IMPROVING SOFTWARE QUALITY IN THE SERVICE PROCESS INDUSTRY USING AGILITY WITH SOFTWARE REUSABLE COMPONENTS AS SOFTWARE PRODUCT LINE: AN EMPIRICAL STUDY OF INDIAN SERVICE PROVIDERS

In a software ? based business process outsourcing (BPO) environment, the quality of services delivered to clients hinges on the quality of software used in processing the service. Software quality attributes have been defined by ISO/IEC standards but different organisations give priorities to specific attributes based on client’s requirements and the prevailing environment. The aim of this study is to identify and demonstrate the particular software development process that guarantees an acceptable level of software quality within a specific domain that would translate to desired quality of services delivered to clients. Therefore, this study through a mixed method approach investigated BPO service providers in India to ascertain what software quality means to their respective organisations, what software quality attributes are given priority and how it could be improved. The findings suggest that software quality is highly dependent on the software development process. The vast majority of successful organisations operated in-house software development through the establishment of software product line as a platform to embed software reusable components within an agile framework. Through this process, there is significant reduction in defect density, thereby improving the software quality. This software quality is also translated to the quality of services delivered to clients