In recent years, we have made incredible strides when it comes to delivering software and technical solutions. Advances in technology and innovative delivery methodologies have resulted in rapid software development and deployment practices such as Continuous Deployment and DevOps. Of course, with rapid development like this, there are always going to be some issues that arise, and software testing is often at the sharp end of those issues.
The speed at which software and data quality are delivered is growing on an impressive scale, which is fantastic news for a huge number of different sectors, organisations and applications. Automation and automated process for code deployment and environment management are such fantastic tools that allow companies to move faster, work more flexibly, improve efficiency and ensure consistency in all that they do. However, when it comes to measuring the results of the quality and understanding the impact it has on an organisation, there are certain difficulties that many companies face.
While automating development and deployment processes is a fantastic way to improve performance, when you come to measure the quality of these initiatives and progress being made, it can bring your work to a standstill. Manual testing approaches takes up a huge amount of time, particularly when looking at the amount of change digital transformations cover. Manual testing and the accuracy of reporting can be inefficient and costly, as well as having the potential to slow momentum of a highly efficient deployment capability which will frustrate management teams, product owners and development teams alike.
These frustrations often compounds and results in demotivating the teams, management and stakeholders, this brings a lack of engagement from teams at all levels of the business can further exacerbate any existing issues. For example, if development and testing teams aren’t getting relevant, engaging communication around necessary requirements, the processes that are required to effectively implement software testing, will lead to issues with test environments, time constraints, and a whole host of other risks to the released product or solution.
In a worst-case scenario, this can leave you liable to functional issues with software, potential security issues and attacks and inaccuracies in data quality throughout all levels of your organisation. By automating your testing processes and initiatives, you can see how your application functions throughout a change process, examine inconsistencies and improve dark spots in the way you work, without having to set aside swathes of your developer’s time and risk human error impacting on the results of testing.
After all, businesses enter new projects and programmes to propel themselves forward! New projects and processes should be exciting and engaging for all involved, and usually are, until you hit roadblocks from the very processes that are meant to be helping you create that forward momentum. Being a part of something which is new and in the creation stage is brilliant for management teams, testers, developers and product owners alike! It is fresh, new and challenging getting the processes set up, and designing new frameworks and approaches to make things work better for everyone. The issues we often see around software testing often occur when the ‘norm’ sets in – when the project is inflight and the tasks which are outside of your development or test plan start to bite. Shortcuts are taken and a certain amount of manipulation occurs to get that report out. Bad habits are built out of necessity and this is when mistakes happen. We see this happen time and time again, to the point that this state of affairs is considered normal for many organisations, but it shouldn’t be!
Automated software testing and technology give us the tools to improve performance and efficiency across the board, so why are so many organisations not using it? The team at IDS are experts in creating sophisticated automation testing solutions that really do work, letting you spend your time on the important and exciting aspects of your work.