3 Latest trends in Software and Mobile QA Testing

Over the years, several testing trends have evolved to improve the quality of QA testing. On one hand, there are companies trying to integrate the method of testing in the development cycle itself with testing tools like Agile. In such cases, companies have to establish a Testing Center of Excellence (TCOE) for coordinating testing methodologies with various development tools to build products. Likewise, there is another trend towards independent testing methods either through crowd-sourced testers or third-party firm testers. Independent testing offers greater coverage at a lesser price than hiring an in-house QA testing team.

There are different factors that have driven the split in QA testing techniques. One of the primary reasons is that the percentage of budget dedicated to QA training and testing is rising really fast.

QA Testing and Mobile Development

The mobile market is one of the prominent factors driving QA testing and development. Mobile devices are now an important part of digital development strategies of various organizations. However, many businesses simply lack testing specialists, consistent methodologies, and tools required for effective development. Proper QA trained professionals are needed for these jobs.

Although the growth of mobile market is not new; the industry has skyrocketed over the years as consumers are not ready to spend more time on more than one device and consume only mobile content. It was only in 2014 that the gap between software QA resources and business interest were elaborately defined.

Security is also one of the key considerations testing mobile devices. With a large number of mobile devices interacting and using the Internet, safety remains a top issue of concern QA testing without compromising the wireless access and mobility that enables these devices.

Increase use of mobiles, however, remains the future trend for consumers, but businesses have to develop some effective procedures for testing to achieve test coverage.

Cloud Testing and Cloud Development

There are varied predictions about the growth of cloud. While some forecasts say that there could 36 percent growth of software to be hosted on cloud, others have a different say. Businesses now demand effective QA testing techniques for cloud computing services such as PaaS, Iaas, and SaaS.

Trends to Set In

• Integrated Testing: More than half of the companies in the World Quality Report have integrated testing in the later part of the development lifecycle. This usually leads to commit to bigger in-house QA integration. However, TCOEs is popular, and it allows IT departments to standardize different methods of testing, compile metrics, and automate processes. Agile testing method is one of the most popular. These integrating procedures are turned into reality by unique automation tools. While regression testing was the limitation for automation, it can now be utilized in loading and unit testing. Many businesses report that testing throughout the development cycle can ensure greater theoretical reliability; in practice, however, such integration can make QA teams more vulnerable to schedules and interests of businesses and could hinder testing.


• Independent Software Testing: QA testing is expensive, which puts a lot of pressure on businesses. Independent testing is likely to enjoy an annual growth of 9.5% until 2018, as per reports. According to NASSCOM, much of this increased business is likely to go offshore, and India might receive the greatest share. Whilst most companies might want to cut cost with the third-party firms, quality of those firms are debatable. Because it is tough to determine the functions and effectiveness of testing method, cost becomes the primary factor in case of outsourced testing.


• Crowdsourced Testing: Crowd testing has become popular since 2013, and this trend still continues. It allows businesses to reduce costs by paying only for effective methods of testing. There are several companies that offer crowdsourcing on any bounty system, thereby enabling business play just for the bugs discovered and issues resolved. It also boosts effectiveness of testing methodologies as testers have incentives for boosting the rate of success rather than wasting their IT budget. Moreover, Crowdsourcing also delivers solution to fragmentation and localization, thus giving businesses an ample testing coverage without limiting the development cycles.