The QA industry market is constantly evolving. According to GMInsight, its value will increase to $40 billion by 2027. This industry growth is due to increased interest in ensuring the quality of IT solutions for entrepreneurs and developers.
Testing digital products beforehand solves most of the problems that could theoretically arise after releasing an app or web solution. Depending on the methods, tools, and strategies, the quality of the project can be improved up to the complete absence of bugs and errors. The QA industry is divided into 2 main approaches: manual and automated. Each of them has its disadvantages and advantages. Today we will take a closer look at both options and determine which one is better and whether they can be combined to achieve the best result.
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Importance of QA Services for Development
CBInsights statistics state that about 8% of startups related to the IT segment fail due to poor digital product quality. It is quite simply explained by the reluctance of entrepreneurs to spend additional resources on QA outsourcing. Such savings usually result in problems when the product is released to the mass market. They usually manifest themselves in negative app user reviews, refund requests, or anti-advertising.
App testing solves most of the problems associated with:
Poor performance.
Interface errors.
Poor adaptability.
Broken features.
Incorrect request processing.
Poor integrations.
Each of these problems can turn out to be the final nail in the box that tightly closes users’ entry into an IT product and its entry into the market. That is why QA services are essential when developing any digital solution, from a banal website to a hybrid end-to-end cloud platform.
There are 2 common testing models: manual and automated. They differ in approach, resource costs, and, accordingly, cost. We bring a small comparison of these types of testing to your attention, which will answer most of the questions that arise regarding choosing one of them.
Challenges of Each Type of Testing
Both types of outsourced QA testing are effective, but sometimes there are challenges that can only be solved by combining them. For example, manual testing is monotonous and repeatable, and it is necessary to perform the process several times in a row to achieve a result. Wouldn’t it be better to automate it and switch to other tasks? Let’s take a closer look.
Challenges that arise during manual testing:
The time cost of repeating the same operation with different inputs. For example, if we are testing a function where the value must respond to a certain range of data, there is a chance of missing a bug even with a selective test. And sometimes, hundreds of such repetitions are required.
Working with multiple copies of the app for different platforms. When you need to test the same function or element on various platforms, this process stretches for a long time. There are only two ways out: hire more testers or automate the process.
The human factor influence on the result. It is a manual input error that can lead to the bug being not detected in time, and the function turns out to be broken and not fixed in the final builds. This will entail additional costs to fix the IT solution.
Despite all the flaws, manual testing is beneficial in some cases. For example, when you need to check one or more functions, interface elements, or code with a minimum number of conditions and factors affecting the result.
Automation Challenges:
Preparing Scripts for Testing. It is with writing scripts and commands that automation begins. It is performed both directly during the sprints and before they start. Often scripts need to be prepared before development begins.
Specialist skill requirements. An ordinary tester is not trained to manage the algorithms of automated test environments. This work often involves experts from the development department who can use a programming language to create scripts.
The need for an abundance of tools. The technical aspects of automation require different frameworks and test environments to implement scenarios. For example, testing tools for desktop, mobile, and web apps are entirely different.
Already, the coverage of test cases by automation is about 90%, but the coverage will be complete in the future. Both the rapid development of the QA industry and the challenges that need to be addressed with innovative methods contribute to this.
Benefits of Automation Testing
Covering test cases with modern testing tools allows you to disperse the resources of test automation outsourcing executors to solve problems by delegating routine processes to algorithms. This allows specialists to focus on non-trivial problems and gives them time to solve them. Automation also minimizes the risk of missing critical bugs and ensures the proper level of IT resource quality.
Advantages:
Almost complete coverage of test cases.
Large selection of test environments and platforms.
A wide arsenal of available tools.
Minimizing the chances of missing bugs.
Reducing the number of routine processes.
Ability to parallelize tests for all platforms.
Automation allows getting rid of the manual repetition of the same action under different circumstances. After spending some time, a QA expert from QA outsourcing companies can write all the action variations in one script and run it after looping. As a result, they will receive a report or an array of data that will describe the entire process and the app’s reactions to certain actions in detail. This really speeds up the work of testers and improves the final quality of the digital product.
Benefits of Manual Testing
Traditional manual testing is the backbone of the QA industry. Standard methods and techniques have not changed much, although they fully adapted to the current Agile methodology. Although this testing is losing popularity, it is still one of the QA spheres in demand in the labor market. With due diligence and thoroughness of checks, the effectiveness of manual testing is almost identical to automated, although it takes more time and effort from performers.
Advantages of manual testing:
Can be done spontaneously when needed.
Each test case is described detailed, and a report is compiled as a result.
Selective urgent testing of individual functions or elements.
Fits perfectly into sprint schedules.
Allows you to check single cases.
Does not require special skills from performers.
Manual testing is the foundation of the entire QA industry and should not be neglected. While full hyper-automation is only a dream, manual tests are necessary to ensure the highest possible quality of digital products.
What Is More Effective: Manual or Automation QA
The dilemma of choosing between manual and automated testing is still acute. Many entrepreneurs try to give preference to only one method, forgetting that they complement each other and comprehensively solve all the tasks.
Rapid detection of bugs is possible only by combining all the available elements. For example, if testing is parallelized and automated, then the specialist has enough free time to test individual functions, integrations, and interfaces manually. Thus, by the time the current script is closed, it is possible to check almost all the finished code for operability.
In terms of efficiency, automatic testing is a clear winner. It covers almost all test cases and optimizes resource consumption. And such types of testing, for example, regression, functional, or interface in modern realities, are challenging to carry out manually. This is due to a large number of repetitive actions and parameters that should be checked.
Examples of Testing Types and the Feasibility of Their Automation
Let’s consider the basic types of testing that are used in almost any development of all types of apps. Their common feature is a large number of processes and actions that experts need to perform to most effectively identify bugs.
End-to-End Testing
Scenarios based on simulating real user actions are the best way to identify major problems and bugs. To implement this type of testing, it is automation that is most often used because it allows the most efficient use of available resources and fully covers the entire range of quality assurance tasks related to user experience. Some tests are still performed manually, but such operations make up no more than 10% of the entire process and are focused on quickly checking individual elements.
Interface Testing
Regardless of the type of app and the platform on which it is built, interface testing works best in an automated manner. There are several reasons for this:
Most tests can be scripted.
Scripts can be run in parallel on different platforms.
A detailed log allows you to track the stability of a product recall.
You can test each button long and hard, enter different values in fields, or perform other actions, but it’s much easier and faster to automate scenarios with scripts and run them cyclically. Cloud platforms are used to reduce the load on the working device, which provides opportunities for parallelizing tests.
Acceptance Testing
Each test suite element that includes acceptance testing is already being automated. This type is focused on comparing the actual performance and functionality with the desired one. At this very stage, automation plays a key role because manually testing all the app components is long and very problematic.
Functional Testing
This type of QA service implies thorough testing of both individual elements of the app and their interaction as a whole. A very costly kind of testing, in which automation is indispensable. Scenarios and scripts allow you to quicken the process of finding bugs dozens of times by parallelizing efforts for different platforms simultaneously.
Load Testing
Stress testing of each element and the entire system is impossible without the use of scripts that automate and loop certain actions. These include even a repeated request to the server with a frequency of 1-15 ms, which can reveal problems with processing data or respond directly to the back-end part of the app. The same goes for performance. It is measured by performing repeated actions in a limited period. Basically, this testing can be carried out manually, but the efficiency will be much higher with automation.
Summarizing
Manual and automated testing go hand in hand in a modern, full-fledged QA process. They compensate for each other’s flaws and allow you to check the “blind zones” of a particular tool. Together they form an effective bundle that covers all test needs and solves the tasks. If you decide on a full-fledged complex testing of your app, we will help! Contact the company manager for advice, and leave testing tasks to professionals!
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