Rethinking Test Automation to Address Business Challenges

To be a leader in any industry is to be a leader in technology. In the whirlwind of digital transformation, innovation happens every day with software and software quality at the forefront.

To not be left behind, now more than ever, CEOs, team leaders, and decision-makers should rethink software quality - the single most important element that determines their success.

In this article, we discuss how automated testing can help alleviate the business challenges in the digital age and test automation ROI.

Challenges faced by businesses as the technology paradigm shifts

Technology's ever-changing and innovative nature brings as many opportunities as challenges. The prevalence of software in every aspect of life shows that business leaders should keep a close eye on the state of quality engineering to prevent stagnation in continuous improvement.

The software industry and software quality assurance found themselves in front of the unprecedented evolving macrocosm of technology.

Advancements in:

• quantum computing

• IoT

• big data

• 5G

• edge computing

are bringing software to an unparalleled level of complexity.

Businesses utilizing these innovations as core technologies have to adopt the most cutting-edge, state-of-the-art testing solutions. Adaptable, AI-powered, intelligent testing tools must be leveraged instead of traditional testing methods that are obsolete in supporting quality improvement for such disruptive engineering.

Software quality and customer experience

Software is customer-facing, therefore it holds a crucial role in ensuring:

• competitive advantages

• customer digital experience

• retention rate

To fulfill customers' and businesses' expectations, software architecture must intertwine with:

• the end-to-end business process

• customer service practices

• operational activities

This requires software to be adaptive and updated frequently to ensure security, and compatibility with operating system updates.

Regular updates impact software testing immensely in terms of:

• regression

• end-to-end

• API

• UI testing

Once again, the fragmented and outdated software quality assurance approaches cannot accommodate the current high-speed, competitive, and demanding market.

The cost of inadequate testing

Manual-only and conventional quality engineering approaches are no longer sufficient to support:

• agile software development

• continuous deployment

• rapid feedback loop

Without the correct mindset on testing, quality assurance will be an afterthought, a disorganized process that fails to accomplish its ultimate mission - quality improvement.

The consequence of inadequate testing is poor-quality software with weaknesses that can jeopardize:

• a business's reputation

• competitive advantage

• customer satisfaction

Test automation benefits are closely tied to increased business value

It is estimated that poor-quality software costs 2.08 trillion dollars* in the US, UK, and Australia.

Appropriate and timely investment in test automation as part of your delivery lifecycle can save your organization from the consequences of insufficient software testing.

The ROI gained from applying test automation is magnified when organizations undergo digital transformations.

Industry impact of test automation

The examples below show how an effective test automation strategy ensures success for companies in three key industries.

Test automation in Telecommunication

In the Telecommunication sector, companies are in the race to adopt 5G (and beyond) technology, converting from communications service providers to digital service providers.

As the infrastructure becomes more cloud-based and relies on IoT, ensuring quality for additional dimensions of security and privacy becomes increasingly challenging.

Testing complexity increases due to:

• screen sizes

• OS versions

• manufacturer modifications

M2M communication involving sensors, gateways, and CLIs in IoT systems requires efficient API testing tools while its complexity makes it difficult to detect errors.

Comprehensive test automation solutions can:

• streamline the testing workload

• reduce manual effort

• provide appropriate test environments/configurations

to validate the software's behavior/reliability, thereby confidence in test coverage, compliance, and expected outcomes.

Test automation in Energy and Utilities

Energy and Utilities (E&U) is an industry that is exceptionally susceptible to vulnerabilities and oversight and cannot afford poor software quality.

AI/ML, IoT, cloud infrastructure, and Big Data enable:

• renewable energy

• distributed energy resources

• smart grids

• smart meters

To ensure quality in such a complex system, the software testing solution applied must:

• be robust

• provide end-to-end coverage

• be API-centric

• support data-driven strategies

Furthermore, E&U companies need a fit-for-purpose testing solution that they can scale and customize.

To assure quality through such complex infrastructure and demanding business needs, a comprehensive automated platform that can support all facets of test coverage necessary is a must.

Software quality - the nucleus of energy and utility digitalization

Test automation in BFSI

Digital transformation is happening at a rapid pace within the BFSI sector globally.

AI/ML, RPA (Robotic Process Automation), blockchain, and Big Data are some of the most adopted technologies of the key players and emerging BFSI companies.

This is being done to:

• improve customer experiences and retention

• improve the efficiency of services

• improve transaction transparency

The sector is overflowing with customer-facing applications that differentiate:

• business capabilities

• services

• success criteria

Updates and enhanced features are rolled out constantly.

Quality validation strategies applied need to be sufficient in verifying:

• large-scale BFSI systems

• ever-changing, complex functionalities

• security standards

An extensive automated software testing strategy is the only approach to satisfy:

• short (aka ‘quick’) release dates

• increased workload involved in maintaining application capabilities

Fintech apps are never stand-alone apps. They connect with many others (supplemental, 3rd party, etc.) to create an ecosystem that best serves the users.

With such a level of integrations, the software quality testing solution must support:

• API-specific testing

• complex data-driven testing

• intensive business-process-driven testing

with highly actionable and visible insights on test coverage applied.

Why early adoption increases ROI

Businesses are continuing to increase their digital footprint, rapidly expanding and upgrading infrastructure and software capabilities.

Software and applications for business ought to:

• work seamlessly on every device

• work seamlessly on every OS

• work seamlessly on every manufacturer platform

and provide a smooth, uninterrupted experience under all circumstances.

The sooner you adopt automation testing within your delivery workflow, the higher the ROI (Return on Investment).

A survey by Axon shows that almost 24%** of respondents cite late adoption of test automation as one of the reasons they cannot achieve the desired level of automated QA.

Quantifiable benefits of test automation

Reduction in:

• environment setup

• test case creation

• test execution

• test maintenance time

are some of the most significant quantifiable benefits of automation.

Reduction in environment setup time

A test environment is a structure in which quality engineers execute test cases written to address application requirements.

To accurately verify behavior in real-life scenarios, the test environment needs to be well-design and maintained.

With test automation:

• Deployment is automated by integration with CI/CD tools

• Reproduce the same test environment every time by reusable test profiles

• Cloud-based environment reduces the cost of the physical infrastructure of multiple devices

Reduction in test case creation time

The more complex an application is, the more time it takes to write test cases.

Manual test case creation and open-source frameworks require significant effort and programming expertise.

Low-code test automation platforms enable collaboration across different technical skill levels.

The Katalon Platform provides:

• low-code and no-code testing

• full-code scripting mode

Tunaiku reduced 60% of the time creating automated test scripts for GUI and API testing after adopting the Katalon Platform.

Reduction in test execution time

Cross-browser and cross-platform testing further reduce execution time and expand coverage.

Automated tests can run overnight or on weekends with built-in reporting.

Care Logistic cut regression testing time by half and increased productivity with the Katalon Platform.

Reduction in test maintenance effort

End-to-end testing is difficult to maintain due to workflow changes.

UI testing suffers from flakiness caused by small, uncritical UI changes.

Flaky tests increase stress and investigation time.

Katalon’s AI-infused features address this effectively.

Business value and ROI

These benefits bring measurable business value.

Head over to our ROI calculator to see how we quantify these values for you.

Calculate Test automation ROI