The Internet of Things is the new chip on the technology block, which is causing a flutter in technology circles. It is estimated that there will be 50 Billion connected devices by the year 2020. IoTsustains on three pillars namely things, communications, and computing. When we say things, we mean the gadgets connected to the internet like electronic watches, car or appliances, etc. IoT works only if these gadgets are interconnected in real time. While being interconnected, they should also speak to each other. They should speak about things like their statuses and share other important information. This information is then stored on special servers or mobile phones and is accessible to only authorized personnel.
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With such an intricate network of gadgets connected to the internet, the role of the quality-testing department assumes great importance.
Quality testing in the digital era
Quality assurance and testing areimportant pillars on which any successful digital transformation rests. However, for this to happen we need to identify the right tools, methods, and measures to ensure superior customer experience. Organizations today are faced with two big challenges namely, finding new ways to stay on top of new technologies and endeavor to continuously improve the customer experience. Any integrated system cannot do without both of the above-mentioned features. Today, the barriers to your competitors stealing your market share have reduced. Therefore, customer service remains the single most distinguishing factor in ensuring loyal customers. Another aspect that is gaining popularity in this scenario is thequality of products and services produced. With customer behavior continuously changing and companies, competing on a global scale the digital transformation initiative can only succeed if quality and security are both made part of the system.
It is necessary for organizations, which are undergoing the digital transformation to have a well-worked out strategy for testing the quality and security of networks formed by sophisticated interconnected gadgets. In the newly built digital world, customers will expect products and services of high quality along with networks, which assure high security. Understanding customer behavior in this digital world will help you to tailor your offerings such that the customer will perceive value in them. The ultimate goal of companies today is to offer their customers a seamless digital customer experience with their offerings, which meet the quality parameters, set by them. Quality assurance is becoming very vital for all organizations, which are embracing digital transformation. Let us now look at the top trends of 2016 in testing and quality assurance.
Trends in quality assurance and testing in 2016
Quality assurance and testing budgets continue to rise
As per a recent research, 52% of the quality assurance and testing budgets of organizations in 2015 were allocated to new development projects as opposed to only 30% in 2014. Companies are no longer outsourcing their quality assurance and testing function and are continuously getting this work done by in-house teams. This is raising their quality assurance budgets.
Agile Testing
Companies are resorting to agile scrum. This is very different from the traditional method where one worked for a long time on a project where there are little appreciation and no target project completion date. The time taken to reach the market has been shortened. Teams have embraced automation, which in turn has led to them working in close collaboration with each other.
Continuous Delivery
Companies today are embracing continuous delivery. They no longer wish to wait for eighteen months before getting feedback on their product or service. This, in turn, is keeping the quality testers on their toes. This is compelling them to test in small batches and report any deficiencies in theperformance of the product or service, early, assess whether a change will be beneficial for the product or service.
Testing Center of Excellence
More companies are now establishing a testing center of excellence. This has allowed the quality team to align the efforts of the development team to the needs of the customers. Companies are now sharing their testing work with the centers of excellence that are being established. These centers are finally elemental in giving us a quality product which is adequately secure.
Mobile, Mobile, Mobile
The majority of organizations are concentrating their testing efforts on assessing non-functional parameters like security, performance, and customer experience as they are more relevant in the future. Also, mobiles are becoming an integral part of any organization’s development efforts. All products and services developed by companies need to be in sync with the requirements of mobiles. This is giving rise to the need for mobile quality testers, which are in short supply
Mobile Cloud
With almost 26% software applications in 2015 hosted on the cloud, testing based on the cloud is increasingly gaining importance. More and more companies are trying out cloud-based testing tools to reduce project cost and increase ROI.
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Final thoughts
IOT promises to change the way we see things around us. With the quality benchmark set by companies like Apple and Tesla being very high, companies in the IOT era need to evolve and elevate the testing culture in the consumer electronics space. Thus, we have seen that quality assurance and testing fulfills a very critical role in any journey of digital transformation. As you are embracing digital transformation, you need to have a digital strategy in place, which will help you identify the right tools, methods and measures to improve customer experience and make the organization quality conscious and future ready. Companies have brought out a number of products that will help them navigate the journey during the digital transformation era. These products help you adapt to the latest trends in the industry and also produce quality products and services. THIS IS HOW WE CAN BE READY IN THE ERA OF DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION.