Note: Occasionally a client may rewrite work or change it enough that I no longer feel it accurately represents the work that I did. In those cases, I keep my version here, so that you can see what my work looks like, and so that I don’t misrepresent work as mine that wasn’t. This piece was accepted and paid for by Testlio.com and edited heavily.
Testing has always been an integral part of development. Now more than ever, software companies need efficient, high-quality testing to stay competitive. Like all tech-related endeavors, QA has undergone radical evolution over the past decade, and automation has been at the heart of change. To keep up with the competition, dev teams need to leverage automation and low or no-code solutions, but how will that affect the QA industry going forward?
The truth is, automation, AI, and machine learning all already play a significant role in QA, and this is only likely to increase as time goes on. Still, this doesn’t mean traditional testing will go away. Indeed, companies will need to strike a balance between building strong, competent teams and using automation to help those teams work faster.
The Power of Automation
Anyone interested in efficiency knows that automating repetitive tasks is the best way to streamline. This reality is more and more accepted in the workplace. In fact, Gartner predicts 69% of the routine work managers do will be automated by 2024. This is especially true in QA, where the automated testing market is expected to grow from $20 billion in 2021 to $49 billion by 2026.
The reason is obvious – computers are purpose-built to do repetitive tasks light years faster and more accurately than humans. This means routine testing like unit testing, smoke tests, regression, API, and UI testing is best done by machines. This kind of automation means improved speed to market, quicker upgrade cycles, and better customer responsiveness.
This isn’t to say machines will replace humans in QA. On the contrary, automation is also powerful in its ability to free people up to do more involved work – work that’s better done by talented and highly trained traditional QA and QE experts. This means as automation becomes normalized in QA, the demand for skilled QA personnel who can oversee automated tasks and take on more complex testing will increase, even while demand for low-skill testers stands to decrease.
A Paradigm Shift in Testing
Automated testing can be quite sophisticated, utilizing AI and machine learning to empower testing processes and improve accuracy and speed, even taking advantage of predictive analytics to get anticipate user needs and fuel improvement.
Already, this kind of sophistication has led to the advent of specialized testing and automation services like Testlio, which are revolutionizing how we view testing and QA in general. Gone are the days of high-dollar developers spending valuable time testing and retesting their own products. Instead, companies are leveraging true QA experts to get the job done better and faster, which not only improves QA itself, but frees developers up to do what they’re best at.
Again, it’s not about eliminating manual testing. It’s about striking a powerful balance between automation and human testing, creating the best possible scenario for robust, efficient QA. This is already changing how companies strategize around QA. As mentioned, automation is already shifting what’s needed from human testers. Since machines can do low-skill testing, what’s needed from people is expertise and high skill. This kind of talent is harder to find, afford, and retain, especially on a full-time basis, so companies like Testlio are providing access not only to automation but some of the best talent available to manage and run complex, integrated testing processes.
Building New QA Strategies
The question company leaders need to ask is how will they adapt to the new paradigms in QA? Some may be inclined to ignore the role of automation, but that would be to their detriment as the competition gains an edge with better speed to market, more robust products, and better responsiveness. It’s no question, then, that smart dev teams will implement automated testing, if they haven’t already.
But how? Will you hire a new QA team, re-train current QA personnel, or go in a different direction? For new companies, QA strategy will be a key component from the get-go, and while some bigger organizations may choose to build expert QA teams and automated solutions in-house, that may be too resource-intensive for smaller startups. Some companies may opt for automated solutions in-house while relying on burstable manual testers to fulfill the human side of the equation.
In truth, there are already more ways to go about QA than ever, and that means every company will have to find its own best path.
Let Testlio Help You Find Your Best QA Strategy
Whether you’re well-established or just getting going, your QA strategy will certainly change in the coming years, even if it’s already evolved. Testlio is committed to a holistic approach, delivering world-class testing results. Whether you choose fully managed testing, co-managed testing, outsourcing, or crowdsourcing, your solution is yours. Contact us today for your free demo.