Your Automation Testing Tool Starter Pack

To borrow a phrase from the modern philosopher Homer Simpson, “Test automation is the cause of and solution to all of QA’s problems.” It is a difficult process to set up and adopt, but doing so properly will help improve your continuous testing across the board.

As the process of using software tools to automate test case execution, test automation is meant to verify the functionality of web and mobile applications. Automating complex, repetitive, and time-consuming tasks takes a great deal of pressure off testing teams that used to have to carry out these tasks manually.

You can automate almost any type of testing like functional, performance, and accessibility scenarios. The process starts by creating scripts that simulate user interactions with the application under test. Scripts are then executed by automation tools that can automatically run the tests and generate result reports.

Using Tools to Enable Automation

As mentioned above, many of these processes are driven by automation testing tools. These software applications are designed specifically to automate software testing processes. They are designed to execute test scripts (most often written by developers or testers) that verify application functionality.

Automation testing tools are primarily used to test web and mobile applications through desktop apps and APIS can be included as well. The tests performed by these tools include functional, performance, regression, accessibility, and load testing.

The Importance of Automation Testing Tools

Everyone in the software testing world wants to save time and increase efficiency. That is the first benefit enterprises will see when they automate the repetitive and time-consuming tasks usually reserved for manual testers. By performing tests with precision and consistency, these tools will also improve the accuracy and reliability of test results. Perhaps the most relevant aspect of these tools is the ability to identify defects early in the development process which saves both time and money. The outcome overall is better quality software and faster release velocity.

There are more scenarios where automation testing tools are essential. Let’s drill down.

• Continuous Delivery: The importance here is that automation testing tools enable you to test software changes with speed and reliability. This helps organizations deploy their updates more rapidly. If you did not have automated testing, the manual labor of testing would become a huge bottleneck that slows down your delivery pipeline and increases the risk of defects making it into production. With automation as part of your continuous delivery, you are making sure that teams quickly verify that software changes do not negatively affect a release which makes the process smoother. In fact, this immediate feedback on code quality helps developers adjust and iterate with speed.
• Software Development: Another common process that is aided by the introduction of test automation tools, because they help improve software quality while minimizing testing’s time and cost. It might seem obvious that automation testing tools can execute tests faster and with more consistency than manual processes, but it helps teams shift their testing left in the development cycle. The outcome of that is to help keep defects from production, which will eliminate downtime, and improve the organization’s reputation. These tools ensure that all aspects of the software are tested, increasing coverage dramatically.
• App Development & Security: The importance of automation testing tools here is to help ensure that web and mobile apps are developed with high quality and of course free of security vulnerabilities. As we mentioned above the ability to shift left and address defects before production is essential across the board. With security testing, this shift also extends to vulnerabilities and potential breaches, as developers are able to mitigate them before a bad actor gets their hands on the application. Improving app security is a surefire way to improve user trust and satisfaction.

Types of Automation Testing Tools

Depending on the scope and context of your testing, you might find yourself using one or more of these types of tools.

How to Use All of These Test Methods and Tools in 2023

Digital.ai Continuous Testing is an automated testing solution with functional, performance, and accessibility testing capabilities. All testing scenarios are executed as functional tests, and the entire solution is effortlessly scalable.

The solution accelerates test cycle automation with large-scale parallel web and mobile test execution. Debugging tools make defect detection and mitigation simple, and where many of the tools above require tremendous technical knowledge Digital.ai Continuous Testing has simple test creation, editing, recording, and management tools available for non-coding team members.

The solution is aided by its increased interoperability with existing development and testing tools, IDEs, frameworks, and CI environments. It provides a more collaborative testing process for development, QA teams, and stakeholders.

The main benefits include:

• Higher dev and testing team productivity
• Effortlessly scalable projects
• Lower cost, time, and effort are needed to discover and eliminate defects
• Testing cycle speeds will increase
• Time to market will shorten

The result is that using Digital.ai Continuous Testing as your testing solution or integrated with your favorite tools will help improve the overall CS of your web and mobile apps while lowering churn.