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Since he was a child, Scott Aziz, who founded AgileAI Labs in Salem in October 2023, has been passionate about computers and programming. It started with his first computer—an Apple II—in the early 1980s when he was 11, and he began programming with Apple Basic. In high school, Aziz and his best friend launched a health club management software company, and even had a couple of customers in Massachusetts.

At AgileAI Labs, he and his 12 colleagues design and develop the Agile software development process that helps companies improve quality assurance and prevent a range of failures—including security and reputational threats. Agile software development is a methodology that emphasizes a flexible approach to building software.

“AI is a very fast and very intelligent auditor for a company’s software quality process by literally looking into all of the facets of the product being built,” Aziz says.

A study by the Consortium for Information & Software Quality (CISQ) estimated that poor software quality costs U.S. companies upwards of $2 trillion annually. “Unfortunately, in this industry there is a lot of really bad software,” Aziz says.

Aziz uses the example of a company’s tax division to explain the importance of having quality bug free software. “I always love to use this analogy. With tax software, you have literally thousands and thousands of rules that are absolutely critical. If even one bug goes out in a product, your users are going to be filing incorrect tax statements and they could be liable for those mistakes. And the company producing the software could also be liable.”

Aziz cites the importance of software quality in the mulitple industries including banking and health care. “We’re hearing from literally every industry and software is so pervasive now,” he says.

Author Scott Merril
Published Tuesday Jun 18, 2024
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