Your organization has moved its HR or ERP applications to Oracle Cloud and are already experiencing a marked improvement in functionality and features. A large benefit of using cloud applications is their ability to frequently innovate and improve their performance. Unlike legacy applications that would infrequently receive upgrades, cloud applications are on a constant improvement path.
With each deployment of new functions and features in the application, testing is also required to ensure uninterrupted operations. Since the updates are coming out more often than legacy applications, the demands for increased frequency of testing is a reality. Old testing methods used for legacy applications, often manual, struggle to keep up with cloud applications frequent releases. The use of automation testing is how organizations keep up with their new testing requirements.
At its core, it is one application testing another application in an automated fashion, seeking outcomes against predicted results. When the predicted results are met, the test is successful. If the predicted results are not returned, then the software identifies a problem area for further research and remediation.
A recent report from Mordor Intelligence indicates that "the automation testing market is expected to grow at 14.2% CAGR during the forecast period from 2021 to 2026. ... With the continuous movement of software development to DevOps and other high-paced developments, there is a more frequent requirement to specify test environments to ensure that systems work efficiently."
The key word in this quote is DevOps. Generally speaking DevOps is the combination of software development and IT operations into a common set of practices. These practices have shared goals of quickly, efficiently and reliably deploying applications that maintain uninterrupted operations. These are also the core characteristics of cloud applications. Since more and more companies are subscribing to cloud applications, the demand for automation testing is increasing to meet the goals of DevOps that manufacture cloud applications. In turn, subscribers are also realizing that they need automation testing to maintain uninterrupted operations for their organization with the constant innovation coming from their cloud applications.
Here are 10 benefits most cited by leaders in the field of automation testing versus manual testing.
With a quick Google search you will see that there are many automation platforms available to purchase to achieve these benefits. Most of these offerings are aimed at manufacturers of software applications. And while the list of ten benefits cited above are extremely important to software manufacturers, they are as equally important to subscribers of complex cloud HR & ERP applications.
TaaS is offered by a service provider utilizing an automation testing platform, and provides to its customers testing services. TaaS allows organizations to essentially outsource their testing needs. Service providers often specialize in complex cloud applications like HR & ERP. They bring to the testing process not only the testing automation platform, but also a full library of test scripts and routines created specifically for your application. They maintain these libraries and stay up to-date with the frequent releases that come from the software manufacturer. They execute the automated testing and work to resolve failed test leading to faster deployment of the new releases.
The main benefit of TaaS is that your organization doesn't need to retain the personnel, infrastructure or knowledge to perform the testing function for your applications. The service provider has the ability to scale as your needs increase. They maintain the knowledge required to test the continuously changing cloud application. Organizations that elect to subscribe to TaaS often do not have large IT organizations or the in-house testing expertise required to support complex HR and ERP applications. They find that TaaS is a less expensive and more reliable solution than building out that capability internally.
Is your organization using automation testing? Are you able to quickly and confidently deploy cloud application's new releases to your organization? If not, you should talk to Drivestream regarding TestStream our TaaS offering.