Companies engaged in mobile payment projects can now take advantage of SQS' new m-payment consultancy and QA services to reduce risks, improve product quality and accelerate speed to market.

The acquisition enhances SQS' position in the market as it can now draw on Thinksoft's extensive experience in testing a variety of mobile payment systems for leading banking clients across the globe.

The sharp, worldwide rise in mobile subscribers and the high volume of smartphone sales is expected to lead to a surge in m-payments. Gartner estimates that mobile payments will exceed $721.4 billion globally by 2017. In the financial sector, the race is on to provide integrated mobile payment systems. There are also new entrants with alternative payment platforms that seek to change the way consumers pay for P2P goods and services using their tablet or mobile phone.

SQS has a proven QA and Business assurance framework that encompasses risk assessment, agile testing, rapid automation, security testing and test management using mobile ready tools. Banks and businesses can now rely on SQS' new m-payment consultancy services to ensure the quality of their m-payments offerings and to gain time-to-market advantage in this dynamic market space.

End-users can be unforgiving when faced with issues around the reliability and security of mobile payment apps. With good customer experience crucial to high adoption rates, companies will have to constantly improve and enhance the usability and features of their apps. A failure leading to severe service disruption can attract the ire of regulators and penalties. Therefore, upgrades and fixes for apps have to be done under shortened timescales. All of this requires rapid development and change cycles coupled with high levels of quality assurance.

With traditional software development methods unable to meet the demands of a rapid launch and upgrade cycle an m-payment app requires, an agile approach, test automation and mobile ready tooling will be crucial to success.

Anand Vyas, Head of Banking, Financial Services and Insurance, at SQS comments on the company's new service: "Mobile payment is one of the fastest growing and disruptive technology trends in the financial sector. The pressure to roll out apps quickly means that reinventing the wheel is not an option. Today, tried and tested quality assurance expertise is essential to launching an error free app that will attract merchants and consumers alike. With a high number of variables, including devices, operating systems and networks, quality assurance is a major challenge and should be prioritised to ensure the smooth roll-out of mobile payment apps."

Several clients developing mobile payments apps have benefitted from SQS' expertise, including: a major international bank where automated testing reduced test effort by 80%, remote testing of mobile devices for a bank's target countries, delivering affordable and comprehensive testing of a consumer Android app and helping launch the first m-payment app in the UK.

"We have unrivalled expertise when it comes to mobile payments software quality and have already worked with many leading financial institutions in Europe and beyond. Across all regions, we offer innovative services that provide our clients with the confidence to launch their mobile payments applications," concludes Vyas.