With the growing complexity and dependence on software applications, software testing and quality assurance is becoming an increasing critical function. Here’s Marlabs take on the Software Testing trends to watch out for in 2012.
Mobile Application Testing
With the dramatic growth in mobile devices, mobile operating systems have taken center stage across the globe. Popular operating systems found in smart phones and mobile OS powered tablet computers include:
- Android from Google
- Symbian OS from the Symbian Foundation
- iOS from Apple
- Blackberry OS from RIM
Google Android OS has had amazing success and has grabbed over 43% of the market. The number of smart phones globally is estimated to reach over 500 million by 2014. There is a growing nexus between the mobile and cloud with a growing number of mobile apps leveraging the cloud to interact with enterprise systems at the back end. Data security has become key and some of the types of mobile testing that are becoming increasingly relevant are functional testing, browser compatibility testing, security testing, load testing, and localization and usability testing.
Testing-as-a-Service (TaaS)
There is increasing demand for TaaS to rapidly manage a wide range of testing projects, reduce production defects, and resolve testing issues on priority. Organizations are reaching out to third party providers for instance Google Docs TaaS offers a platform for a shared services model. This will be beneficial as ramp up and ramp down of resources can be done at any phase of the project. While India has so far been the most preferred destination for TaaS , it is expected to face competition from the countries such as the Philippines in 2012.
Business Intelligence Testing
The efficiency of a business intelligence tool can be gauged not just by its ability to analyze vast pools of data but also by the options it provides to extract real time data and identify key trends. It is effective testing that will ensure an efficient system that can pull out data, clean it, and present it in without compromising system performance.
Test Data Security Standard
While testing an application, confidential information could get exposed to testers. Clearly a breach can lead to significant damage. Proper test data management ensures the availability and security of test data by masking it on testing engagements. A number of testing vendors are researching various methods to mask data or create ‘test-only’ data that will help maintain privacy and security.
Cloud Testing
With the cloud computing market is soaring to new heights, more and more organizations are looking to host their applications on cloud servers and make them available via tablets and mobile devices. Testing applications on the cloud is also emerging as a promising area.
