Cost of Poor Software Quality in 2020—A Whopping US $2.08 Trillion

While digital transformation explodes, efforts often fail due to poor software engineering practices. In a proverbial nutshell—software quality is lagging behind the goal of delivering value at high speed.

The Cost of Poor Software Quality In the US: A 2020 Report, released by the Consortium for Information & Software Quality (CISQ) and cosponsored by Synopsys, calculates the total cost of poor software quality (CPSQ) in the United States is $2.08 trillion. It estimates the figure for software technical debt at $1.31 trillion, an additional future cost.

The poor-quality results from software failures, unsuccessful development projects, legacy system problems, technical debt, and cybercrime enabled by exploitable weaknesses and vulnerabilities in software. This translates into a high cost of ownership, low profitability, reduced human performance and innovation, and mission-critical IT systems that are ineffective.

The report reviews areas of concern and offers specific recommendations to software engineers, project teams, and organizational leaders to improve the quality of the software they use and build.

To learn more, download a copy of the The Cost of Poor Software Quality In the US: A 2020 Report.