In today’s UC environment, the ability to test your products quickly means a countdown in measurements of hours and minutes, not days and weeks. The demand for this rapid turnaround stems from a more competitive market where more and more tools are becoming available, and the rise in the adoption of UC tools by enterprise-level companies that can’t wait for a lengthy testing and resolution process.
Manual testing transitioning to automation
Manual software testing , the process of manually verifying defects in the software by a tester, is a bandwidth-eating task that requires more time than many IT professionals have to monitor information and look for errors. Manual testing requires you to sit in front of a computer, carefully sifting through application screens while trying numerous usage and input combinations. After that arduous task you must then compare the results to the expected behavior and record your observations. These manual tests are repeated often during development cycles for different source code changes and other situations like multiple operating environments and hardware configurations.
Along with manual testing comes the risk of human error as even the most meticulous tester can make mistakes. Another drawback is the amount of time used to repeat tests instead of using the time to create new automated software tests that deal with more complex features.
How automated tests work
Using automation, tests are performed applying the same step-by-step techniques and are always recorded with detailed results. This process is accomplished with the tool’s ability to playback pre-recorded and predefined actions, compare the results to the expected behavior, and report the success or failure of these manual tests to a test engineer.
The beauty of automated tests is that once they’re created, they can easily be repeated and extended to perform tasks tagged as impossible with manual testing. On top of this feature, automated software testing can look inside an application and see memory contents, data tables, file contents, and internal program states to determine if the product is behaving as expected.
Due to these factors, tech savvy managers have found that automated software tests are fundamental for successful development projects.
6 benefits of automated testing
Now that we’ve covered HOW automated testing work–let’s look at the key benefits for you when you implement it as part of your routine:
- Cost for overall test analysis is reduced due to fewer hours of manual work needed to execute it.
- Time is saved as development time is reduced due to increased testing speed. Time saved is time earned!
- Quality of the software is enhanced as it removes the human element during the QA process.
- Productivity increases from optimizing resource usage by reducing the time required to carry out the test.
- Usability allows testers to reuse the library of test assets that can be quickly run.
- Coverage is increased of the number of tests by improving the efficiency, shortening the test cycles, and increased test coverage by automating repetitive tests.
How automation positively impacts UC
Every software development group tests its products, yet delivered software always has some kind of flaw. Test engineers strive to catch them all before the product is released, but they can reappear, even with the best manual testing processes. Test automation software is one of the best ways to increase the effectiveness, efficiency, and coverage of your software testing.
Dominique Ramirez is passionate about the intersection of innovation, communication and technology. She writes about unified communications, leadership, customer success, and other technology trends. .
