michaelwadetesting

[michaelwadetesting]

Know the criteria to choose the right Test Automation tool for your Enterprise

The importance of testing a software product has become quite pronounced in recent times to meet the business objectives. The objectives include providing a rich UX, complying with regulations, staying ahead of the competition, and meeting the ROI. In addition, the growing competition has necessitated the need for delivering quality products or services quickly by meeting resource and cost considerations. The challenge is to reach the market ahead of others with products that can disrupt the market and bring benefits to the users.

In an increasingly Agile and DevOps cycle of development and testing, codes are tested for glitches concurrently with development. The testing exercise requires the codes to be tested across browsers, devices, platforms, frameworks and networks. And if glitches are found, the codes are rewritten followed by carrying out renewed testing across the digital dimensions. If this process is done manually, then, needless to say, it can be repetitive for the testers besides being time consuming and error-prone.

Test automation can take care of the inadequacies of manual testing. In this, not only the test iterations can be repeated innumerable times, but the test coverage area can be increased as well. In fact, automation testing can be scaled as per the needs of testing and carried out across systems with varying configurations. Automation testing can relieve the testers from doing repetitive tasks who can then be deployed in more productive areas. In fact, by taking away the testers from the hassle of manual testing, they can be skilled in using the latest test automation tools.

With the establishment of a test automation centre of excellence, tests like regression testing, functional testing, usability testing, and integration testing have become incisive and comprehensive. Furthermore, given the fact that implementing test automation solutions can be costly initially, enterprises should consider the feasibility of such a testing. And if the feasibility is established, then the right QA automation tool should be chosen. Let us list the criteria to choose the right QA automation tool for your specific business needs.

Know the project requirement and testing objectives  

As selecting a tool can turn out to be a costly proposition, one must understand the project requirements. These include the scope of testing and the devices, frameworks, platforms and networks on which the application is to be tested. The testing team should know the codes to be tested and the types of tests to be conducted, such as functional, performance, usability, security, etc. In order to realize the ROI of investing in a tool, the areas of testing and the type of test cases should be identified beforehand.

How easily can the tool be adopted?

To adopt a particular QA automation tool, the level of expertise in handling the tool should be identified. If the core test team is skilled in using the tool then other members of the team can be brought on board through upskilling as well. However, choosing a tool that needs a thorough learning by the core test team can be counterproductive.

The tool should be compatible with the existing systems of an organisation besides facilitating continuous testing. In fact, the built-in compatibility issues can mar the performance of the tool. The QA testers should be able to easily write the automation scripts by building frameworks and making use of subroutines, IDEs, etc. For example, if your system uses Ruby, the tool should have Ruby supported frameworks like Cucumber, RSpec, etc.

Versatility of usage

The QA automation tool should allow the easy writing of test scripts in any of the programming languages. This criterion would preclude the test team from learning a new language for the purpose of testing thus saving precious time. Besides, the tool should provide support to test web and mobile applications. For otherwise, the complexity of handling two different tools can be overwhelming. The best example of a versatile test tool can be cited as that of Selenium where the writing of test scripts in any language is possible with the availability of a number of frameworks and IDEs.

Test virtualization

The tool should be able to create virtual test variables to validate various scenarios, processes, and functionalities.

Cost advantage

Whether to choose an open source platform or a licensed one should depend on the above mentioned reasons including the presence of a robust reporting mechanism. The tool should be backed by a strong technical team that provides crucial updates from time to time. The final decision of choosing a tool should be taken after carrying out a proper cost benefit analysis.

Conclusion

The selection of a QA automation tool can be one of the most crucial tasks for an enterprise to undertake. It is responsible for validation of an application’s quality and brings in a slew of benefits to the business.

[michaelwadetesting]

Top 5 Tools to Consider For Application Security Testing

Security has become the single largest challenge for the digital enterprises to grapple with. The reason for this is not hard to find, as about 75% of all breaches are found to take place due to the misconfiguration of applications, especially at their end points (Source: https://www.gartner.com/newsroom/id/2753017.) Loss of revenue due to the security breaches is equally high. For, according to the BI intelligence report of 2016, the total revenue loss on account of mobile app frauds stood at a whopping $350 million. Given the enormity of the challenge, businesses have no option but to invest in strengthening the security aspect of the applications through rigorous application security testing.

What happens if application security testing is not done?

It severely compromises the quality of the application and leaves users at the mercy of the hackers and cyber criminals. The growing number of frauds and security breaches are a testimony to the threat.

The applications can be easily infected with malware, viruses, and trojans. This can not only undermine the functioning of the applications but worse, can lead to the siphoning of sensitive information and money.

Customer’s trust in the application and by consequence, the business is eroded. This can result in business loss in terms of brand image and ROI.

Businesses incurring additional costs to secure the application(s) post the breach.

Enterprises inviting lawsuits from affected customers.

Enterprises falling foul of the regulatory agencies and inviting strictures, penalties or an outright ban.

In the Agile or DevOps environment, carrying out application security testing should be alongside the development process. This is to ensure a better identification of bugs, faster time to market and an improved customer experience. The application security testing methodology can differ in its scope and objectives. The security testing of applications encompasses three types of methodologies -

Tiger Box: The methodology requires the security testing experts to hack into the application or software to find out the loopholes.

Black Box: The methodology involves the testing of the network and its various aspects. It includes the testing of the firewalls as well.

Grey Box: The methodology combines both white and black box testing to identify the structural vulnerabilities of an application.

In addition to following the above mentioned application security testing methodologies, security testing specialist use many tools as well. Below mentioned are the top 5 security testing tools that help testing experts to identify the vulnerabilities and validate the application.

Top 5 tools

#1 Network Mapper or NMAP: The tool checks for the vulnerabilities existing in the network of a business enterprise. With a built-in feature to automate the testing process, the open source tool creates a virtual map of the entire network and identifies the vulnerable areas. It uses raw data packets to determine the network hosts, services provided by the hosts, and the OS and type of firewalls used by the hosts.

URL: https://nmap.org/

#2 Metasploit: This popular open source tool or framework is used by certified ethical hackers as well as a large number of security testing experts. Built on the PERL platform, this integrated architecture of many Pen tools helps to launch cyberattacks from various access points. Armed with a ‘Meterpreter’ the tool flags the results after a vulnerability is breached. The results can be suitably interpreted to develop further test strategies.

URL: https://www.metasploit.com/

#3 Wireshark: The tool helps to identify the weaknesses of an application in real time by analyzing its traffic. It provides an easy to understand report and a colour coding scheme. The latter can help testers to investigate the loopholes further or isolate the erring data packet. The tool also helps to identify the threats such as SQL injection, memory buffer overflows, and data parameter pollution among others.

URL: http://www.wireshark.org/

#4 Vega: This GUI enabled testing platform based on Java comes with an automated scanner and proxy. It helps to identify threats such as cross site scripting, SQL injection, and header injection among others.

URL: https://subgraph.com/vega/

#5 Iron Wasp: Capable of generating HTML and RTF reports, this Python and Ruby based tool can detect a large number of vulnerabilities including false positives and negatives.

URL: https://ironwasp.org/

Conclusion

The changing risks landscape in terms of cybersecurity implies that testing tools should incorporate newer methodologies to identify any emerging vulnerability. The use of these tools helps to conduct a security audit and to enhance the quality of an application — the prerequisite to a better user experience.

[michaelwadetesting]

Top 6 trends in Software Product Testing

The digital transformation initiatives taken by businesses to stay ahead in the competition curve need adoption of new and emerging technologies. These technologies have resulted in development of new software, web and mobile applications that are complex, yet easy to use. In order to keep their competitive edge, businesses have realised the need to have software of top notch quality. This has led to adoption of new development cum testing paradigms such as Agile and DevOps. Moreover, with changing technologies and emerging business requirements, software product testing too has become adaptive.

Earlier, the budget allocation for software product testing used to be negligible compared to the other departments. However, with the spectre of losing ground to competitors on account of software failure and consequent bad user experience, businesses are forced to spend more on quality assurance. In fact, added spending on testing takes into account new technologies for testing as well.

According to an industry forecast, the cost of software product testing is likely to touch a whopping 40% of the total IT budget in 2018. Moreover, as businesses embrace cutting edge technologies to streamline their processes and to provide a better user experience, the testing needs and methodologies have undergone a change as well. The QA teams must adapt themselves to the new developments. The increased use of automation in software product testing strategy is a pointer to the latest trends.

Below mentioned are the top six trends to influence a software product testing strategy.

1. Open source tools to rule: The pressure to remain competitive means adopting the latest testing tools but at a lesser cost. If the QA team uses licensed software application testing tools, the cost of testing can go significantly high. In a highly competitive digital ecosystem, such expenses can make the application costly and uncompetitive. The use of open source tools can address such issues. Since these tools are downloaded for free they can help businesses cope up with the rising cost of testing.

Importantly, quality is not an issue with such tools, for these are backed by a dedicated set of developers. The popularity of open source testing tools has even led industry leaders such as Apple and Microsoft to consider offering their respective software such as Swift and .Net for free. A few examples of such open source software application testing tools are Selenium, Appium, Robotium, Cucumber, TestNG, and SoapUI amongst others.

2. IoT testing, the new kid on the block: Among the new technologies that power digital transformation in today’s world is the Internet of Things or IoT. The technology allows various devices to communicate with each other. They do so through embedded sensors, actuators, electronics, and software. Thus, IoT has extended the digital ecosystem beyond the traditional realm of computers and mobiles to home appliances, vehicles or even buildings. In fact, the concept of smart cities is hinged on the use of IoT in a big way. Even though IoT has the potential to turn science fiction on its head, there are plenty of nagging issues as well.

The interconnected objects communicating with each other through embedded devices mean a greater scope of their malfunctioning. This is due to the underlying software that forms part of these devices. A small glitch or bug in the code can impact the functioning of such devices. And unless the glitches are identified and rooted out the performance and security of the objects will be affected. Besides, as per the HP study, about 70 percent of devices that are part of the IoT ecosystem, are suspected to have security vulnerabilities. To meet these challenges, adopting rigorous software application testing through test automation is the way forward.

3. Big data testing: As the scope and scale of digitization grows, more organisations are becoming a part of it. This has resulted in the generation of big data. So, whether it’s the stock markets, earth stations receiving terabytes of data from satellites, banks, transportation systems or even governments, storing and analyzing big data has become the need of the hour.

The importance of big data lies in their ability to offer insights into various aspects of an organization. The testing of big data is necessary to ensure their integrity and so, big data analytics has become the trend to look out for in 2018 and beyond. It enjoins the need to use the latest analytical tools, schemas and frameworks.

4. Performance engineering: The correlation between a good user experience and achieving business objectives is due to the superior performance of the software. If the performance is consistent across platforms, devices and operating systems, it can help the business to capture a large market share. The imperative of providing a better user experience across platforms has necessitated the use of performance engineering. Compared to performance testing, performance engineering is much more diverse and takes a macro view of things like involving the stakeholders as well. It is not limited to testing the non-functional aspects of the software like throughput or latency alone, but is a separate discipline altogether.

5. Continuous integration: As opposed to testing the code after its development, continuous integration tests it alongside development. It is a part of the Agile methodology where development and testing take place simultaneously. Continuous integration ensures better detection of glitches leading to their quick resolution.

6. The growth of DevOps: Again, fostering a good customer experience would mean organisations ensuring a better quality of software throughout its lifecycle. QA testing should not be limited to the development stage only, but even continue afterwards as well. It would mean integrating the development and operations processes and conducting testing during the SDLC and beyond.

Conclusion

The importance of maintaining the quality of the software at all levels means the QA teams should adopt the latest testing trends. This helps the software to remain cutting edge, offer top notch quality, provide a great user experience, and realize ROI.

[michaelwadetesting]

List the Features of a Successful ERP Testing

The challenges of rising competition and changing technology are forcing companies to optimize their resources. By doing so, they are aiming to improve productivity, reduce operational cost, increase profitability and achieve customer satisfaction. The implementation of an Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) solution helps in meeting the above mentioned objectives.

What is an ERP?

A business enterprise has many departments, functions and processes where more often than not they work in silos or worse, at cross purposes to each other. This leads to redundancies, loss of efficiency, productivity and waste of precious resources. In an increasingly competitive world with demanding customers, this can mean a deficiency in service and reduced profitability. This calls for the implementation of an ERP solution.

ERP is a suite of integrated software applications that helps to get real time information from various departments, functions and processes of the business. This information can be analysed to help optimize the functions and resources of the business. The software helps the stakeholders to take suitable timebound decisions to achieve business objectives.

The ERP software helps in collecting, storing, managing and interpreting data by using a common database management system. The ERP software takes into account all the hierarchical structures and workflows of each business unit or function and provides a common platform or interface. To prevent the implementation of an ERP solution from failing, suitable ERP QA should be carried out. The ERP testing methodology should ensure the various domain specific functionalities of the ERP software work seamlessly.

Types of ERP testing

Installation testing: A faulty installation of the software can lead to its failure. It can happen when the functions or their sub routines do not work in synchrony or there are some missing files. An ERP testing can identify the glitches and help in the proper installation of the software.

Functional testing: The ERP testing services test and validate the software suite’s ability to meet the operational objectives.

Load testing: Here, the ERP testing services find out if the software is capable of processing data beyond the prescribed limit. This is an important information to know from the perspective of scaling up the functioning of the software, if needed.

Security testing: The growing cyber security threat from viruses, malware, ransomware, trojans etc means organisations have to safeguard their IT resources. Thus, security testing of an ERP software becomes important by validating aspects like user authentication, passwords etc.

Checklist for ERP testing

The testing team should prepare a comprehensive checklist to identify the test areas. Each of the above mentioned tests should have well documented guidelines.

Assess the requirements: Assess the project requirements, identify the objectives and delineate the modules to be tested. Find out the various touch points of the business with an aim to enhance the test coverage area and to improve the test quality.

Set the test goal: The type, scope and objective of the test are to be identified. This also leads to the identification of resources and the team structure to implement the specific test. Find out the departments, functions and processes to be integrated with the ERP software in order to test them.

Identify the test cases/areas: Identify the test cases and areas that are to be managed manually or through test automation. The test cases should validate all the processes that fall within the test coverage area.

Set up the test tools effectively: State the quality metrics based on which the testing has to be validated. Ensure that the systems to be used for testing are working to their optimum capacity. This precludes any performance issues during the testing phase.

Simple testing: Begin the testing phase with a simple test, namely, creating a customer account or processing a customer payment. Record each and every step of the test process for training and for conducting the retest. The ERP testing methodology should adopt the best practices to optimize productivity and improve efficiency.

Complex testing: Conduct a slew of tests as a part of the overall ERP testing exercise such as usability, performance, integration and security.

Create a recording mechanism: Prepare a reporting mechanism to collect the test reports for further analysis. As the test generates various reports related to its success or failure, they should be properly documented to identify the vulnerabilities (areas of failure) and process defects.

Conclusion

Maintaining a checklist helps to seamlessly execute a suitable ERP testing methodology. The validation of an ERP software helps in its proper implementation. This helps organizations to streamline operations and optimize resources for better functioning and performance. Efficiency and cost-effectiveness can be assured when teams maintain a checklist.

Michael works for Cigniti Technologies, Global leaders in Software Testing services, appraised at CMMI-SVC v1.3, Maturity Level 5, and an ISO 9001:2008 & ISO 27001:2013 certified organization.

[michaelwadetesting]

Cybersecurity Threats and the Growing Need for Software Product Testing

The growing competition, especially in the digital world, has meant that businesses are looking at strategies to not only beat the competition blues, but also secure their ROI as well. The evolving business strategies are forcing companies to adopt new technologies and generate quality software applications to bring about business transformation. This is especially done in the domains of social media, mobility, cloud computing, big data analytics and the Internet of Things (IoT).

However, parallel to the growth in the number of innovative software products and the volume of data, there is a growing cybersecurity threat as well. The bad news is that the threat is ever growing and is causing severe disruptions and financial losses to individuals, businesses, institutions and governments. Hence, to meet the growing challenge, businesses need to invest more in carrying out software product testing.

What is a cybersecurity threat?

As the world gets increasingly interconnected through the internet, there are individuals, groups, organizations and even governments trying to exploit the vulnerabilities of the systems, networks and applications. The cyber criminals are literally prowling the internet to target vulnerable systems. They do so to carry out espionage, money laundering, fund terror and narcotics trade, get monetary gains or seek revenge. These threats come in the form of viruses, ransomware, botnets, malware, and trojans that can wreak havoc on the systems, networks and applications.

Impact of cybersecurity threats

Financial loss: The cyber criminals are known for maliciously draining funds from the bank accounts of individuals, groups, and organizations. These funds run into billions of dollars. According to a study, the economic cost of cybercrime has risen to 0.8% of the global GDP or $600 billion a year (Source: http://www.computerweekly.com/news/252435439/Economic-impact-of-cyber-crime-is-significant-and-rising). Moreover, given the scale of under reporting of cybercrimes, the above figure is quite conservative. A major segment of the financial losses is attributed to the theft of intellectual property and confidential business information. Besides, financial loss can take place from denial or disruption of services as well. For example, the recent cases of ransomware attacks had caused severe disruption of services leading to a huge financial cost for the individuals and entities.

Loss of brand equity: Inadequate cyber security can result in criminals taking away confidential personal and business information held by entities such as banks, ecommerce firms, even individual accounts, and so on. When the customers of such entities end up facing financial losses, their implicit trust gets irretrievably broken. This leads to the loss of brand equity, a loss more severe than financial loss.

Costly legal suits: An inevitable consequence of personal data or money being siphoned off from companies is the filing of legal suits. Resultantly, the company targeted by cyber criminals can end up paying substantial sums of money as compensation. This can even lead to financial losses.

Falling foul of regulatory bodies: If companies are lax in implementing mandatory security protocols (exploited to the hilt by cyber criminals), they can face severe strictures and penalties.

Growing awareness about cybersecurity threats

Even though a lot of ground needs to be covered by the companies to secure themselves against cybersecurity threats, there is a growing awareness as well. According to a Gartner forecast, enterprises are likely to spend around $96.3 on cyber security in 2018 (Source: https://www.gartner.com/newsroom/id/3836563)

Improving product security

The growing threat of cybersecurity and its dire implications signifies that it is no longer about merely reacting to the security breaches. The crying need is to strengthen the security defences of networks, systems, web and mobile applications. This intensifies the need for comprehensive software product testing services to validate software products. In addition to executing software application testing, there is a greater need to educate the users about such products.

No matter how strong the security architecture is, it can be easily broken into by the cyber criminals. This can be done by manipulating the users through social engineering, wherein individuals inadvertently end up giving their login/password details.

As businesses have become more aware of securing their assets — systems and networks, cyber criminals have started to target the applications. According to a Gartner report, around 80% of cyber attacks are at the application level. Hence, securing access to enterprise applications become the business imperative.

Areas of focus for software product testing

To identify and eliminate the vulnerabilities in the product (application) that can provide access to an unauthorised person/device

Incorporate or strengthen the security features such as encryption of data and authentication. Establish security protocols that involve the conduct of periodic or sudden audits

Keep the security firewalls updated to monitor any new cyber-attack attempts

Software product testing methods

Product access: By incorporating ‘roles and rights management’, the access to a software product can be tested through authentication and authorization. Some of the software product testing methods to form a part of this segment are password test, default login, test for logout, password change, recovery, security question and Captcha.

Protection of data: Again, going by the ‘roles and rights management’ the type of data to be accessed by a person should be established. For example, the person at the enquiry should not be able to view the encrypted passwords or sensitive product data.

Static application security testing (SAST) or white box testing: Through automation, a SAST model identifies the vulnerabilities an application can possess while dealing with users or data. The vulnerabilities could be in the form of SQL injection and Cross site scripting (XSS).

Conclusion

Cybersecurity threats can exploit the vulnerabilities of software products leading to severe consequences. These have increased the need for software product testing services. The services are not only to secure the product, but also help it comply with regulations such as PCI, SOX, HIPAA, MITRE and GDPR.

[michaelwadetesting]

Five Reasons to Explain the Importance of Migration Testing

Digital enterprises have to constantly adapt to the changing dynamics of the technology landscape where the shelf life of technology stacks has become limited. This is due to the disruptive impact of the new technology paradigms that emerge to meet the demands of speed, quality, flexibility, timeliness and cost. As a consequence, enterprises are forced to migrate to the new technology platforms along with their data centres and applications. They do so to remain relevant and to meet the challenges of a dynamic digital environment including the ones arising out of mergers and acquisitions.

All said and done, if the industry figures are anything to go by, migration is a fairly complex and risky process where the chances of failure far outweigh the success rate.

Factors leading to a migration failure?

Loss of data: The migration process can result in the loss or corruption of data. This can even crash the applications, software or systems. The likely reason for such an eventuality could be the following:

An improper assessment of data and the system challenges

Lack of encryption of data during the migration process

Inadequate backup or the absence of a data recovery process

Data inconsistency: Changes made to the source database or application can render the target database or application incompatible with each other. The resultant inconsistency of data can turn any mission critical application ineffective.

Inadequate understanding of dependencies: Each field, variable and object in a database is interdependent. If the migration process does not take into account the behaviour of dependencies beforehand, the migration outcome can turn out to be faulty and inconsistent.

Unplanned downtime: Any unplanned downtime experienced during migration can extend the migration time and result in cost overruns. This calls for a trial migration conducted in a controlled environment before the actual exercise.

Since the failure of migration can cause substantive losses to the enterprise, migration testing should be carried out in right earnest. The losses can range from losing critical business data, crashing of applications and IT systems, and the failure to meet turnaround times and compliance regulations to the loss of client/customer trust and ROI.

What is Migration Testing?

It is a quality assurance process whereby various aspects of migration are tested in a controlled environment. The migration testing approach adopted by the QA team can successfully identify the issues and pre-empt any possible impact. A suitable migration testing approach can result in risk mitigation leading to better outcomes.

Key features of migration testing

Planning: Build a QA testing plan covering the entire phalanx of data, applications, processes, and legacy systems. The plan should be based on the business requirements.

Forming a team: The migration testing approach should form a team comprising of all the stakeholders — management, IT, and operations. The team should be upskilled on the applications and systems the business will use post migration. The team should be familiarized with the scope of migration based on data migration testing. Importantly, the team should be apprised of the benefits and the time frame of migration.

Review: The QA team should review the results of data migration testing and apply corrective action for dealing with the failures in the next test iteration.

Evaluation of risks: The entire migration can lead to certain risks related to business or compliance. The same should be evaluated and taken into account while drawing the strategies for migration.

Create a reporting mechanism: The data or application migration testing exercise should have a robust reporting mechanism. The report should record each and every result of test iteration.

The five reasons that make testing data migration critical

The testing process identifies the risks and bugs that can disrupt the entire migration exercise

It identifies the areas where data inconsistency can lead to the crashing of applications and systems

It leads to a seamless transition from the legacy systems to the new systems

It pre-empts any system failure or data loss

It validates if the entire migration exercise complies with the requirements laid down by the regulatory bodies

Conclusion

The high risk impact of migration on business means the entire exercise should proceed with due diligence. Carrying out the testing of data migration is a critical part of the due diligence process that helps in risk mitigation and ensures a seamless transition to the new system.

This article is Originally published at Why is Migration Testing Critical? Five Reasons.

[michaelwadetesting]

Why Continuous Testing Is Important For Digital Enterprises?

The challenges of digital transformation and changing market dynamics have forced business enterprises to scale up their development and delivery of software products. The advent of Agile paradigm has led to the faster development and deployment of software, a key yardstick for business enterprises to feel happy (and complacent).

However, while doing so, continuous testing is often overlooked or somehow given lesser priority. This approach can make the software more vulnerable from the perspective of security, quality and compliance. If such a software is deployed, it will result in quality issues as well as a bad user experience. In the increasingly competitive digital landscape of today, such an application can simply mean trouble for its makers.

To prevent such an eventuality and to ensure that quality is maintained at all levels of the extended SDLC (including deployment,) continuous testing needs to be brought to the centre stage. Furthermore, the emerging areas of digital technology such as Artificial Intelligence, Cloud Computing, Big data, Predictive Analysis, and the Internet of Things (IoT) need QA at the core of everything. Enterprises are realizing that Quality cannot be separated from development and deployment.

What is continuous testing?

In an Agile ecosystem, the fast pace of developing software did not quite match up to the sluggish pace of manual testing practices. This resulted in the minimum coverage of the test area and the subsequent prevalence of quality issues. This led to situations where organisations were forced to slacken the pace of development or testing, leading to inefficiency.

Moreover, since Agile deals with the streamlining of the development and Quality Assurance processes, the inefficiencies of the operations team are largely left untouched. This lacuna has an impact on the end user experience as any feedback on quality is not promptly addressed. This has led to the adoption of the DevOps paradigm.

Here, quality is not treated as a component of the development process alone, but of the whole SDLC and deployment stages. The emphasis in DevOps is more on adopting a holistic approach towards process improvement through test automation.

Adopting a continuous testing framework

Due to the built-in inadequacies of manual regression testing, the reliability and efficiency of end to end SDLC was questioned. To get over the problem, software testing across the development and delivery stages is made an integral component of DevOps. The objective is to identify the quality issues early on in the SDLC and mitigate them before releasing the code for the next stage. The iterative process of conducting continuous testing services across all stages needs a change in the culture of the organization as well.

Continuous testing services helps enterprises to bring in these benefits -

Swift identification of quality issues across the build and deployment cycles

Prompt resolution of user feedback leading to a better user experience

Quick development and deployment of software into the market

Executing successful digital transformation strategy, wherein an update to the software is done without impacting the user experience

Better end user experience leading to a greater adoption of the software

Software meeting the overall business goals as far as speed, quality, and efficiency are concerned

Better realization of the ROI

Continuous testing framework and the need to change the mindset and culture

The embedded mind-set of business stakeholders and employees is mostly tuned towards achieving the production targets. However, with stringent compliance regulations in place, frequent release of the software without addressing the QA issues at all levels can be counterproductive. This calls for a shift in the mind-set of teams to treat quality assurance as an integral part of each and every activity of the overall SDLC.

Key features of continuous training services

Risk mitigation with optimization of the test coverage area

The quality assessment exercise takes the build to the next stage of the SDLC

QA processes are aligned with the compliance mandate and business goals

Optimization of testing leading to the elimination of rework

Incorporate continuous QA into the organizational culture as part of the DevOps philosophy

Conclusion

The integration of continuous testing framework into the development and deployment processes of a business enterprise leads to the quick identification and elimination of quality issues. As the quality of software improves across the spectrum, the user experience follows suit. This helps the enterprise to retain customers and achieve ROI.

Michael works for Cigniti Technologies, which is one of the top Independent Software Testing company in the world to be appraised at CMMI-SVC Level 5, and an ISO 9001:2008 & ISO 27001:2013 certified organization.

[michaelwadetesting]

Why should Automated Customer Service be tested for quality?

The advent of Artificial Intelligence or AI in sectors like ecommerce, big data, cloud or IoT brings extreme reactions in its wake. The reactions are mainly related to the immense possibilities of AI in transforming the digital landscape combined with anxiety and numerous apprehensions. The anxiety is around Artificial Intelligence replacing humans as it goes about automating and augmenting the systems that are at present managed by humans.

Notwithstanding the exaggerated fears that AI could bring, there is no denying of its benefits as far as enabling digital transformation is concerned. In ecommerce for example, AI has the potential to drastically alter the shopping experience on the lines of a brick and mortar store. The way a salesperson assists in finding the right merchandise in a brick and mortar store, AI too can be the unspoken ‘shop assistant’ in an online store.  

What is Artificial Intelligence and how does it help?

It is the capability of a system, be it in the form of an OS platform, a tool or an application, to respond to a customer input without being actually instructed to do so. To explain it further, a computer system works on the basis of programs where the codes (as part of the programs) process the input and generate an output. AI, on the other hand, does not require any explicit code or program to respond to an input. The response of an AI is mainly based on specific algorithms, past usage of datasets, and other observations. Its increased implementation can drastically alter the user experience for the better.

At present, customers are mostly at the mercy of the human interface at the other end of the system. The situation is most stark in institutions/organizations that handle customers in a big way such as banks, railways or airline enquiries, etc. If AI can replace the human factor in such cases and provide specific and timely information, there can be no looking back for the customers.

The best use of AI in ecommerce or a website can be cited in the form of a chatbot. A chatbot or virtual assistant generates an automated output based on a specific customer input (keywords) without any human interface. In doing so, the chatbot, though in its infancy, responds to customer queries without the need for a human to be present. Thus, irrespective of the time (and frequency) of a customer input, the chatbot is ever ready to dish out a response. This feature leads to a better user experience as the customer feels his or her query is attended to in right earnest. In the highly competitive digital landscape, the use of AI can mean the difference between a poor and good UX (User Experience). No wonder businesses have started using AI to ensure a robust system-customer interface such as chatbot. Examples can be cited as that of the Google Assistant, Amazon Alexa, Facebook Messenger, WeChat and others.

With IoT, cloud computing and data analytics preparing the way for Artificial Intelligence to come in a big way, humans will become even more dependent on AI. The role of automation testing services in checking the functioning AI through chatbots will continue to grow. Let us find out how the testing of an automated customer service through software test automation can lead to value addition.

Improving the quality of service: Virtual assistants have facilitated customer service in a big way. By dipping into a database for known keywords or phrases, these programs take inputs in the form of text or voice commands. Thereafter, by using predictive customer analytics or speech recognition the answer to the query is chosen from the database. Not only that, should the virtual assistant find a query beyond its scope, it can arrange for a human interface as well.

Now, unless these automated customer services are tested before their actual deployment, the glitches present therein can create issues. These issues can mar the customer experience by dishing out wrong or misleading information. So, testers should undertake an automation testing approach to identify and eliminate the glitches.

Reduce costs: By ensuring the seamless performance of a virtual assistant an organization can reduce the overhead costs. The cost savings can be on account of not hiring of an employee and associated costs thereof like medical leave, insurance, taxes, provident fund etc. Hence, to ensure the seamless performance of an automated customer service, automation testing services should be undertaken.

Work round the clock: The automated customer service can work round the clock, that is, even beyond the business hours. There is no need to hire employees for the purpose as the virtual assistant can provide the required customer service 24 x 7. To ensure it does so without any hitch, automation testing services should be used for validation.

Focus on other jobs: The automated customer service takes the load off employees from attending to routine customer queries. The employees can be trained to focus on other jobs or deployed in functions or processes where there is a greater need for trained resources. The employees can thus add value to the organization by increasing productivity. To enable these, the quality of virtual assistants should be maintained. This necessitates the use of an automation testing approach.  

Improves efficiency: The speed at which an automated customer service can deliver a response is simply unmatched. The better the quality of such an assistant, the better will be the customer experience. Hence, software test automation is needed to validate the quality of a virtual assistant.

Conclusion

Artificial Intelligence in the form of an automated customer service can add value to an organisation by enhancing the whole customer experience. This requires the use of software test automation services to validate the quality.

Michael works for Cigniti Technologies, which is one of the Independent Software Testing company in the world to be appraised at CMMI-SVC Level 5, and an ISO 9001:2008 & ISO 27001:2013 certified organization.

This article originally published at Medium.com : Artificial Intelligence: How can Testing Automated Customer Service add value

[michaelwadetesting]

The Benefits of Using Independent Testing Services for Digital Transformation

Digital Transformation implies leveraging digital technologies for application development with complete focus on achieving customer satisfaction. The term ‘quality’ is of significance here, for it brings about efficiency and a faster turnaround time. Additionally, there are benefits such as increase in productivity and reduction in the operating cost, and the objectives of digital transformation seem to attain a full circle. The development of software especially in an Agile and DevOps environment requires simultaneous testing of codes. The more stringent the testing process is, better is the quality of the software. A quality software without bugs or glitches means bringing about digital transformation both in letter and spirit. The role of an independent testing services company is of great significance, especially for Digital Transformation. What is independent testing and why is it needed? Quality assurance or testing of software can either be done in-house or by an independent testing services company. Independent testers do not belong to the company or the team developing the software nor are they related to the consumers. Thus, they are neutral in assessing the quality of a software. They can take a holistic view of testing and are not influenced by the ‘skills’ or ‘expertise’ of the developers. The latter factor often plays a role in an in-house QA set up where developers and testers often exchange their roles. In other words, developers often end up testing the product they have created. This approach is inherently flawed as the development cum testing team will be prejudiced towards the product. Hence, the necessity of engaging an independent testing services company arises. Why can ad-hoc or in-house testers prove to be counterproductive? In response to the competition, businesses are under pressure to come up with new software applications but at cost effective rates. Also, the need to carry out digital transformation in an organisation necessitates the development and deployment of quality software. To meet such demands, the ad-hoc hiring of testers can be undertaken but with mixed results. The reason being, ad-hoc testers are employed for a specific period and on a fixed budget.

However, the software to be tested can receive client feedback based on the changing market dynamics from time to time. This would mean the software can undergo many changes in its code to meet the organization’s mandate. The ad-hoc testing services company or individuals may not stick to such a state of flux, as it would be beyond its/their contract. This would result in the delivery of a poor quality software application with bugs, which ultimately harms the business. Maintaining a team of in-house QA testers can be costly and its testing approach can often favour the developers. Also, should the developers belong to the upper echelons of an organisation, it often becomes difficult for the testers to point out the glitches. The end result of this hierarchical power play in an organization can manifest itself in the form of a software with bugs. Benefits of using an independent testing mechanism Existing challenges of a competitive digital landscape have brought about the need for engaging independent QA testers. The benefits of doing so can be manifold. Better quality of software: The primary objective of engaging a testing services company is to find out if the software is fit to be released into the market or to be deployed for immediate use. Independent QA testers belonging to the software testing services company are expected to be unbiased in checking for hidden glitches in the software. They can look at the software from a customer’s perspective.

The testers can ensure that the software meets QA parameters like usability, navigability and functionality. Also, the independent software QA testing company will see to it that the software complies with all regulations. The end result will be the delivery of better quality software that meets the criteria for digital transformation.

Increase in trust: The management will be more confident of rolling out software on account of the ‘going by the book’ style of independent testing. The neutral perspective provided by the software testing services company develops trust. There will be reduced risk in deploying the software validated by the independent testers of a software testing services company.

Cost effective: Businesses can avoid spending money on maintaining a QA team and the associated costs related to technology and of hiring and training of resources. Instead, they can hire the services of a neutral testing services company at a lesser cost. This will not only reduce their overhead costs, but can even save money on rework and maintenance. The software application testing company can focus on the scalability factor and ensure the product turns out to be robust. The independent testers perform a series of functional and non functional tests to let the product meet its business objectives. By not carrying out these tests in-house, businesses can better utilize their available resources.

Faster time to market: The testing services in software testing will be bound by the contract or mandate to deliver the output within timelines. This would result in faster deployment of software for digital transformation, thus, reducing the SDLC considerably.

Using best practices: Independent QA experts offering testing services in software testing keep themselves updated with the latest technology, paradigms and practices. The testing team hires the best experts, who by applying their skills and experience, ensure seamless and bug free application development.

Flexible approach: Given the challenge of maintaining cost effectiveness, the hired testing team can choose the best way of testing — automation, manual or both. So, depending on the organizational need, the testing team can be flexible.

Conclusion

Quality is the most important parameter in enabling digital transformation. Engaging independent testers or outsourcing the job to a testing company can be a rational choice.

Michael works for Cigniti Technologies, which is one of the top Independent Software Testing Services company in the world to be appraised at CMMI-SVC Level 5, and an ISO 9001:2008 & ISO 27001:2013 certified organization.

[michaelwadetesting]

How Software Quality Assurance Gets Better By Using A Testing Centre of Excellence?

Quality is the cornerstone to achieve successful software development and meet the business objectives. It determines if a software system is going to be accepted by the users or remains one amongst the countless others swirling on the internet. The software system on its part is responsible for bringing about a seamless integration and functioning of composite business processes in an organization. This is needed to keep the organization competitive, efficient, resilient, agile, and stay above the technology curve.  

Software quality assurance is the process that validates if a software system performs as per the business objectives. However, the traditional waterfall model of QA software testing suffers from inadequacies such as;  

Lack of test automation initiatives

Lack of insight into the processes and tools that develop, test and run applications

Slow or unable to react to the emerging business dynamics. This could relate to the changing user experience and expectations, emerging technologies, and rising competition

Lack of test automation means glitches often go unnoticed

Lack of synergy among the different quality assurance software testing services. This leads to an increased cost of fixing them

Inadequate communication with the development team

Unable to tackle the challenges of external dependencies

Slower time to market

Less test coverage area

Inconsistency in the identification and elimination of bugs

Not keeping up with cutting edge technology tools and paradigms

Moreover, increased competition has put immense challenges before businesses. These relate to the need for faster development cycle, testing and deployment of newer applications in the market. In the Agile and DevOps environment of continuous improvement and deployment, these challenges have put the software quality assurance processes under greater stress.  

To address the challenges related to lack of synergy amongst various QA functions of an organization, Testing Centre of Excellence or TCoE takes centre stage.  

What is a Testing Centre of Excellence (TcoE)?

It is a centralized architecture or framework to integrate the cross functional software quality assurance processes leading to;

The optimization of quality and performance of software systems

Implementing industry best practices

A greater automation of the QA services

The breaking of silos across the processes and functions of an organisation

A reduction in redundancies

The acceleration of the time to market

A reduction in the software testing life cycle and SDLC

A reduction in the cost of testing

A rich user experience

A Testing Centre of Excellence or TCoE brings about an alignment between the people, processes, tools, and services of an organization as far as QA is concerned. It carries out a metrics-based evaluation to improve the quality testing processes with the stated aim to quickly develop and deploy a quality software application system.  

Interestingly, there is reluctance in establishing a TCoE by many organizations. The reason could related to the initial cost of setting up a TCoE. The reluctance is in agreeing to a change in the organizational culture and its functioning. The other reasons could be lack of understanding of the benefits (tangible/intangible) due to the absence of a metrics based evaluation system and lack of support by the management.  

The centralized framework of a TCoE gives the QA team an opportunity to take a peek into the organizational inadequacies. It also allows the QA team to take remedial measures to plug them.    

The Process to establish a TCoE

Find out the inadequacies of various processes and know how they hinder the development and deployment of a quality software system.

Get approvals from all the stakeholders citing the process inadequacies and the need to set up a TCoE.

Define new methodologies to integrate the QA processes across business functions to reduce the STLC and SDLC.

Identify the best practices that are needed to be followed and the QA tests to be conducted as well.

Establish metrics against which quality evaluation will be done.

Work on a continuous improvement of the processes and tools.

Benefits of a TCoE in terms of adding value to the organization

A centralized architecture: The overarching framework of a TCoE brings together all the QA teams, processes, and tools on an even keel. The framework establishes a standardization of the QA processes to be followed across functions. This breaks the departmental silos and encourages sharing of resources. As common resources are shared, they lead to an increased cost optimization.  

Better identification of glitches:

a) In the traditional model, each department followed its own testing methods, which were often not in sync with the industry best practices. This approach often led to overlooking the glitches. However, a greater synergy amongst the departments and processes in the TCoE model leads to better identification of glitches.

b) The implementation of test automation means that the inadequacies related to manual testing are done away with. The automated test codes could test a software application any number of times. Thus, the glitches left unidentified due to the following of repetitive testing, get identified and eliminated.

Follows best practices: The TCoE model involves the use of industry best practices and technologies. This leads to a better identification of glitches in the shortest possible time.  

Conclusion

Establishing a TCoE leads to the optimization of QA resources and helps an organization to respond to the emerging business dynamics in a better way. It is also a cost-effective and smart way to archive all the best practices, frameworks, test cases, and test scripts for future reference.

Michael works for Cigniti Technologies, which is one of the North America’s largest Independent Software Testing companies, appraised at CMMI-SVC v1.3, Maturity Level 5, and an ISO 9001:2008 & ISO 27001:2013 certified organization.

[michaelwadetesting]

How can you successfully implement Selenium Automation Testing?

Developing and executing test automation scripts have become an important part of the total quality assurance process. An automated test script does the job of manual testing, but with the built-in advantages of speed, coverage of a large test area, and repetition. Considering the benefits of test automation, writing test scripts that suit each and every development environment can be tricky and time consuming.  

This challenge can increase further while integrating the test scripts with some widely used programming languages. As a result, testers have found Selenium to be the perfect platform to undo all the niggling issues related to test automation. In other words, Selenium automation testing has become the new buzzword for the QA team.  

Let us first understand why Selenium is one of the most preferred platforms for Test Automation.  

It is an open source and free to use platform that is backed by a team of active developers.

It is highly portable. In other words, test scripts can be written for any platform (OS & browser).

There is no specific test script to be used for Selenium automation framework. For example, a tester can write the test script by using any of the programming languages such as Java, C#, Ruby, Perl, PHP, etc.

Selenium automation testing entails an easy integration of various processes, functions and their functionalities in a web application. This fulfils the criteria of CI in an Agile testing environment, where development and code testing takes place simultaneously.

It is highly resilient, flexible, and provides an excellent test automation platform for Web Application testing that is very much scalable.

Given the immense benefits of using a Selenium automation framework, the process of implementing the same is listed below.  

#Know the web application

While writing the test scripts for Selenium automation testing, the test team should focus on the browsers that are likely to be used to access and run the web application. The test strategy should be formulated to check if the browsers are compatible with the web application.  

#Get in sync with the tool

Among the many reasons justifying the use of a Selenium automation framework, quicker testing of web application arguably stays at the top. Hence, the team of testers should be updated with the entire range of Selenium features. The aim should be to minimize the learning curve and instead speed up the testing process.  

#Create the test environment

The following ways can be utilized to create a test environment.

Choose a browser like Chrome or Firefox

Choose a programming language and IDE to write the test script

Choose a GUI testing tool like Selenium WebDriver

Create the test scripts to check end to end flow of the application

#Divide testing tasks based on expertise

Writing test scripts for Selenium automation testing can be a complex exercise. In other words, given that each member of the testing team has a different level of expertise, it should be made use of while carrying out Selenium test automation. This can be done by assigning the task of writing the test script to someone who is adept at it. And follow it up by assigning the task of performing the actual test to another expert.  

#Identify good test data

To get the best test outcomes in carrying out Selenium test automation, selecting the right set of test data is crucial. The test data should be able to check each and every functionality and process of a web application. The task before the QA team is to retrieve the right test data and validate the same by running the test scripts.  

#Get reports

Selenium automation testing can generate a host of reports highlighting issues in the web application. These reports can be made use of by the testing team to figure out the next step of action and to ensure a quicker test outcome.  

Conclusion

Selenium automation testing can be used effectively by the QA team to achieve higher test coverage, meet the CI requirement as far as Agile is concerned, faster turnaround time, and ease of running it against any browser. These can be some key highlights of using Selenium. Ultimately, it is important to shorten the testing cycle, but by ensuring quality of the software/application.

Michael works for Cigniti Technologies, which is one of the top Independent Software Testing Services company in the world to be appraised at CMMI-SVC Level 5, and an ISO 9001:2008 & ISO 27001:2013 certified organization.

[michaelwadetesting]

Check out this checklist for a successful Salesforce Testing

Salesforce is by far one of the most preferred CRM platforms. The popularity of Salesforce as a CRM platform owes mainly to the software’s flexibility, scalability, ease of application and cost effectiveness. Its ability to bring about a seamless integration of different business functions can result in better business intelligence. The best part of using Salesforce is in developing bespoke applications quickly. These applications can help in strengthening the customer interface with an aim to deliver the expected customer experience. This is important to ensure and propogate one’s brand value in the competitive business environment.

So, be it accounts, admin, campaigns, leads, opportunities or contacts, Salesforce integration of applications can do a world of good to the business. However, the pace at which such applications are developed requires the same to be thoroughly tested for bugs or to address the performance issues.

When it comes to testing, carrying out manual testing of applications on Salesforce can lead to issues such as inconsistent monitoring, cost escalation in terms of man hours spent, and lesser test coverage. To get over the shortcomings of manual testing, it is advisable for businesses to go with Salesforce test automation.

At the same time, writing codes for Salesforce automation testing is a skilled task, for any small change to the system would mean writing the corresponding Salesforce test automation code all over again. This complexity can certainly be a deterrent unless appropriate tools to undertake test automation for Salesforce are implemented.

To implement successful Salesforce test automation, these are some key essentials;

#1 Choose the right Salesforce automation testing tool: Salesforce test automation would require use of a code free tool. The focus should be more on using a tool with a point and click interface. There are quite a few Salesforce automation testing tools such as Salesforce Lightning Inspector, Provar and Apex Interactive Debugger, etc. These include features such as flexibility and automatic generation of reports amongst others.

#2 Cover the entire test area: As opposed to manual testing, Salesforce test automation should cover the entire test area with all the positive and negative test cases. Run Salesforce automation testing to include any possible update that the organisation might have undergone since the last test automation for Salesforce. Also, take into account the code lines, for any addition or alteration of these can change test coverage patterns.

#3 Cover all types of test automation for Salesforce: Salesforce automation testing should include a wide range of tests. These can range from functional testing, load testing, and regression testing to security testing and deployment testing. Since each of these tests verify and validate a specific aspect of the application, overlooking one or more can have a significant impact. You can miss out on errors or bugs in the process.

#4 Check for Classes and Controllers: The creation of separate classes and controllers, though important to make the code more flexible and scalable, can make things difficult for portability. This necessitates the use of test code in the original class and controller code to carry out portability.

#5 Focus on Unit Test: If the entire code is tested during test automation for Salesforce, any bug found can be difficult to correct. On the other hand, if a particular subset of a functionality is checked the bugs can be identified and corrected easily. Thus, carrying out a unit test to validate a particular functionality or record against expected outcomes makes the testing process more robust.

#6 Check the code in its entirety: Since a test code for Salesforce test automation can cover a large number records (in hundreds), it is advisable to check the entire code. This should be undertaken to achieve optimization in testing, and even check individual records.

#7 Check for positive tests: Salesforce test automation should check for the expected outcome for all combination of test parameters.

#8 Check for negative tests: Finding negative test results during test automation for Salesforce would mean the presence of bugs. It can result in long term impact on the application and its functioning.

Conclusion

Building an application and integrating the same on Salesforce can enhance the functioning of an organisation. This should be duly followed by Salesforce test automation to obtain optimum results. Salesforce Testing must address some basics ‘dos’ to ensure that the application integrates well with other functions. This will eventually ensure higher RoI.

Michael works for Cigniti Technologies, which is one of the top Independent Software Testing company in the world to be appraised at CMMI-SVC Level 5, and an ISO 9001:2008 & ISO 27001:2013 certified organization.

[michaelwadetesting]

How Effective Is Selenium Test Automation in An Agile Environment?

Selenium, one of the most preferred Open Source Test Automation platforms, seems to have caught the fancy of testers worldwide for offering a seamless and user-friendly Selenium test automation platform. It facilitates an easy to plug and play Selenium automation framework for testing web applications. In this highly competitive nature of online business, companies are under tremendous pressure to release websites and web applications at a quicker rate than their competitors. Reaching faster to the market is critical, but ensuring quality is equally business critical.

Quality is needed to ensure that customers get the desired experience and they keep coming back to the application. Eventually, the application is able to achieve its ultimate business objectives. This is where the role of test automation comes into play, as manual testing can leave much to be desired in terms of time taken, high input cost, and a lack of test coverage area.

Specifically, carrying out test automation on web applications would mean writing test scripts for various browsers and OS platforms. This, even though is far better than following a manual regression testing, is very much time consuming. The reason being, writing test automation scripts for various processes and functions by following the standards can be a challenging exercise. How can Selenium Test Automation add value in this context? Why are testers and developers specifically preferring Selenium specifically in an Agile context?

Why choose Selenium in an Agile environment?

Agile environment demands quick codes, faster turnaround, shorter testing cycles, and frequent releases powered by faster feedback. Selenium enables the Agile approach by offering a browser compatible platform that offers round-the-clock assistance for frequent releases. Selenium is an open source testing platform that facilitates an easy way of writing Selenium test automation code, across various browsers and OS platforms.

Moreover, it has an active developer community that helps in updating the platform from time to time by removing hidden glitches. Also, the GUI based environment makes it convenient to write Selenium test automation codes to validate different web applications and their functionalities.

Benefits of using Selenium automation testing in an Agile set-up

1.      Open Source: The open source Selenium automation framework makes it ideal for enterprises to carry out test automation without sourcing it from a single licensed vendor. Moreover, since it comes free of cost, enterprises can save a substantial amount on writing automation scripts for validating functional efficiency of the web application. Given the number of dedicated Selenium developers working on the product, the platform remains seamless and relatively glitch free. You can even receive assistance from a community-based group anytime.

2.      Portable across platforms: Selenium gives a high level of flexibility for writing test scripts for the Selenium automation framework across platforms and browsers. By using it’s easy to use interface, testers can write test scripts without bothering about the platform or browser. This incidentally is not the case even with expensive test automation tools.

Read more at Medium.com -  Benefits of Selenium Test Automation with an Agile approach

Michael works for Cigniti Technologies, which is one of the top Independent Software Testing Services company in the world to be appraised at CMMI-SVC Level 5, and an ISO 9001:2008 & ISO 27001:2013 certified organization.

[michaelwadetesting]

[michaelwadetesting]

Growing digital challenges and the need for Mobile Test Automation

Intense competition and need for reaching higher revenues has triggered the growth of Application development. Additionally, there are challenges related to changing user preferences, and ultimately you have only a few mobile apps that hold the attention of the users. Teams developing mobile apps go through a laborious process of designing and developing the app. While they put across their best efforts at ensuring quality, there is every likelihood of bugs creeping into the source code. These bugs can result in;  

Impacting the user experience and forcing customers to drop the app

Causing error in the smooth operations of functionalities

Causing data breach or the loss of sensitive personal or business information

Causing financial cost to the company due to litigation from customers

Falling foul of regulatory authorities

Losing the brand value

The answer to deal with all the above lies in carrying out mobile application testing. The process of mobile application testing can be done after developing the app (as in the traditional waterfall model) or simultaneously with the development of the app (as in Agile or DevOps). However, the growing digital challenges of increased competition, faster time to market, changing user preferences, and an increased threat of data breach has meant the manual mode of mobile application testing is no longer viable. Let us find out why using a manual mobile application testing strategy can be counterproductive.  

Increased cost: As manual mobile application testing is a laborious process, the business has to employ a team of testers. The cost of hiring or employing manual testers can be substantial.

Inconsistent testing: Using a manual mobile application testing strategy would mean a human tester checking a greater number of codes and input data for possible outcomes. This can lead to errors whereby certain bugs can be missed or overlooked. Moreover, since the process of mobile application testing can differ from person to person, the results can differ as well.

Failing to manage complexity: During the use of a manual mobile application testing strategy, the focus of the tester decreases with time. Also, as the complexity of codes or the number of inputs increases, the human tester can no longer manage the same. Thus, using a manual mobile application testing strategy is not suitable when test conditions and parameters are scaled up.

Slow rate of progress: The pace at which manual mobile application testing is conducted, the rate of finding bugs becomes slow. This slows down the entire SDLC and defeats the objective of achieving faster time to market.

Test coverage area: To check the proper functioning of a mobile app, the mobile application testing strategy should be comprehensive. It should cover a wide test area with all the permutations and combinations of test data. However, manual testing is simply not capable of covering the entire test area. This leaves room for a number of bugs to escape testing thereby impacting the quality of the app.

The role of mobile app test automation

To address the above shortcomings, carrying out mobile app test automation seems to be the logical step. Given the automation of the testing process, every possible test scenario and the behaviour of dependencies can be verified and validated. Also, the mobile app test automation process can be performed at any time by simply configuring the system. Besides, the test can be repeated and reused for any number of devices, OS platforms, processors, and networks. This eliminates the presence of bugs from the app.  

By incorporating mobile app test automation, a business can spare its highly skilled resource from testing and deploy where it is needed the most. Even though the cost of installing such a test automation tool can be high, there are cost effective options as well. While licensed tools are an option, a number of freely available test automation tools like Selenium, Appium and Calabash can be leveraged as well.

A test automation tool can mean writing test scripts by qualified test engineers, which may or may not be used for all scenarios. To meet this challenge, scriptless digital automation tools to carry out mobile application testing can be utilized.

Conclusion

Both Speed and Quality are imperative for venturing into the consumer market with confidence. Test Automation if implemented with an objective and strategy can help you to achieve the defined goals. Today, the downside of not using mobile app test automation can be huge, and impact consumer experience and the application’s performance. What are your views?