The year 2020 had a lot of chaos caused by the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic around the globe. While various industries have gravely suffered losses due to partial and complete lockdowns imposed by governments, there is a lot for companies to offer in terms of software testing. One of the major trends has been the combination of artificial intelligence (AI) along with automation. While moving towards 2021, the trends are beginning to shift to new verticals. The need to build quality apps has pushed software testing to a whole different level. In this post, we will discuss some of the testing trends that we look forward to in the coming year. If you are a QA professional, software tester, or someone with an interest in testing, this article should be at the top of your reading list.
Top Software Testing Trends for 2021
Robotic Process Automation (RPA):
As the name suggests, robotic process automation utilizes artificial intelligence (AI), cognitive computing, and the Internet of Things (IoT). It is a concept that has revolutionized the industry. It has been implemented in self-driven vehicles and has set a benchmark for new business processes. This is something software testing companies will definitely look forward to implementing in 2021.
Striking the Right Balance between Automation and Manual Testing
It is obvious that software testing is incomplete without manual testing efforts as there are certain aspects of testing that automation cannot handle. In recent times, there is a rising trend for utilizing automation, thus increasing the demand for automation testers. Automation helps in significantly improving the speed of software testing but it does not cover usability, design, and user experience. It is crucial for software testing firms to strike the right balance between automation and manual testing to improve their software development processes.
App and Cyber Security & Risk Compliance
There are new challenges and risks posed to cybersecurity in the growing digital world. Since the new generation is more dependent on digital solutions, the importance of security testing is on the rise. Organizations realize the importance of hiring a reliable security testing company to ensure their products, networks, systems, and applications are protected against cyber-attacks. In 2021, experts are going to utilize secure coding practices. Cybercriminals are growing with more sophisticated ideas for attacks. Thus, making security testing a necessity for all organizations, regardless of what information their apps hold. We also speculate a rise in the number of cyberattacks in 2021, and so we need to prepared to combat our businesses against any risks.
Scriptless Automation
Without any doubt, test automation has been trending for more than a decade now. Manual testing efforts are no longer enough to meet rapid software development demands. There is a new trend of introducing scriptless test automation in the IT industry to maximize the scalability of their tests. It can help software testers and developers in running their test cases automatically. These organizations have achieved faster results and reduced time with scriptless test automation. This trend is something worth watching out for in the years to come.
Testing Centers of Excellence for Quality
Testing Center for Excellence (TCoE) has already been introduced into software testing. It includes building reusable testing frameworks as well as standards for developing products for any security testing company. Not only does this focus on improving security, but also reduces the testing time without reducing the quality of the products. Their functionality, performance, and usability remain the same. It also provides more efficiency for test automation and makes flexible standards in QA practices to be implemented in future projects. This is also a trend that companies are looking forward to and making use of to improve their testing efficiency.
QAOps
In 2021, another rising trend for companies is to invest in QAOps. Software development processes have changed a great deal and so have the roles of all team members involved in the process. The role of a QA tester is no longer just limited to testing. Testers are involved in almost all aspects of software development. QAOps is a practice that brings developers, testers, and operations teams on the same page. In DevOps, continuous testing is utilized. Test activities along with the CI/CD pipeline and testers work parallelly with the development teams.
All the above trends are something all organizations should watch out for. What is more interesting and intriguing for business owners is to see what 2021 has to offer, ever since the outbreak of COVID-19.