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Test Automation Accelerating Towards the NextGen Software Testing

January 7, 2019

Development of Enterprise IT software is considered to be extremely complex, and testing of such IT software is like a wakeup call in the software development lifecycle. It keeps nudging over intervals to enhance the overall software delivery process. This is true for all the large companies with complex applications, small ones and also those in between. But without understanding the purpose of software testing, it is hard to imagine the value of it.

Purpose of Software Testing

Why you should do software testing? Basically to reduce flaws or to spot errors quickly “? Not enough. Software testing is much more than that. It is the process to identify the accuracy and quality of the software. Apparently, it is executed to validate whether the software or product fulfills the specific requirements, meet user expectations and bring value addition to enterprises.

At the end of the day, a framework or application is executed with a specific goal to identify errors, bugs, and defects to fix it right and make the product efficient.

Some of the Software Testing Objectives

1. Find as many errors and bugs while testing a product
2. Verifying software testing should be consistent and aligned with the software requirement specifications
3. Validating the software quality and accuracy to ensure the software meets the user expectations
4. Create high-quality test cases, execute effective tests and generate error reports

Software testing can be either a manual or automated process.

Manual Testing

Manual testing is managed by a team or individual who manually test a software product and ensure it performs as expected.

Automated Testing

Automated testing consists of an automation tool which mainly runs test case suite, predefined actions on a software application, enter test data into the system, allows reporting outcomes, comparative analysis of results and generate detailed test reports.

Why Automation Testing is Beneficial?

The role of automation testing is essential when the objective is to achieve continuous delivery and full agility, unlike manual testing.

Let’s say a software is to be updated with additional features and bug fixes. In such situation, it is very difficult to ensure that introducing a new feature would not interrupt other features. You need to test the software with existing features too, which is a challenge with manual testing of the software every time when new features are introduced. In a way, automated testing strategy helps to enforce the quality of software by identifying bugs before they appear or during the development process. A powerful automation testing tool for test automation supports well in implementing new features, change requests, bug fixes which easily leads to shorter turnaround times and increased customer satisfaction.

According to a report released by SBWire, ‘The global test automation market will likely expand at a robust CAGR of 15.4% from 2017 to 2025’.

Automated testing enables enterprises to test their products within stringent timelines with better cost efficiency and reducing business risks. Also have a look at the Top test automation testing trends that shapes the future of software testing industry. These trends will be able to answer current shortcomings, accelerate productivity, and improve quality.

When to Consider Automation Testing

There are various scenarios when you realize that automation testing must be done:

• When the requirements of the software don’t change frequently
• Performance and load testing ensures that application works efficiently with concurrent users
• To optimize the speed & efficiency
• Top priority for Time-to-market
• Number of test cases runs in a single test suite
• A sequence of running test cases is defined in an order
• Helps to cover all the test cases for a module during regression
• Run the same set of test cases simultaneously on multiple devices

Automated Testing: Key Benefits

We are living in the era of technology, where we observe trends changing continuously at a rapid pace. Undoubtedly, the world is becoming increasingly connected because of one such emerging technology called Internet of Things (IoT). Now addressing data management, security and privacy concerns in IoT applications is crucial with manual testing. Hence, automated testing is the solution to ensure applications’ efficiency and quality. Especially, using Testing Whiz – a test automation tool helps in executing automated test cases efficiently and allows comparison of actual and expected outcomes. In this manner, it ensures software proficiency without involving manual intervention.

One of the biggest business perks of automated testing is that it runs on average 5 times faster than manual tests. Manual testing can find some critical defects which are easy to locate while automated testing is beyond finding errors. It helps to find critical errors which are unlikely to find.

• Saves Time: Running automated test scripts while performing regression testing ensures faster bug-free delivery of app and reduced time-to-market.
• Faster Results: Quick and continuous implementation of automated testing generates faster results with fewer efforts and time.
• Consistency and Accuracy are achieved: Manual test cycles may have some glitches, whereas automated testing achieves accurate results every time.
• Reusable Test Scripts: Test scripts are reusable without making major changes and can be reutilized for multiple times no matter there is a change in device OS version.
• Better Test Coverage: Using automated testing, thousands of various test cases can be executed on multiple devices with varied configurations, which is impossible with manual tests.
• Information Security: The effectiveness of testing is dependent on the test data you use. Automation testing help creating, manipulating and protecting test data; allowing reuse of the data anytime and anywhere.

The most encouraging part of the automated testing process is that it eventually provides a permanent solution of fixing errors in applications faced by organizations, thereby directly contributing to increased productivity, profit earnings and success level of enterprises.

Conclusion

In essence, automation testing results in saving time and effort, cost reduction, improved accuracy and value addition to all the stakeholders involved in the software development lifecycle. Yet, businesses still need to be cautious while dealing with test automation. With our TestingWhiz tool, we perform highly customized automation and cover more than 50% of the testing process. Thus, it is worthwhile to automate your testing practices completely with well-known automated testing tools for preeminent results.