Beat the competition and improve business outcomes – test driven development

Being in the software vending business, I have learned from personal experience that testing is the single most important concern in the product development process as a whole because this is essentially what determines the quality of the outcome. There is no room for compromise here because sub-standard testing processes can lead to infrastructure and enterprise breakdowns, lower consumer satisfaction and higher business risk, all of which can be disastrous for any enterprise. Having understood the importance of having uniform testing priorities across the organization, I found that test driven development proved to be a most effective business practice and one that gave my enterprise the best chances of success. If the product development process is simultaneously supported by independent testing services, there are many benefits that you can enjoy. First, the laborious and time consuming process is effectively detached from the main development process and this can drastically reduce the “time to market” factor while at the same time ensuring no compromise in the quality of the product developed because test results are incorporated in the development process in a continuous basis.

Test driven development also reduces the risk of a software product being behind the times because the changes in the market requirements are effectively gauged in the testing process and the development is guided towards catering to these changes in the market scenario. The challenge of catering to changing consumer needs is effectively solved because the development team is constantly clued in with the changing trends. This leaves very little to chance and drastically reduces the risk involved. Fast emerging trends like cloud and mobility are also largely responsible for the rapid changes in market demand and testing that incorporates these trends too is the most effective. I have discovered that rather than utilize resources for the process, it makes better sense to take on an independent testing consultancy/service provider so that your enterprise is free to concentrate on the core processes while these essential support processes are provided seamlessly by an external service provider. This improves the cost efficiency of the business by nothing less than 30% to 40%. No wonder even giants in the market like Fortune 500 companies utilize this solution as the most efficient business practice!

Always In Vogue- Model Based Testing

The business of software development is complicated and challenging to say the least! The biggest challenge faced by entrepreneurs owning ISVs, like me, irrespective of whether the business is big or small, is the “time to market” factor. Intrinsic to the development process itself is the process of testing which is vital to ensure quality of the end product and consumer satisfaction. One factor common to all forms of testing is being aware, with complete clarity, of what needs to be accomplished by the end product. Model based testing or MBT is also no different when it comes to this factor. First a mental model is formed in the minds of the testers before further steps can be taken and the actual testing process can be executed. Simplistic though this sounds, it is not a trivial process at all because modern systems have complex interfaces and even more complicated functionalities. Moreover the software is deployed within vast operating systems and among a myriad of other applications, so the number of factors affecting the outcome of the end product can be mind boggling. Now imagine forming a mental working model with all these factors included!

Model basedtesting was not only used effectively in the past but is also currently in use in the present and will not go out of fashion in the future simply because of its versatile and all encompassing nature. The entire system and what the specific software being developed will do within the system is viewed as a single model or a series of smaller models and the testing procedure is largely based on these models. Thus MBT is both basic in nature and complicated too and it lends itself with great versatility to any scenario. There are no software models which function as a “one size fits all” and every situation demands a unique model. This is why testers following MBT should be thoroughly knowledgeable about the systems and the functionality of the end product and also the end users. This will enable them to choose the right models for executing the testing process efficiently and getting the most accurate results.

My take on mobile test automation

Mobility is the new keyword to success in today’s market scenario and this concept has completely transformed how businesses function. Gone are the days when you could only work sitting at your office desk. Now, thanks to mobility based solutions, you can even work when you are away on holiday! This has not only increased employee productivity a great deal because it does not limit workspaces but it has also improved efficiency a great deal because this freedom to work from anywhere does wonders for employee morale. Having said this, I barely need to say how much importance and impetus is given to developing mobile enterprise application solutions. One of the biggest challenges faced during the development process is the time consumed by the testing phase because testing is a repetitive and time consuming process. The best way to overcome this challenge in the development of mobility based applications is through mobile test automation. The process of automating testing is made easy because of the evolution of open source test automation tools.

I know from personal experience that to make the best of mobile test automation, it is wise to take on a technology service provider or testing service partner because things get easier all around when this process is outsourced and out of your immediate focus. That way you will not lose focus on your core business and at the same time this vital process also takes place with no compromise. There are many test automation tools available like Ex.Cucumber, Ranorex, Selenium, Win Runner, QTP, Test Complete, Test Partner and so on. When you are choosing to outsource to a testing service provider, always ensure that you choose an expert and specialist service provider which can work with equal competency whatever the automation tool that needs to be used. This will give you the advantage of undertaking cross-platform development projects without worries about testing complications. When it comes to the process of implementing automation for testing processes, current development trends like continuous integration, behavior driven testing and test driven development also play a very important and crucial role so these trends must be considered and given due weight during the implementation process.

How the right database administration partnership improved my business

Having owned and run a medium size enterprise for more than three decades now, I have been witness to many changes in business processes and markets. But never before has change taken such rapid steps as it is doing now. I attribute these rapid changes in how businesses are run and the changes in the market scenario to the rapid progress of technology. What used to take us about ten people to handle a few years ago can now be handled by a single system which is fully automated. All it takes is one person to operate the system and tasks are completed in a fraction of the time it would take ten people to complete it! Such is the progress in every field! I too had to embrace a database management system or DBMS as part of my business practice to keep pace with the changing times but I was very apprehensive about this because I had no idea about how to set up and run such systems. I also had apprehensions about expanding my team to include expert personnel who could set up and run such systems because I did not want to increase my overheads. This is when I came across the term databaseadministration.

I found out that it was possible to outsource the database administration to an external technical service provider and this proved a huge relief for me. Rather than having to hire my own team at a much higher cost and spend precious resources on managing an in-house DBA team, I found that this solution worked rather well for my specific needs. I how have a technical consultancy service which takes care of the entire set up and provides the right solutions for all my business needs. This also gives me valuable free time and resources which I can concentrate on the core competency of my company, which is getting and keeping clients! Outsourcing has also proved to be a more cost effective option for me. It can get rather expensive and take a toll on overhead costs if you choose to maintain an in-house department, so I am very satisfied with the solution I found!

How my enterprise grew- the advantages of test driven development

I own an Independent Software Vending firm and a few years ago, the market demand pattern changed so rapidly that my firm was left struggling to survive. This was the same situation experienced by a number of ISV’s at that time and I realized that to come of this problem I would have to change my business models and adopt a different approach to work. The business mantra that was being repeated often during this time was “focus on core competencies”. Upon analyzing this phrase, I came to realize that outsourcing whatever was taxing my developers was the best approach to take and I could reduce operational and developmental costs by outsourcing repetitive but vital and time consuming jobs like testing. This realization also opened up new possibilities for my business, namely, testdriven development. This meant that my development process could be boosted by more frequent testing cycles, improved testing efficiency and reduced time to deployment.

 

Test driven development meant that any problems could be fixed at a relatively early stage in the development process. The overall mindset of my enterprise transformed due to the business outcome based testing and this meant greatly reduced operational costs for my company too. Another huge advantage that I enjoyed by outsourcing to the right testing service provider was that the efficiency of the testing process was greatly increased and the time that was being consumed when testing had to be done in-house was saved. This also meant real and significant reduction in the “time to market” of the product which is what really matters because taking too long to release the product would mean disaster. Because testing efficiency was improved, we also enjoyed a lesser defect leakage ratio and this also contributed to a significant reduction in operational costs. The technical partner service that I chose for my testing needs offers testing consultancy, testing services and testing related solutions too. This three pronged approach compartmentalizes the services provided effectively and you get the freedom to choose only what assistance you need. This also helps to keep operational costs minimized. Overall, all I want to say is outsourcing to the right service provider solved all my problems and put my enterprise on the fast track to growth!