In Case of Emergency, Test!

In Case of Emergency, Test!

We all know testing is important, so why is it always at the back of the queue?

In every office, on the wall, there’s a fire alarm. “In case of emergency, break glass,” or words to that effect. Red. Obvious. Urgent. Not to mention critical.

But when was the last time it was tested?

Most of the time, it just sits there: quiet, unnoticed, a token of preparedness. Until the smoke starts billowing out from the back of the comms server. Fire! Panic! Hit the alarm! Let’s hope it works…

That’s exactly how testing feels in most financial projects. It’s there on the plan. Everyone nods earnestly when it’s mentioned. Until the pressure builds, deadlines loom, scope creeps up, and stakeholders get nervous. Then, suddenly, testing gets ignored, like the uninvited guest. Set aside, scope diminished, timelines squeezed. A silent alarm we pray we won’t need.

In a world obsessed with transformation, testing still turns up last. And yet, it’s often the only thing standing between “going live” and “going horribly wrong.”

Change is the smoke. It’s the immediate threat to your environment. And without real testing, no one knows if the alarm will ring.

We’ve seen this happen again and again. It’s why we started Message Labs. Testing is treated like the icing, not the cake. It gets neither the resources nor the time it needs. And, too often, it’s manual, reliant on hand-crafted inputs and visual checks. It tells us what we hope will happen, not what will.

Yet this industry doesn’t do small changes. ISO 20022 and T+1 settlement loom large on the industry and regulatory horizon. Creaking legacy systems need to be replaced, whether due to mergers or because they’re just running out of steam. New connections. Periodic upgrades that sound routine but hide real risk.

Every one of these has the potential to create dangerous sparks of disruption. Every one of these needs testing.

Real testing. Not drills. Not assumptions. Testing with automation, with a trusted partner at your side. Message Labs exists because we’ve lived this. We know that the sooner testing becomes part of the conversation, the better your chances of success.

Let’s make testing first-class—not an afterthought.

Because when the fire comes, you don’t want to find out that the alarm was never wired in.