“Fail fast, fail early”.
While many businesses look at this approach as an opportunity to learn and improve, others are still taking the old-school path to software testing. Ever since Automated Testing marked its entry into the market, there has been an ongoing debate on whether businesses should adapt with time or stick to manual testing processes.
According to GM Insights, the automated testing market was worth USD 15 billion in 2020. The projected growth is at a CAGR of almost 16% from 2021 to 2027.
Looking at the continuous growth, it is safe to say that automated testing is the way to go, especially if you are following Agile or DevOps methodologies.
With automated testing in application development, you get:
- Quicker results
- Better traceability
- Significantly reduced bugs
- More compliance with coding standards
- Increased reliability and scalability of your codebase
To understand it better, let’s start with the difference between manual and automated testing. We will also discuss the benefits of automated testing in the blog post.
Table of Contents
Manual Testing vs Automated Testing
While automated testing involves the use of software tools and scripts to carry out test cases, a human tester checks the software application in manual testing. Let’s find out how both the testing approaches differ from each other on other parameters.
Time and Efficiency: Manual testing requires manual execution of each test case, which is time taking. Automated testing is quicker and more effective because it can run several test cases at once.
Cost: Manual testing doesn’t need additional equipment or tools, so it is initially less expensive. However, when testing requirements grow, they may become more expensive due to the demand for additional testers.
On the other hand, automated testing needs an initial investment in equipment and tools but ultimately saves money.
Accuracy: Manual testing is subject to human error and test results may not always be consistent. Meanwhile, automated testing assures reliable results and there’s no scope for human error.
Repetition: Manual testing can be tiresome and dull, making it unsuitable for repetitive jobs as it can rerun the same test cases without making mistakes. Automated testing is ideally suited for repetitive activities.
Consistency: Manual testing may not produce consistently reliable results because each tester may approach the testing procedure differently, whereas automated testing guarantees consistent findings.
Scalability: Manual testing needs more testers to address growing testing demands, so it might not be scalable. However, automated testing is easily scalable as it can execute multiple test cases simultaneously without additional testers.
Maintenance: Manual Testing requires less maintenance as it requires no tools or infrastructure.
On the other hand, automated testing requires regular maintenance to ensure that the scripts and tools are up-to-date and functioning correctly.
Also, Read Here – Automation in Software Development- A New Stream of Revolution
Top Benefits of Automated Testing in Application Development
Let’s examine the automated testing benefits that aid businesses in accelerating their testing and development procedures.
1. Faster Feedback Cycle
With automated testing, organizations can minimize the amount of time necessary for the feedback cycle of new software features. The expedited process enables the development team to quickly act upon the tester’s insights and identify software issues before they are released.
Automated testing can detect bugs at the early stages of development, allowing for fast and effective remediation, thereby speeding up the overall software development process.
2. Testing on Multiple Platforms
With a large number of browsers being used for performing searches, testing all of them manually could be time-consuming. Automated testing can enable checking the performance of software applications across different browsers, devices, and operating systems.
3. Maximum Test Coverage
Testing complicated applications manually is difficult and time-consuming. To mitigate this, automating the testing processes is the most viable solution. Utilizing test automation tools can support testers by providing additional coverage for components such as the user interface, databases, and servers, helping them to ensure a high-quality application without any adverse effect on its functionality.
Furthermore, achieving 100% test coverage allows testers to observe and compare previous and current releases and document any project updates or fixes.
4. Reusability of Test Scripts
Reusing test scripts is a crucial benefit of automated testing because creating test cases requires time and effort. It is always necessary for testers to develop unique test scripts for each cross-browser test when evaluating new operating systems or devices. Testers can better manage their time during testing with the reusability of automated test scripts.
5. Scalability
Checking test cases manually could be demanding in terms of resources. There could be the need to increase the team of testers for better and quicker results. Automated testing requires minimum human intervention, which saves time and cost spent on allocating extra resources.
The World Quality Report (2021–2022) states that an effective and scalable test automation strategy employs AI/ML for dynamic scope selection, detects errors and code backlogs, and enhances test coverage. It also offers better control and transparency over the testing process while lowering test cycles, security concerns, and risks.
6. Improved Team Morale
Test automation not only brings tangible benefits but also boosts the morale of teams. As per the report of McKinsey Global Institute, it can automate around one-third of activities in 60% of occupations. Test automation liberates people to use their brains for more fulfilling and challenging tasks by taking over mundane and repetitive parts.
As a result, your team becomes more productive and inventive in their work and can deliver high-quality outputs. On top of that, automation still enables Quality Assurance teams to successfully conduct manual tests like usability, exploratory, and ad-hoc tests that are unsuitable for automation.
Also Read – eCommerce Automation: Tools, Benefits, and Why You Need It
7. Cost-Saving
Contrary to a common misconception, automation testing is more economical than manual. Since you can’t perform repetitive tests manually, the cost of application testing increases over time.
Automated testing is less expensive in the long run. Since all the test scripts are generated automatically, you can reuse them at no extra cost. Automaton adoption may cost more initially, but it will quickly pay for itself.
8. Fast Development and Deliver
Automation testing can save you time. These tests are completed rapidly and can be repeated. In other words, it won’t take weeks for you to do the tests again; it will just take a few hours. As a result, you get:
- Shorter cycle for developing software
- Regular releases
- Faster app updates and modifications
- Accelerated time to market
9. Better Smoke Testing
Smoke testing is recommended as a best practice, but corporations often resist doing so due to pressure on tester resources. Automation testing benefits allow the regular implementation of smoke tests, such as building automated tests based on smoke test scenarios.
10. CI/CD and DevOps Implementation
Test automation is necessary to utilize Continuous Delivery and DevOps practices. Automated testing is essential to move through the CI/CD pipeline with every developer’s contribution to the source code needing to be tested. Switching to Continuous Testing and Delivery can be made much easier with the adoption of automated testing.
However, it may be difficult to properly orchestrate test automation across the CI/CD pipeline, as the complexity and amount of test cases can cause management to become difficult.
Luckily, AI-powered solutions can be implemented to assist with smart testing orchestration, helping to eliminate test automation bottlenecks and improving the value of automated testing.
How can PixelCrayons Help in Automated Testing in Application Development?
PixelCrayons is an IT outsourcing and application development company with a team of 650+ experienced software developers, data scientists, designers, IT engineers, and technical writers. We have an in-house team of 100+ software testing experts.
Since 2004, the company has been committed to delivering exceptional performance. We offer complete solutions for enterprise-grade enterprises to small and medium-sized businesses using the power of technology.
PixelCrayons can assist with automated testing during the development of applications by offering a group of skilled software testers knowledgeable in automated testing methodologies and tools. They can assist in determining the appropriate automation testing framework and tools fit for the application and designing and implementing automated test cases to guarantee the quality of the application.
Some of the types of testing we can perform are:
- Functional testing
- Performance testing
- Security testing
- Regression testing
Wrapping Up
Automation testing has numerous benefits as the industry is progressing immensely around automation. However, the above-mentioned points are the most critical benefits of automation testing.
Also, remember that manual testing is always needed for better-automated test cases. Despite all the benefits of automation testing, you may fail to deliver your project on time. It could happen due to many factors, but the most critical and common would be the selection of wrong automation testing tools.
Automation testing is highly tool-dependent, and there are many vendors in the market to choose from. If you want to enjoy the best benefits of automation testing, pick the right one. You can also connect with software development companies to use their software testing services.
FAQs
Q1. Why is automated testing important in application development?
Ans. Automated testing helps improve testing effectiveness and efficiency, decreases human error, strengthens the dependability of test results, and assists in finding and resolving problems early in the development process.
Q2. What type of tests can be automated?
Ans. Automated testing can be used for unit tests, integration tests, system tests, regression tests, and acceptance tests.
Q3. How does automated testing improve the development process?
Ans. Automated testing aids in the early discovery of issues throughout the development process, which cuts down on the time and labor needed to fix them.
Additionally, it helps reduce developers’ time and attention required to work on other projects and produce more reliable and consistent test results.
Q4. Can automated testing replace manual testing?
Ans. There are some tests, including usability testing and exploratory testing, that is best performed manually and cannot be entirely replaced by automated testing. However, automated testing can significantly reduce the need for manual testing and increase the testing process’s effectiveness.
