The one area that has seen significant innovation in recent years is mobile app testing, and this trend will likely continue in 2023 as global organizations look to optimize their development process and deliver high-quality products to their customers. However, as the world continues to grapple with the economic downturn, global enterprises tend to make huge budget cuts and lay off some vital human resources to tackle the financial constraints. With these drastic steps, global companies may lose the service of some critical premium tools and human resources, which are extremely necessary for perfecting the digital experiences of apps. With the lack of these services, companies can lead to delivering poor digital and customer experiences, which, in turn, may impact companies’ loyal customer base. So, it is critical for global companies to understand the latest mobile app testing trends in the market to prepare a strategy that helps them to remain afloat in challenging economic situations.
This blog highlights the important trends in mobile app testing to look out for in 2023 to tackle the current economic downturn.
Important Mobile App Testing Trends in 2023
1. AI- and Data Science-based App Testing for Cost Reduction
Artificial intelligence and data science are the latest advanced technologies that use predictive models to identify and analyze different features of applications for testing and preparing accurate test plans. This testing type can be used to identify and fix performance and functional issues, improve user and customer experience, and optimize app performance. In 2023, data science can be a popular technology used in mobile app testing to analyze large sets of data and get actionable insights. These technologies can help both developers and testers to understand how users interact with the app and identify areas for improvement. Also, with the recession challenges, such as employee shortage and budget constraints, advanced technologies, like AI and data science, can help global companies perform QA processes for complex systems with minimum human resources, reduce costs, and improve the accuracy of app testing.
2. Shift Left Testing for Reducing the Time to Market
Shift left testing is the testing approach used by organizations in which various testing procedures are moved to an earlier stage in the software development lifecycle. The main focus of the shift left strategy is to identify and resolve problems as early as possible in the development process, which can help global companies reduce the time-to-market. With the looming threat of the economic downturn, shift left testing of apps can be useful for reducing the time to market and improving profitability. With this strategy, companies can avoid costly rework and delays later in the development cycle. In addition to decreasing the time to market, the shift left testing strategy can help improve the overall quality of products, in turn increasing customer satisfaction and loyalty. Adopting shift left testing in app development can aid global enterprises in tackling economic downturns and emerge stronger when the economy recovers.
3. Scriptless Automation Testing to Reduce Human Involvement
Scriptless automation testing tools offer a powerful interface for enterprises to develop automation suites without writing any scripts. The current global economic situation will tempt global enterprises to reduce their workforce and increase the use of automation. These automation testing tools can record the QA experts' actions while navigating applications to generate different tests required for different functionalities. The major benefits for global enterprises of using scriptless automation testing are:
Reduction in the cost of automation and generating a good ROI
Ease of use and installation
Flexibility in reusing test cases in various scenarios
Faster time to market
Minimal human involvement
Although scriptless automation testing is an option, companies are also trying to allot these functions to their lower-skilled employees to manage their existing workforce.
4. Cloud App Testing for Efficient Testing of Complex Apps
Cloud app testing enables developers and QA experts to test their applications on a wide range of devices and operating systems without the need to purchase and maintain these devices physically. This type of testing can help companies save time and resources and allow QA teams to quickly and easily ensure that their apps are compatible with a wide range of devices. Also, cloud app testing has the ability to easily scale testing resources as needed, thus, making it suitable for both small and large development teams. Using a cloud app testing tool, organizations can perform real-time testing and easily track and analyze testing results through the testing platform. Cloud app testing’s convenience and cost-effectiveness make it an attractive option for many enterprises worldwide, and it is expected that its adoption will continue to grow in the coming year as well.
5. Geolocation Testing for Enhancing App Performance Worldwide
As rules and regulations across various geographies are different, QA teams of global organizations have to ensure that they test their apps in compliance with local regulations so that their users do not encounter any legal issues. Apart from legal issues, app performance also may differ according to location. So, it is important for companies to test their apps in various parts of the world. Geolocation testing enables companies to perform the evaluation of the geolocation capabilities of applications and ensure their apps deliver consistent performance worldwide. Most companies perform geolocation testing with geolocation spoofing, like VPN, which is not always a great solution as real device geolocation testing. With real device geolocation testing, enterprises can also improve the efficiency of their QA teams without having a physical presence in different parts of the world.
Why is HeadSpin Critical for Enterprises Adopting the Latest App Testing Trends?
With the rapid evolution in the mobile app testing industry, it is crucial for organizations to adopt the latest testing trends in 2023. HeadSpin can help global companies not only adopt the latest mobile testing trends but also effectively apply them throughout their application development cycle. Here are the major features of the HeadSpin Platform that can help global companies seamlessly adopt the latest mobile app testing trends and tackle economic downturns effectively.
1. Seamless CI/CD Integration
While adopting the latest technologies and trends in the market, seamless CI/CD integration is important to perform all test cases. The HeadSpin Platform supports all open test frameworks available in the testing industry. Using the Platform, enterprises can verify new builds, execute tests, and collect insights into the performance regression of their apps. By seamlessly integrating CI/CD with the HeadSpin Platform, organizations can empower their QA teams by improving the time-to-market and proactively identifying all errors.
2. AI-based Testing and Data Science Insights
The HeadSpin Platform enables organizations to test their apps with its AI capabilities and collect data science insights into their apps' performance. Using these actionable insights, companies can create strategies and take the required steps to improve their apps' performance and user experience. The Platform will help QA teams collect insights, like time series, session videos, issue cards, and packet-level details, to identify problems proactively. With HeadSpin's AI-based testing and data science insights, enterprises can develop and test their applications faster and gain an edge in the competitive market.
3. Global Testing
The HeadSpin Platform enables global companies to remotely execute automation testing on real devices and networks in 90+ locations worldwide with the help of HeadSpin's global device infrastructure. The global device infrastructure can help organizations save an enormous amount of money, as it is very costly for them to build and maintain a real device infrastructure. Thus, with the effective use of the HeadSpin Platform, the money spent for implementing automation testing by organizations can be reduced drastically.
4. Audio-Video Evaluation
With HeadSpin, enterprises can perform testing of apps, such as media, entertainment, gaming, and video conferencing, execute tests on OTT media devices, and run tests of DRM-protected content, voice activation, and speaker-based use cases. Enterprises can also understand how end users perceive their video content with the help of HeadSpin's video MOS. HeadSpin's audio-video evaluation can help global enterprises in perfecting their apps' digital experiences and improve customer loyalty.
Conclusion
In 2023, the economic downturn is expected to present a unique set of challenges for global organizations involved in app development and testing. However, by staying up-to-date on the major mobile app testing trends and utilizing tools and strategies such as AI-powered testing and cloud-based testing, app developers and testers can ensure the quality and success of their applications despite the challenging market conditions.
By choosing the best solution for testing their apps, HeadSpin’s customers have achieved the following outcomes:
68% less time spent on the QA process for new releases
90% reduction in the number of total production issues
30% quicker release cycles
60% faster in-app load times