Awards programme continues to grow each and every year, and true to form this year we’ve had a 25% increase in entries. There’s an impressive amount of inspiring projects and individual achievements out there,” Cecilia Rehn, Editor at TEST Magazine and Chair of the Awards’ Judging Panel said. “I want to congratulate all companies that have been named as finalists. Each year the quality amongst the entries goes up, and the job of the judging panel gets harder!”

Judges for The European Software Testing Awards are appointed based on their extensive experience in the software testing and QA field. These seasoned professionals, all of whom currently hold senior management roles guarantee that each entry is judged fairly and accurately. Feedback from the judges this year has further highlighted the high standards being demonstrated across the testing community, as well as the vital role the awards play in supporting and enhancing this.

“Testing is often the ugly sister in a programme of work and invariably bears the brunt of budget and time cuts and to have a body that recognises the efforts, trials and tribulations that testers and QA groups have to go through and the sterling work that is done by them is great. As such I’m proud to be on the panel of judges this year,” said Jason Emery, Programme QA & Risk Manager at SSE plc.

“Today we face a new type of customer and organisations must ensure the quality of every product or service they deliver. Quality and excellence delivered to the customers helps in building up relationships of trust and this is key to safeguarding the customers’ reliability and satisfaction,” said Amparo Marin Global Certification Governance Director – CIO Technology and Regulatory Affairs at Santander España. “Having an independent awards programme to recognise testing teams is a very good lever to reinforce this type of messages and overall to share best practices and keep improving.”

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About The European Software Testing Awards

Now in its fourth year, the European Software Testing Awards is an annual event honouring the very best in the software testing and QA industry. It is organised by 31 Media – publishers of TEST Magazine – and sponsored by a wide range of organisations including Micro Focus, Amdocs and Perfecto. The winners of the 2016 awards will be announced at a gala dinner taking place in London later in the year, which will see hundreds of industry professionals gather to celebrate outstanding individuals, teams, and projects.

About BMJ

BMJ started out over 170 years ago as a medical journal and today, as a global brand with a worldwide audience, helps medical organisations and clinicians tackle critical healthcare challenges. They do this by publishing the newest, cutting edge academic research, providing professional development solutions and creating clinical decision support tools. BMJ’s expertise extends from publishing and medical education to clinical decision support and quality improvement to enhance day to day decision-making and healthcare delivery. The company publishes more than 55 medical and allied science journals – including some of the most influential speciality journals in their field – and within the past 50 years has pioneered the migration to digital publishing and the development of open access.

About the Royal College of Nursing

The Royal College of Nursing is a membership organisation of more than 435,000 registered nurses, midwives, healthcare assistants and nursing students. It is both a professional body, carrying out work on nursing standards, education and practice, and a trade union. It is a Royal Charter body registered with the Privy Council. It represents the professional interests of nursing staff working in the public, private and voluntary sectors. It supports and protects the diversity of the nursing profession by actively promoting inclusion. It lobbies governments and other UK bodies to develop, influence and implement policy that improves the quality of patient care.

About Box UK

At Box UK our team of simply brilliant thinkers, consultants and application developers mastermind simply brilliant solutions to the world’s toughest web and software projects. It’s why blue chip organisations around the world, from airlines to car manufacturers, international banks to global charities, choose to trust us with the execution of their digital strategies, from the development of enterprise-level custom software platforms to the delivery of award-winning multi-channel experiences. So if you want an effective, compelling software solution, talk to us.