QA and digital transformation in the COVID-19 era

QA is evolving from serving as an independent function within software delivery organizations to become an integral and inclusive part of the team and delivery lifecycle as digital transformation efforts expand. QA pros are no longer solely responsible for testing and finding defects, but now must take pains to ensure that the rest of the software delivery team instills quality in their work, according to World Quality Report 2020-21 (WQR).

But those QA teams are also being asked to do a lot more with much less. That has forced them to innovate and become more efficient, and they're having to adjust to new ways of working as a result of the global COVID-19 pandemic.

image: businessillustrator.com

Here are some highlights from the report that QA teams need to know.

Agile, DevOps adoption is steadily increasing

Agile and DevOps adoption continues to increase, also boosted by COVID-19, and digital transformation efforts are also up. This is pushing QA to speed up and optimize testing within agile and DevOps development, and 40% of respondents said that nearly one-third of their project effort is devoted to testing.

There are significant regional variations, though: only 4% of UK respondents devote more than one-third of their project effort to testing, while almost half of US respondents do.

Interest in AI in testing is increasing

Almost 90% of respondents claim that testing with AI and testing of AI are the biggest areas of growth planned in their organizations, and 80% intend to increase the number of AI-based trials and proofs of concept.

When QA organizations evaluate their tool sets, they are adding AI as a key criterion, according to 86% of respondents.

While this sounds high, it might be expected to be even higher, the report authors state. But this can be explained by regional variations, such as the relatively low number of Japanese respondents, only 60% of whom consider AI when selecting new QA solutions.

Pressure on QA budgets has increased

The proportion of budget allocated to QA has continued to fall, from a peak of 35% in 2015 to just 22% this year. That means that as digital business grows, organizations must become more efficient, especially in sectors such as retail, e-commerce, and healthcare.

This year, COVID-19 has had a direct economic impact and increased QA teams' remit. With new projects being put on hold, IT spend has been reduced, and QA budgets have been affected.

Automation is gaining momentum

The trend toward test automation continues to escalate, with 68% of respondents saying that they have the automation tool sets that they need, and 63% saying they have enough time to build and maintain automated tests.

But only 18% are automating their user acceptance tests and unit testing. While that's an increase of 3% over last year, the overall test automation rate of 15% leaves considerable room for improvement.

This year's report also shows an increase in benefits from test automation, such as better control and transparency of test activities, and a reduction in test cycle time. Nevertheless, only 37% of respondents claimed an ROI in automation, perhaps because of maintenance efforts, which could be offset by more adoption of AI and scriptless automation tools.

Pandemic accelerated DX, normalized working from home

The most powerful impact of the pandemic has been on legacy organizations that hadn't yet made the move to the cloud. That made it hard for employees to work from home, especially in the manufacturing and financial service sectors. Others, particularly in industry sectors such as brick-and-mortar retailers, were forced to pivot to online sales.

Enterprises with supply chains are intensifying their digital transformation programs and migrating to new architectures such as SAP S/4HANA, the report says.

A successful digital transformation depends on the contribution of QA. The global pandemic has pressed organizations to accelerate their digital transformation initiatives. The result is that organizations are reevaluating their approach to QA, increasing their adoption of cloud infrastructures, and putting extra emphasis on security. If your enterprise needs to maintain, improve and build new cloud infrastructure or improve QA, contact us.

source: Techbeacon