What makes automated testing more reliable than the manual? Benefits of automated testing
With advanced technology, it’s becoming challenging for various organizations to manage the quality of their software products. In most cases, the testing process misses out on the attention it deserves because of the limited window in agile development and costs.
There are generally two major software testing methods that you can use to improve the features of your application. It can either be automated testing or manual testing. In the automated testing approach, there is a great use of various tools that are meant for either specific or multiple purposes. On the other end, manual testing is mostly done by human testers with limited capacity to ensure high test coverage. Software test automation saves a lot of time and company resources as it’s very effective, while manual testing is less effective as it’s prone to human errors. Automated testing can handle a relatively more complex testing process than manual testing.
Here are the benefits of the automated testing
Shift-left testing can be done better
One of the major advantages of the automated testing approaches is that shift-left testing can be done better. This is part of the continuous testing that shows which testing phase should be incorporated into the software development life cycle. So, you will be able to understand the test cases that you should incorporate right from the phase of gathering requirements to early bug detection.
Effortless regression testing
Regression testing checks whether the added features are interfering with the functionality of the different elements of the software application. If done manually, this process can be time-consuming because the testers have to create the same test scripts repeatedly. Investing in automated testing for regression testing will reduce congestion in the release cycle.
Performing multiple tests on different platforms
When developing your software application, you need cross-browser compatibility on different browsers, operating systems, hardware, and networks. Performing this test requires you to create countless test cases. In this case, the innumerable benefits of the automated testing approach cannot be overlooked. You can execute thousands of test cases simultaneously.
Better smoke testing
Smoke testing helps you to avoid outages, and it’s recommended that you do it with automated tools. This testing squeezes the tester’s bandwidth, which is why automated testing is considered. You can build automated test cases based on random test case scenarios. Some benefits of automated smoke testing include identifying defects in the early stages, improving system quality, and reducing the integration risks.
Reusability of the test scripts
For continuous software development testing, there is the benefit of reusing test scripts. Creating effective scripts takes time and a lot of effort. Imagine how it will feel writing the same scripts over and over again! This is likely to leave you mentally exhausted, which is why automation testing is better than manual testing. When using this method, you only write scripts once and reuse them repeatedly as you like.
You can easily maximize test coverage
Every company out there is looking forward to maximizing the test coverage. Even though manual testing brings you quality test cases, the number of cases you can cover is limited, and you will struggle to achieve 100% test coverage when dealing with complex website applications. With automated testing, you can maximize the test coverage. The tools used in the automation testing process ease the process by ensuring that you can cover many databases, UI, and web services.
Easy analysis of test cases
In manual testing, you will have to keep communicating with the other scriptwriters manually to know the number of test scripts written and how they have been written. The whole process is often cumbersome and will often lead to dependency on each task being performed. With the automation testing, testers can view each other’s work and see how the scripts have been written.
You can schedule your test execution 24/7
Scheduling test execution 24/7 is very beneficial to the company. It leads to more test coverage within a short timeframe. There is a lot of flexibility in executing testing at any time and from any part of the world. Unlike the manual testing process, you don’t have to carry your computer or laptop everywhere. Comfort is very crucial when traveling. With automated testing, you can schedule the test case execution to run at any hour of the day from your remote location.
Maximizing returns on investment
With repetitive testing, it takes a lot of time to launch a product to the target customers using the manual testing approach. An automated testing approach can help shorten the time it takes to launch a bug-free product. The license cost for the automation tool is less than hiring many testers to perform the test cases.
Conclusion
Automation testing is increasingly becoming popular in different countries worldwide. This is due to the overall efficiency of the tools used in this process. Many benefits accrue to companies that are using automated testing to perform their test cases. In general, you will increase your revenue, reduce testing time, increase test coverage and reduce the number of errors in your testing process.
