QA teams and software developing departments’ position and influence within banks and other financial services firms are growing fast.
This is primarily because the use and integration of GenAI-driven features and applications are being rolled out at an unprecedented speed, forcing executives and non-IT teams within banks, insurance companies and similar firms to turn more and more to developers to make sense of it all.
Boston-based Andrew Lau, CEO and co-founder at engineering management firm Jellyfish, said that the days developers merely followed orders and instructions are well and truly over.
“Now engineers are true strategic partners, not just builders, and they’re using AI and effective management backed by hard metrics to stay ahead of the competition,” Lau said.
He stressed that “in recent years, engineering leaders have fought for more visibility into their team’s work, overcame the pandemic and the shift to hybrid work challenges, and used hard data to point their organisations toward growth.”
However, as the role and weight of finance firms’ in-house developers change, Lau pointed out that a majority of those who took in a recent survey by his firm did experience increased stress in the past year.
The problem is particularly acute for short-staffed engineers and leaders overseeing large organisations. This is mostly due to the increased responsibility and workload.
Of respondents at companies with more than 500 people in their engineering organisation, more than eight of ten managers experienced burnout, Lau said.
A similar number of engineers who are part of a team of less than ten engineers said the same.
“Developers overcame the pandemic and the shift to hybrid work challenges.”
– Andrew Lau
Another issue that is plaguing the QA space is a severe lack of digitally skilled professionals.
In fact, a majority of engineering managers and executives face a shortage of qualified candidates in the market for engineering roles.
Organisations looking to add headcount may find fewer candidates than expected, even after widespread layoffs in tech, Lau said.
AI is here to stay
The main reason QA teams are climbing the priority ladder is because banks, insurance firms and other financial services organisations are rushing to embrace AI.
Artificial intelligence-powered applications and features are being embedded at integrated at a speed never seen before, with a vast majority of organisations embracing AI.
The integration of AI positively influences teams’’ productivity, the quality of code, and AI frees up time to focus on high-value activities.
Not everyone is on board with AI, however. Or at least not comfortable with the speed at which the tech is rolled out and integrated.
Lau stressed there are teams that have not adopted the technology due to concerns about security, a lack of expertise, or budget constraints had prevented them from using AI.
Notably, a small number of lonely voices within the industry have not embraced the technology citing their belief that AI is a gimmick.
“As generative AI reshapes software engineering teams over the long term, organisations must combine effective management with real-time measurement to boost efficiency and deliver business impact,” Lau concluded.
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