Before the benefits of automation tools were as commonly recognized as they are today, CTOs, product managers and engineering leads were slowed down by repetitive manual tasks, bottlenecks and miscommunication across teams. True efficiency and innovation was a distant goal, something they could only discuss in abstract terms without understanding the value of certain services in software testing.
Today, product companies strive to lead in four key areas: innovation, efficiency, accuracy and speed. Automation advantages in software testing are designed to place more power in the hands of developers, QA engineers and IT leadership.
Automation puts more power in the hands of your developers and QA engineers. (Click to Tweet)
What are the Benefits of Testing Automation?
Building a high-quality product requires a delicate balance between the development and QA performed by your team, release schedules, time to market, and your budget. Automation can help you achieve this balance.
So, automation testing increases which of the following? Successful teams already enjoying the benefits of automation testing agree that:
- It increases the depth, accuracy and coverage of your test cases.
- It helps you automate manual work — repetitive smoke tests and other functional tests — to save you time in your release cycle.
- It's a great investment that lets you improve your test automation ROI quickly. No more spending budget on manual hours — engineers can now focus their time on higher-value tasks.
Still not convinced that automation can change the way you work and release? Further your understanding on the benefits of automation testing by reviewing six additional reasons below.
Accelerated Accuracy
Without the benefits of automation testing, QA engineers have to run the same test cases at every release — over and over again. This presents two major issues. First, engineers never have enough time to execute deep penetration testing within the product to explore all of the potential scenarios. Second, human nature leads to slow, repetitive testing that often results in QA engineers making simple (and accidental) mistakes — errors that, when missed, can remain in the product and fester over time.
With automation, your test cases run consistently time and time again—the same as the day they were written and first executed. Consistent testing also makes catching regression defects much easier.
Faster Delivery to Market
Automation runs off of test scripts, so huge quantities of code can be tested much faster than would be possible using only a manual testing approach. And when your team follows these QA automation testing tips for faster product releases, automation can cut testing time by up to 95%. Imagine what you can do with those saved hours!
The reusability and scalability of scripted test cases are also great automation advantages in software testing. These can be used to easily test customized versions of the same application for different clients. They can also be localized in different languages and used with various sets of test data in different test environments.
Enhanced Agile Methodology
The Agile approach advocates teams working in-tandem toward a common goal: a high-quality product and a high-functioning engineering organization. Agile teams often work in weekly and bi-weekly sprints, building and testing new features at breakneck speed.
The agile methodology creates the foundation for enhanced efficiency and stronger communication. And with automated testing, QA engineers can communicate any issues uncovered to developers so that no delays occur during the development cycle.
Keeps Teams Lean
Without automation advantages in software testing, you must add a handful of QA engineers to your team in order to tackle time-consuming manual testing. Successful teams find it more cost-efficient to automate that body of work so that more time is spent on testing and less on hiring.
With all necessary test cases fully automated, you can then hire more strategically to support your test automation process. By adding more domain experts to your team, you can further enjoy the benefits of automation testing with the support of QA engineers who fully understand the expectations of your domain, your product and the received results from your test automation tools.
Advanced Developer & QA Collaboration
Your QA team needs to collaborate with your dev team to establish automation hooks and work through complex code together. Developers need to reach out to your QA team for help automating their process as they fix bugs and implement new modules. Without the proper procedures and testing tools in place, collaboration across both teams can be difficult and frustrating, if not impossible.
Automation is a culture-building investment across all teams that makes it easier for your testers and developers to collaborate with each other in real time. With greater accessibility to test suites, tools and reports that test automation tools can offer, QA engineers can send alerts sooner to developers regarding uncovered defects as well as provide in-depth details on the issue so that the development team can resolve these issues faster.
What’s Next?
Now that you understand the benefits of automation testing, how do you start implementing test automation into your development cycle? First, decide which test cases you should automate in order to receive the greatest value and efficiency. Next, select the right test automation tool that’s right for your product, your teams and your internal practices. Then, create automated test cases and implement internal guidelines that support test automation within your development cycle.
Too much for your team to handle? Upgrade your testing practices without sacrificing resources by partnering with a professional QA services provider like QASource. Our team of testing experts offer extensive domain knowledge with years of experience implementing and executing test automation best practices. Get in touch with a QASource expert today.
