It's All About Quality: Top 5 Trends in QA and Testing

Quality assurance and software testing are the best things that happened to the software development industry. Now businesses
don’t have to wait for the product to reach the market to know whether it will be a hit among the users or a flop.

Quality assurance engineers and testers analyze the usability, resolve performance issues, strengthen the security, test functionality, and remove bugs before launching the product – making software and apps pitch-perfect to satisfy the customers.

So, in today’s fast-paced IT world, software quality assurance services are not just an option but a necessity for the IT sector. But just like other industries, QA and testing practice is also in a constant state of a stir. If you really want to reap its full benefits, it’s time to get yourself up to date with the changing quality assurance trends that are set to mark 2021.

Here are top quality assurance and testing trends that might help you re-strategize the product development process for your team:

Trend # 1: Internet of Things (IoT) is Ruling

Internet of things (IoT) might sound like just another buzzword,
but in reality, it’s the future of gadgets and devices. And product development is also not an exception!

The core idea behind the internet of things, i.e., creating a network of devices on the internet to operate them and transfer data without
any need for interaction, makes it perfect for the quality assurance and
testing industry.

I mean, who wouldn’t like the idea of launching quality products, scaling their performance, and satisfying end-users without staying attached to the devices all the time.

So, IoT is expected to penetrate more into the fabric of QA and testing in the upcoming years, giving QA professionals various choices to get their hands on advanced and independent technologies.

Trend # 2: Use of Artificial Intelligence for Automation

When Alan Turing asked in 1950, “Can machines think?,” he didn’t know his this question will pave the path for what we today know as Artificial Intelligence that John McCarthy defined in 2004 paper as:

It is the science and engineering of making intelligent machines, especially intelligent computer programs. It is related to the similar task of using computers to understand human intelligence, but AI does not have to confine itself to methods that are biologically observable.

Now in 2021, Alan’s question has been molded to: “How much machines can think?” – and that’s what QA teams are exploring in their realm.

Software testing teams are up for taking full advantage of Artificial Intelligence by:

• Improving test automation strategies that hit the pain right on point.
• Detecting issues with the help of analytics and analysis.
• Keeping with the pace to reduce the time to market.
• Prioritizing the tasks to streamline the process.

That’s just the tip of the huge iceberg that AI is.

Optimizing test suites and ensuring the best test coverage is another feature of AI-based testing technology that makes AI a happening trend in the quality assurance world.

Trend # 3: Performance Engineering is the New Performance Testing

Performance testing means measuring the capability and quality of a product under specific circumstances. So, performance testing is a vital part of quality assurance.

Question: Is performance testing the same as it was before?

Answer: No, not at all.

With so many available options in the market for the users, forget about capturing the market share if your product lacks speed, scalability, stability, and responsiveness. So, gone are the days when performance testing was done at the end of the product lifecycle. Now, performance testing has evolved to performance engineering, i.e., it’s performed throughout each stage of the development.

Performance engineering is embedded into the idea of checking the quality and potential of a product when the development is taking place to:

• Capture the possible issues at the beginning
• Prioritize key focus areas along with the process
• Minimize the possibility of re-doing work
• Create a market-ready product

So, performance engineering is taking over performance testing this year for all the right reasons.

Trend # 4: Big Data Testing is in the Game

Big data is an integral part of IoT-driven technologies, so no wonder that big data testing is becoming more and more essential.

Here is how big data testing can change the game for businesses:

• Helps in building informed marketing strategies
• Impact the ability to validate the information
• Drives data-driven, tentative decisions

So, if you are a huge company with a foot in the big data game, it’s time that your QA solutions should focus on it.

Trend # 5: Combination of Automation and Manual Testing

Now there is no need to think about whether you should go with automation testing or manual testing – a combination of both is the way to
go.

QA engineers have finally understood that automation and manual testing are not two rivals, ready to outclass each other. They are two peas in a pod, collectively making a pod – a POD.

Quality assurance is impossible without manual testing because some aspects of testing are impossible with automation. Whereas automation is also important to scale the project and cut down on time and labor. That’s where the new idea has emerged: the combination of automation and manual testing. And this is going strong in QA trends!

The future of quality assurance is bright – new and refined technologies, practices, resources, and devices are entering into the realm for all the right reasons. This changed situation is promising enough and bound to
change the fate of the product market with faster, better, and greater QA
solutions!

So, if you are not riding on the waves of changed quality assurance practices and solutions, it’s time that you start it now.