We’re living in an as-a-service world. Anything you want, you can have, without paying significant upfront costs or even having to store it onsite.
Nowadays, almost anything can be as-a-service: platform, infrastructure, artificial intelligence, blockchain, desktop, unified communications, the list goes on and on. The driver and inspiration for much of this is software. So intrinsic is software-as-a-service to technology that these days it’s hard to imagine procuring and using software in any other way.
Thanks to this ubiquity, there can often be an assumption that building and delivering SaaS solutions isn’t hugely removed from building and providing classic on-premises software. And while there are certainly similarities, one markedly different area is testing.
Testing versus the need for speed
One of the reasons SaaS and as-a-service in general have proven so popular is that they fulfil businesses’ need for speed. Today, the popularity of phrases like first-mover advantage, go-to-market and minimum viable product highlight how critical it is for companies to get in front of their customers. SaaS fits with that demand, providing a way for teams to access the software they need rapidly, without drawn-out procurement processes and extensive implementation programs. Select, enter credit card details, access; as long as you’ve got an internet connection, you can get hold of powerful tools almost instantly.
But that means SaaS companies themselves are under pressure to be able to mirror that need for speed. New services need to be conceived, developed and deployed rapidly; if they don’t, a competitor will. It’s the same with updates and further iterations.
In such an environment, elements like testing get squeezed. That’s because testing is traditionally done when a product is complete, yet SaaS solutions tend to use agile methodology in development. Testing the entire product becomes problematic, with testing becoming a bottleneck that can throttle development and impact time-to-market.
Then there’s the increasing complexity of SaaS products. With new features, dynamic fields, media, and other forms of content requiring intricate coding and the data the solution generates, testing quickly becomes a minefield.
Using developers and users for testing
Many businesses look to their developers to provide the testing and quality control necessary. Yet while developers should be checking their work, at the end of the day, they are developers, not testers. It’s a different skill set and one that should not be overlooked when so many SaaS solutions live and die by the quality of their user experience. Plus, no one in any profession can check their own work as well as a fresh pair of eyes.
Other organisations turn to users. Again, there is a certain logic to this: gathering customer feedback is critical in the development lifecycle and, in a world of MVPs, can help shape and guide the direction of new products and offerings, often with great success. Yet there comes the point where users want something that works; if every update that ships has quality issues, users will eventually look for alternatives.
Automate for scale
So, what’s the answer? Automated testing. Specifically, artificial intelligence-powered test automation that allows quality assurance to be run alongside development. Humans are still involved, but whereas one person used to equal one test, now one QA specialist can run dozens if not hundreds of checks. Testers can monitor multiple projects while the AI assesses, learns and applies findings to the testing process. It allows small teams to accomplish much more at a much faster rate.
In this way, testing effectively mirrors the agile development of SaaS solutions, running alongside rather than being a bottleneck. Issues can be fixed on the move, not holding up the next stage.
The automated testing future
It’s true this didn’t use to be possible. Old versions of testing automation didn’t really work and certainly couldn’t handle the complexity of SaaS applications. Now, however, the AI is constantly evolving, keeping pace with new features and ensuring testing is conducted with rigour without hampering time to market.
And this is only going to become more advanced. We talked before about the ubiquity of SaaS; while that may have had an element of hyperbole, few would bet against SaaS becoming the default for all but the most complex and specialist of applications. That means that the use of test automation is going to grow as well. It has to – testing at the required scale is only possible with AI-fueled automation.
SaaS demands better testing
SaaS solutions are the enablers of today’s businesses. From start-ups to multinational enterprises, SaaS gives companies fast access to the tools they need. For SaaS companies, that means their products need to work well, otherwise competitors are waiting in the wings. Testing can help meet customers’ expectations by ensuring a high-quality product, but only if the way QA is deployed is aligned with how SaaS solutions are developed and delivered. Testing automation allows companies to provide outstanding services without hampering time to market.
