The rapid
penetration of digital technology through devices and applications has
transformed the lives of the end customers. Activities that were considered
challenging, inconvenient, and time-consuming in the past are done in a jiffy
now. Take, for example, the paying of utility bills, carrying out financial
transactions, buying groceries, medicines, apparel, or the booking of tickets.
However, there is a flip side to convenience, agility, and speed offered by
digitization as well. With an increased level of sophistication of software
applications driving the digital revolution, there are instances when things can
go wrong. For example, a malfunctioning smoke detector at the house or office
not picking up the smoke caused by a fire, the bank failing to notify the
customer that his or her account has been compromised, or a digital pill
miscalculating the level of blood sugar and administering more than the prescribed dosage of a drug.
All these
can have severe ramifications for both the customer and the service provider.
This brings into sharp focus the key role of quality assurance in ensuring
technology to be an enabler and not a disaster. Further, to achieve success in
the competitive business environment, enterprises should look beyond the
customer experience, which can be a one-off thing. The challenge is to
establish trust with the end-user by assuring the quality of products or
services on a consistent basis.
However,
this is easier said than done, for quality assurance can often miss a thing or
two. This is due to the preponderance of devices, operating platforms,
browsers, third-party applications, and networks. To ensure the smooth running
of a software application, the same needs to be compatible with the
above-mentioned elements. Moreover, in the Agile and DevOps led Software
Development Life Cycle (SDLC), where there is a requirement for continuous testing,
integration, and delivery, QA should give way to software quality engineering.
What is software quality engineering?
As opposed
to quality assurance, software quality engineering deals
with identifying the causes of failures and implements a system to prevent them
from occurring in the first place. It is focused more on analyzing the
technical side of glitches such as their deviation and non-compliance, or the
signing of quality prior to the delivery of a product. In most organizations,
there is an overlap between the disciplines of enterprise quality engineering and quality
assurance. It mainly
deals with developing an environment where products or services are designed,
developed, tested, and delivered according to the requirements of the
customers. Independent quality
engineering services take the cross-functional approach by combining multiple
business disciplines.
So, with
the advent of technologies like AI and ML, Blockchain, Internet of Things,
Cloud Computing, and Big Data, among others, the vulnerabilities have increased
as well. Since the ramifications for application malfunction are immense, the
need for a software quality engineer
has become crucial. Let us find out how Quality Engineering or QE
can help in achieving excellence in quality.
A quality engineering company offering
QE services cover the following areas:
- Agile and DevOps testing
- Test data management
- Service virtualization
- Test automation
- Security testing
- Performance testing
How enterprise quality engineering can help driving excellence
The main focus of
QE is to build a QA environment that preempts the presence of glitches and
achieve the following outcomes.
Reduces or eliminates vulnerabilities: With the development and testing team working in
close proximity, QE offers end-to-end transparency to everyone associated with
the build process. This approach helps to detect vulnerabilities and inherent
risks early in the SDLC and ensures the initiation of prompt remedial action.
Streamlines coordination among departments: The reasons for glitches
to remain unidentified is that every department deals with its turf only. Even
if glitches are identified by another department or process, the tendency is to
overlook the same and pass the buck. However, with independent quality engineering services in command, the old ways
of workflows are abandoned in favor of more coordination and cohesion. Since a
commonality of interest is established among departments, the usual blame game
is averted.
Enhanced productivity with automation: The flip-side of manual testing such as the lack of
coverage area and errors in regression testing can be avoided with test
automation. The iterative testing processes are executed quickly resulting in
better identification of glitches. As the quality of code improves in the
build, the overall delivery schedule becomes better and speedy.
Conclusion
With the level of
sophistication increasing in the digital ecosystem, traditional Quality
Assurance can come a cropper. It is only through the implementation of software quality engineering involving
steps such as service virtualization, performance testing, and test data
management, among others, that excellence in the quality of applications can be
achieved.
Author Bio
Oliver has been
associated with Cigniti Technologies Ltd as an Associate Manager - Content
Marketing, with over 10 years of industry experience as a Content Writer in
Software Testing & Quality Assurance industry.
