Why Automation Testing is Important in 2021

Last updated on June 23rd, 2022 at 04:25 am

Trends That Highlight the Benefits of Automated Testing

The past few months were a turning point for many businesses. Millions of people lost their jobs due to COVID-19. There was a sudden global shift in labor markets all over the world.

Possibly one of the most noteworthy changes in the pandemic’s effect on IT, automation, and remote work. More and more companies have decided to switch to fully remote operations for the sake of employees’ health and business continuity.

With these changes also come changes in the way people consume goods and services. More people are staying at home. The only way that companies and enterprises can interact with their customers is with apps and software systems. And it’s becoming increasingly hard for businesses to avoid or postpone their digital transformation.

Consequently, all of these changes also increased the demand for software testing. This is where automation testing comes in.

Why Is Automation Testing Important?

Automation testing is the use of tools and platforms to execute software tests during software development. It allows testers and developers to leave the most redundant and repetitive parts of software testing to machines.

Though not meant to completely replace manual testing, automated testing has proven that it could help cut costs, improve feedback cycles, increase productivity, and produce reliable test results.

Software testing trends for 2021 highlight these benefits even more. 

Automation Testing Trends in 2021

Modern problems require modern solutions. The software testing problems we’re facing this 2021 are helping shape up ingenious software testing solutions too. Get ahead of the curve by familiarizing yourself with these top trends in automation testing:

#1: Codeless Automation Testing

Gone were the days when automation testing required testers to have an in-depth and working knowledge of software programming. Many testers nowadays can find success in automation testing even without programming skills.

There is a low learning curve with codeless automation testing. You can get started with testing without having to learn testing frameworks. You can “write” test cases without the knowledge of the tool’s underlying technologies. Record and playback features are getting more popular.

#2: AI and ML for Testing Automation

Tools using artificial intelligence, machine learning, and natural language processing are on the rise too. Investments in AI technologies and ML apps have been steadily increasing over the past years, and the trend will continue through 2021 and beyond.
Many automation testing services right now already have the ability to learn user behavior and predict the types of tests they need to run. Self-healing and adaptive waits are becoming more common.

In the past, most automated testing focused on regression and smoke tests — in other words, pass/fail tests. Nowadays, test automation platforms can even help with analytics and provide suggestions for improvements.

#3: Even More Interest in Big Data

Information is an invaluable asset for businesses. Companies that can make sense of big data have bright futures ahead of them. After all, they already know their target audiences.

Private and public entities are getting more interested in big data, and with it comes an interest in big data testing.

Market research and big data analytics can only have reliable results when the original data sets are valid and accurate. In short, the quality of reports depends on the quality of the original structured or unstructured data. Hence, the growing need for big data testing.

#4: Teams Transformation to Agile and DevOps

Transforming traditional software development and I/O teams to DevOps shortens the SDLC and makes for faster and more reliable releases of apps and software programs. Agile methodologies answer the problem of people’s fast-changing needs.

In whatever case, there is a high demand for fast and high-quality QA testing. Automated tests are highly important in the quick delivery of quality apps, products, and services.

Though very few development teams utilize a fully automated testing approach, most already have some form of automated tests. Development teams are looking forward to integrating more automated tests in their test suites, so the demand for better automation testing solutions won’t dwindle in the coming years.

#5: Shift-Left and Shift-Right Testing

The shift-left approach to testing shifts the development and application of test processes earlier on in the SDLC. The idea is that the earlier you test software, the earlier and the easier it would be to find bugs and fix them. Testing is usually done in parallel with development and before release.

The shift-right approach, on the other hand, is testing done to monitor and update apps in production. Instead of just handing out the responsibility of product testing to the Ops team, software testers are being expected to perform these tests too.

Both shift-left and shift-right approaches have their merits, and they aren’t meant to be mutually exclusive. Testers should take advantage of both approaches, using the shift-left approach to make apps of higher quality and using the shift-right approach to provide better customer experiences.

#6: Cloud-Based Cross-Browser Testing

In 2020, Google announced its shift to mobile-first indexing. Every single website published after July 1, 2019, will be indexed based on its mobile version, and every website published before that date will all be moved… well, eventually. They even released their best practices here.

The shifting focus to mobile-friendlier apps and websites has started years ago, and it seems to have become the standard. The mobile-first approach to app and website development is what drove the development of cloud-based cross-browser testing.

Cloud-based cross-browser testing helps execute tests on different mobile device platforms without the need to invest in large testing infrastructures. Such platforms usually combine AI and codeless automated testing too.

Conclusion

Automated testing has become more than just a nice-to-have — it’s a necessity. These 2021 automation testing trends prove just how important automated testing is:

• Codeless automation testing saves time – Testers are spending less time coding and learning testing frameworks and more time improving software features because of codeless automation testing.
• AI and ML for testing automation provide more reliable results– Interest and investments in AI technologies paved the way for test automation tools that provide more accurate results in less time.
• Big data testing makes for more accurate market analysis – Testing big data for accuracy and reliability will improve market research and help companies provide better customer-centric products and services.
• The rise in the number of Agile and DevOps teams means more and higher-quality apps in less time – Delivering high-quality apps quicker is made possible with automated testing.
• Shift-left and shift-right testing improve app quality and user experience – More testing responsibilities would’ve meant needing more people on the testing team, but test automation means testers could even lend a hand to Ops teams in testing in prod environments.
• Cloud-based cross-browser testing saves money – Eliminating the need to set up large testing infrastructures can help companies and development teams save on costs.