Testing is one of the most critical steps in software development. No matter how good a team of specialists you hire, no one is immune from mistakes. In addition, testing should be done as the project scales to ensure that new modules do not conflict with old ones. Modern testing is actively developing and facing new challenges associated with increased development risks, the use of new tools, and the need to improve the level of protection. Today we want to discuss the main development trends and challenges that this industry may face.
Why is the importance of software testing growing?
There is no denying that software impacts people’s lives. It is impossible to imagine a modern person who does not use a computer or smartphone. The emergence of new technologies, such as machine learning and artificial intelligence, has led to traditional programs turning into complex software that constantly needs scalability and continuous testing. Quality assurance is at the heart of any IT company today.
In addition, software development costs more and more every year, so understandably, it is better to spend long hours testing than to release a low-quality product with many bugs.
Another point to consider is safety. People increasingly prefer to store important information for themselves in various programs, so cybersecurity issues are very acute. Using different payment methods in your work or storing clients’ personal information, including information about their health status, is crucial.
In order not only to save on the production of high-quality software for the market, an important success factor is constant testing. And what type of testing to apply, how many testers are required, how long it takes to test one product and many other questions can be discussed with an IT consultant https://testfort.com/qa-consulting.
Implementing Agile and DevOps
Agile and DevOps methodologies are gaining momentum and require continuous delivery of services and software with constant testing as a core component. The essence of this methodology is to combine the best of development, operations, and testing to maximize value and ROI.
You can also use the QAOps strategy to improve communication between testers and developers, making identifying and eliminating errors during continuous programming as straightforward as possible.
Higher cyber security requirements
Every day we find information about cyber attacks on the web. Attackers look for flaws in the code of various programs to gain access to user’s data or financial accounts. That is why security issues are the first priority for many developers.
Metrics for Quality Assurance must include safety ones. It is desirable that testing of this aspect begin to be carried out in the early stages of software development, which will allow you to identify the slightest vulnerabilities in the code quickly.
Security testing has a large number of advantages, among the most relevant are:
- Allows you to save money, as information leaks cause great harm;
- Allows you to identify weaknesses in the same way as attackers do;
- Helps identify areas prone to cyber threats;
- Helps maintain an excellent reputation.
There are countless examples of how one hacker attack can destroy a company. It’s easy enough to prevent this by doing regular security testing.
Test Automation
Modern programmers strive to automate all processes as much as possible. It allows you to shift specific responsibilities to computer technology and pay more attention to more important matters.
Many today argue whether automated testing can replace manual testing. However, practice shows that today there are no tools that can replace a person when checking the interface and some other parameters.
However, we cannot deny that the number of manual tests is rapidly declining, as it is a very long process, and there is a very high chance of human error.
Growing demand for IoT
Today, the number of IoTs is advancing at a tremendous speed, and at the same time, the number of applications for them is also increasing. Trends of performance testing indicate that this particular industry is now given special attention because it can combine several important components at once (artificial intelligence, cloud storage, the work of many sensors, and vast amounts of information).
It is assumed that special attention will be paid to IoT security since, according to statistics, more than 90% of all such applications have very poor data protection.
Blockchain tests
Blockchain appeared relatively recently, but today it is already actively used in many industries (financial systems, tourism, logistics, industry). Today, many companies have already appreciated the benefits of using this technology.
For the blockchain to work correctly and be easily integrated into other systems, it is necessary to conduct complex testing. If you use financial transactions in your work, you must spend more time testing smart contracts.