Testing becomes a real challenge when a company develops a complex application. The more components the software has, the more time-consuming the testing is. Automation speeds up testing, everyone knows that. And what other benefits does automation have that save business money? We found out in this article.
When you need and don’t need test automation
Many companies have already implemented test automation, while others are just thinking about it. But, despite the popularity of this process, automation is not for everyone. You need to automate tests in the following cases:
- Your product needs extensive testing.
- Manual tests cannot cover all your key scenarios.
- Among your test cases are those that are repeated.
- You perform regression, integration, load, or other types of testing that require a large number of tests.
- Failures in your product can lead to financial and reputational losses for the company and customers.
You don’t need test automation when you’re developing a small application with one or more components. All tests can be performed manually, and failures in the software will not lead to critical consequences.
1. Time-saving
Speed is the biggest benefit of automated tests. You save your testing time in several ways.
First, you can set up tests to run autonomously during off-hours. This means that a QA engineer launches autotests at the end of his working day. Next, in the morning when he returns to work, he will get the results from it. This is very profitable for the company because the job is done automatically.
Second, once automation is implemented, you can run parallel tests. Depending on the power of your test automation software, you can run hundreds or even thousands of tests in parallel. Thus, you greatly reduce the number of hours spent on testing.
Third, you get instant feedback through notifications from test automation tools. You don’t have to spend time looking for failed tests manually.
2. Workforce resources savings
This point follows from the previous one. Autotests are also an investment in the future. Yes, at first you will have to spend significant resources on automation implementation. Nevertheless, if everything is done properly, the beneficial results will not keep you waiting.
Let’s say a company allocates five working days for testing, and four of them go to regression testing. With automation, you reduce the cost of regression testing to one day. As a result, the company wins three days, which can be disposed of in different ways. First, you can shorten the testing phase.
Thus, updates can be released more frequently. Second, you can increase the number of autotests. This way you get more coverage. Third, you can devote the freed-up time to manual testing. This will allow you to release the product in the highest possible quality.
3. Automated reporting
Automated reporting is one more significant bonus of test automation. When a specialist creates a report on the tests executed on his own, he spends hours on it. You need to collect, structure, and visualize information about the tests.
Also, QA reports often have different audiences. The QA team needs a report to analyze processes and monitor an application. However, such a document will be practically useless for management. Moreover, the report can be requested by a customer without a technical background.
The test automation reporting does everything. A specialist should select the necessary metrics and apply filters. You get colorful reports that are easy to understand even for people who have no experience in QA. Thus, you can use reporting for your testing workflow analysis. Furthermore, stakeholders can use reporting for product progress tracking.
4. AI/ML test results
Good test automation platforms have AI/ML technology built in. It categorizes test failures and identifies their root causes. Immediately after the execution, information on each test run becomes available to you.
You see why tests fail most often and send this information to developers to fix it. You can train the AI/ML algorithm and increase the accuracy of determining the causes of failures up to 100%.
In the long run, AI/ML technology prevents software bugs. You fix the root causes, and during the next iteration, you can focus on other types of testing and possible problem areas.
5. High test coverage
It is impossible to manually test all nuances in software operation. Moreover, it makes no sense to perform many types of testing manually, it takes too much time.
For instance, technically regression tests can be done manually. However, you will spend a huge amount of time on this and it is still unlikely that you will check all the scenarios. The same is true with integration tests. Load tests and performance tests cannot be done manually at all.
Automated tests in these cases are the best solution. You can simulate hundreds and thousands of users who simultaneously work with your application. In addition, you check your software work against different browsers, operating systems, and their versions.
6. Accurate test data
The human factor is a common cause of errors. People get tired, and distracted, and forget to check or double-check something. Manual testers may miss some bugs or performance issues in software.
Scenarios such as fast battery drain, excessive RAM usage, and many more issues are not always easy to detect with manual testing. Mistakes entail huge financial losses for the business. Automated tests are a guarantee that your application will work at the proper level and will not cause losses.
7. Fast delivery
Release delays are common causes of project budget losses. Testing was primarily blamed by QA teams for the release delay between 2019 and 2021, the 2022 Global DevSecOps Surveys reports. The faster you release apps to market, the faster you reach your users. At the same time, delays can be fatal, especially for startups.
The loss of time gives an advantage to competitors both in terms of audience and product functionality. A team that is working on a similar product can copy and even improve your main features and thus you will lose the market.
