Celebrating 20 Years of Software Quality: A Steady Vision Through Waves of Innovation

Over the last two decades, the way the world builds and relies on software has been fundamentally transformed. In this short span of time, we’ve seen the ascendance of cloud computing, mobile, SaaS, Agile, DevOps, and now AI. Each development has brought opportunity as well as new risks and rising demands for trust. What hasn’t changed, however, is the fundamental need for quality.

This is the story of how software testing and quality have adapted across these waves of innovation. It's also the story of how TTC Global has grown with them, helping organisations worldwide face their toughest technology challenges with assurance.

From Manual QA to a Faster, Connected World

In the early 2000s, testing was still largely manual. Release cycles stretched for months, sometimes years, and when systems went live, the risks were huge. Enterprises struggled to keep up with growing complexity in ERP systems and sprawling data centers.

Founder Grant Borrie and co-founder Mike Ewart launched TTC Global in 2005 in New Zealand with a dual mission: to bring discipline and modern practices to the chaotic world of software testing, while building and nurturing local testing talent as a foundational value. (For the inside story on how TTC Global began, and evolved, see the founders' account below.)

Automation began to replace repetitive manual work, and TTC Global helped organisations embed these practices, so quality became a driver of speed and consistency, not just a safety net at the end of delivery.

Agile, DevOps, and the Push for Continuous Delivery

The rise of Agile and DevOps in the 2010s brought a new reality: features were being deployed weekly, sometimes daily. Testing had to keep pace. The old stop-and-check model no longer worked.

A more proactive approach to quality emerged and “Quality Assurance” began to give way to “Quality Engineering.” Testing moved earlier in the lifecycle, embedded directly into pipelines, supported by smarter automation and new frameworks. TTC Global partnered with organisations to navigate this cultural and technical shift, providing strategic guidance while equipping teams to test continuously and deliver faster without sacrificing trust.

Digital Transformation and Enterprise Platforms

Cloud platforms matured and digital transformation took hold. Enterprises leaned on SAP, Oracle, Salesforce, Workday, and an array of other critical systems to modernise their operations. Migrations and upgrades became multi-year journeys that touched every corner of the business.

As the apps scaled, so did the risk: downtime could stall global supply chains, a misstep in financial systems could cost millions, and every transformation had to happen faster than the last. TTC Global responded by building deep expertise across these ecosystems and creating proprietary tools like technology-specific accelerator packs: reusable, proven testing assets that gave clients a head start and reduced the uncertainty of complex change.

From the outset, TTC Global has worked with leaders and innovators across the technology ecosystem. Our partnerships span enterprise platforms like SAP, Oracle, and Workday, cutting-edge testing tools from Tricentis, UiPath, Leapwork, LoadMill and Accelq, and community-driven solutions like Playwright. This collaborative network allows us to deliver the most effective testing and automation capabilities, seamlessly integrated with our deep expertise.

The Giant Leap: Quality in the Age of AI

“AI brings immense promise, but also unprecedented risks. Our role is to help enterprises embrace innovation responsibly, with trust built in from the start.” Thomas Hadorn, CEO TTC Global

Today, we are fully immersed in a tectonic shift. AI is no longer a side experiment; it is being embedded into the core of how organisations operate and deliver value.

But AI comes with risks that traditional testing can’t solve: non-deterministic outputs, bias, compliance concerns, and a lack of explainability.

TTC Global has stepped into this space in four key ways:

• AI Testing Tools: We help organisations cut through inflated claims, evaluate AI-powered testing solutions objectively, and integrate them seamlessly into their environments.
• Testing AI Systems: We’ve developed methods for testing AI and ML applications themselves, accounting for unpredictability, emergent behaviors, and qualitative outputs.
• Governed AI-Augmented Quality: With our proprietary aiDelta platform, we help regulated industries like banking, government, healthcare, and energy adopt AI responsibly. aiDelta ensures AI systems remain explainable, auditable, and compliant, enabling enterprises to accelerate innovation while maintaining oversight.
• AI Advisory Services: TTC Global helps organisations build a clear strategy for adopting and governing AI in quality practices. We provide guidance on readiness, responsible integration, and long-term value so enterprises can harness AI’s potential with confidence and control.

20 Years of Partnership

"We don’t just deliver services. We empower organisations to mature, make confident decisions, and succeed long after a project ends." Thomas Hadorn, CEO

TTC Global has always been more than a testing provider. We’ve acted as a partner, offering strategic, consultative guidance that empowers organisations to mature their practices and build capabilities that serve them for years to come.

We’ve helped financial institutions modernise safely, governments deliver citizen services securely, healthcare organisations protect patient data, and energy and utilities companies keep critical systems running. In every industry, we bring both technical skill and a long-term vision for quality.

Looking Forward: The Changing Same

As we celebrate our 20th anniversary, we recognise that many of the forces shaping today’s digital era—rapid change, accelerating risk, relentless pressure—are the same forces that defined our beginnings. The tools have changed, from manual scripts to automation to our own embrace of AI in our AI-Augmented Quality Engineering Platform and aiDelta. Yet the need for trust and quality has never been stronger.

For the next 20 years, TTC Global will continue to evolve, to partner, and to fulfill our mission: helping enterprises around the world meet their most complex challenges with confidence, trust, and speed.

An Afterword from Founder Grant Borrie and Co-Founder Mike Ewart

TTC Global – so where did it all begin...?

Ēhara tāku toa i te toa takatahi, engari he toa takitini.

Our strength is not made from us alone, but made from many.

The Testing Consultancy (now commonly known as TTC Global) actually came into existence sometime around the “turn of the century” courtesy of our very own Darren Webber (now CEO TTC-UK). Darren headed a passionate team of software testers in Wellington under this brand but soon merged with another company. Darren “parked” the name The Testing Consultancy “...for a rainy day...”.

In mid-2004, four Auckland based practitioners hatched a plan to build a “testing consultancy” based on experience gained from overseas and a belief that they could make a difference. Leigh Hannah, John France, David Hayman and Grant Borrie formed an entity and asked Darren Webber if they could use his company name “The Testing Consultancy” which was then re-registered on Sept 12, 2005 and started with flagship customers of TVNZ, ASB and Vodafone. It is this company which remains today.

The core team slowly changed with Leigh, John and Dave exiting and current co-founder Mike Ewart joining Grant around 2006.

Grant and Mike soon expanded operations to Wellington where they had both grown up and had existing family ties. By 2007, both the Auckland and Wellington offices were very active with full-time employees and associates.

Developing and nurturing local testing talent was a core value for TTC Global. Grant was extremely proud of the fact they were able to train local talent and provide a career path for people who would then assist customers locally and overseas. When asked what his best achievements were, Grant said “I was asked to meet with a Porirua father of four, who was out of work at the time and did not have any formal experience in our industry. He obviously had the aptitude and so we took him onboard, trained him and he was soon regarded as a rock star providing testing services to local and overseas customers – to cap it off he started training others in his community. The benefits of teaching someone to fish so to speak....”.

Grant and Mike always had a desire to expand operations overseas and in 2009 were invited to send a team to Qatar on assignment for Vodafone. This soon followed with the opening of an office in Singapore led by Tim Rankin-Mills.

Off the back of the Singapore office, TTC Global opened its US operation in 2016, run by Chris Rolls. This was followed by the adventurous pursuit of launching TTC Global's Australia office during the peak of the covid pandemic in 2020 headed up by Matt Wiggins, Kerry Butler and Rob Pagan—our presence there now includes offices from coast to coast as well as a world-class accessibility testing practice. Two years later, we added an office in Pune, India, led by Philip Samuel, and finally, as part of the circle of life, Darren Webber returned to TTC Global and took on the challenge of running the UK office from London.

While opening and running a new office is very challenging, these overseas operations provided staff with a broader range of experiences, a chance to travel and of course a good excuse to change our domain name to ttcglobal.com.

Grant and Mike now take a back seat to the running of TTC Global as “it’s in very capable hands”, but the desire to provide a platform to nurture talent and provide career path opportunities is still strong.

As the proverb implies, our strength lies in having a diverse team, self-sufficient and passionate about what we can do for customers around the globe.