Assurance in the Age of the Virtual

Confidence in outcomes is, for a business, an operational and strategic strength. In the increasingly virtual world of contemporary ICT, a fresh approach is now required to the delivery of quality assurance in the creation and operation of software and systems – an approach rooted in the effective orchestration of all the resources engaged (people, process and technology) in the fullest sense - from the initial scoping of requirements right through the creative and operational delivery processes that define the full life cycle, end to end.

At the heart of this orchestration sit the core principles of the ‘Test Maturity Model integration’ discipline (TMMi), now being adopted across the world as a de facto international standard for measuring the effectiveness and efficiency of the overall delivery process of software and systems testing. TMMi is mid-wife to a new Testing Professionalism, fully relevant to the new age of the virtual, and, above all, focused on delivering business confidence in outcomes
 
  Biography
  Richard has served as Chairman of the TMMi Foundation since November 2010. He is an independent advisor in the strategic transformation of technology & business process sourcing, outsourcing and off shoring business models by new models based on the direct sourcing of services, including through the agency of 'the Cloud'

He chairs the board of Solcom, a specialist software house, and serves on the global advisory board of Quick start Global, enabling the globalization process for younger tech ventures; is an Associate of the Leading Edge Forum (a global network of innovative thought leaders who engage technology and business executives on the current and future role of information technology) and is Research Director, Services at Bloor Research. He is a vice-chair of the UK IT trade association Intellect’s Outsourcing & Offshore Group having recently completed a three year term (2008-2011) on Intellect’s Main Board.  Richard advised the UK Government’s ‘G Cloud & Apps Store’ initiative 2009/2010.

Dr Richard Sykes was Group VP IT of the international chemical major ICI between 1993 and 1999. He subsequently chaired Europe’s leading outsourcing consultancy Morgan Chambers plc 1999-2004 (since acquired by Equaterra Inc and now part of KPMG), and start-up Site Confidence Ltd 2000-2004 (since acquired by the NCC Group).
He writes a monthly column for CIO Magazine, and was joint author with Mark Kobayashi-Hillary of ‘Global Services: Moving to a Level Playing Field’ published by the BCS 2007.