Telecom calls on Indian expertise for testing time

Telecom has brought in 40 Indian experts from Bangalore information technology firm Infosys to try to make sure it gets its software and products right first time.

The Infosys experts will work in Wellington for the next several months, alongside about 200 Telecom staff and contractors testing software and products.

Telecom's general manager of technology operations, Bradley de Souza, says there are no immediate plans to outsource testing to India.

"The goal is initially for them to help us to raise our game in New Zealand. It is not just software that is involved. It can't all go offshore."

Mr de Souza says Telecom identified testing as a task it wanted to improve about nine months ago.

It ran a tender for partners and selected Infosys based on its "value and track record".

Telecom has increasingly looked for help from overseas to cope with a burgeoning volume of information-technology work caused by regulatory reforms and the launch of new products and services. It confirmed in August that 40 Russian staff of United States company Netcracker were in Wellington installing an order management software suite.

Last year, it awarded Indian company Tech Mahindra a contract worth between $20 million and $30m to overhaul its customer relationship management software.

Infosys vice-president Manish Tandon, who heads the company's Independent Validation and Testing Solutions business unit, says Telecom is the unit's first New Zealand client.

The quality of software presented to Infosys for testing, globally, has been "consistent, but with a slightly downward bias", he says. He would not speculate on the reason for the deterioration. Faults could cost "100 times" more to fix if detected late rather than early.

Mr de Souza says Telecom's call-centre team has a direct line to him.

"If we don't do things correctly – if we do not correctly provision services or there is a service delay – we see the impact on the call centres straight away."