Top Reasons to Consider Quality Testing for Your Projects

Embarking on any project takes up a lot of resources, many of which, when considered as a whole, makes the prospect of the project failing most undesirable. To start with, ideating projects takes creativity, and executing them takes time, money, manpower, and most often, technology. It is, therefore, important that ultimately, not only is the utmost quality assured, but also that the projects (which may manifest as products or services) are sustainable.

For services, all bases must be covered to ensure that the outcome is sustainable. Products must also be developed to perform optimally, giving allowances for sub-optimal operational conditions, and be suitable for iteration.

All the conditions listed above can be summarised into three characteristics: quality, reliability, and durability. Ensuring that these conditions are met takes place through quality control testing.

In the tech ecosystem, quality control testing ensures that products and services meet all standards and regulations, whilst also satisfying the customer. Quality Assurance and Quality Control are two words often used interchangeably to describe the sets of activities carried out to confirm a software product’s functionality before it is rolled out for use.

However, although they are related, they do not entirely mean the same thing.

Quality assurance encapsulates the entire gamut of operations that ensures that errors are avoided or fixed from the development stage to the point of deployment. In other words, it is process-oriented.

Quality control, on the other hand, is a more reactionary operation that focuses on the inspection of final products. One is not more important than the other, and quality control can be regarded as a subset under quality assurance.

Quality testing is not only conducted on new products; it is also routinely performed on existing ones to identify areas that need improvement so as to keep them relevant to market demands. Unit testing, integration testing, system testing, and acceptance testing are only a few of the numerous varieties of software testing. Each testing method has a distinct objective and concentrates on a different element of the program. For instance, whereas acceptance testing is used to ensure that the program is user-friendly, unit testing is used to test specific pieces of code.

Why perform quality testing on your software projects?

1. It helps you identify and fix defects on time: The cost of fixing a faulty system is always greater than the cost of getting it right the first time. With quality testing, bugs and glitches can be identified and fixed early in the developmental stage, before the software is rolled out to the end user. This process saves businesses significant time, money, and preserves brand trust.
2. It ensures and preserves the reliability of your product: Many software products do well at the outset but begin to malfunction with repeated use. This suggests that beyond ascertaining that all parts are functional before product launch, testing must also be carried out to ensure that the products can withstand optimum use. Ability of users to enjoy utility on software products at every point that they need it breeds reliability and customer satisfaction.
3. It helps to optimise software performance: With quality testing, it is easy to identify performance bottlenecks (like slow database queries and inefficient algorithms), simulate large data sets to ensure that the software can handle large data quantity, identify resources required to operate under maximum expected load, and many more checks that strengthen the software for optimum performance and quality user experience.
4. It helps in identifying security vulnerabilities: From Yahoo to Juspay, an Indian-based start-up that partners with formidable online retailers like Amazon and Snapdeal, developers are learning that no company is too big (or small) to suffer the brunt of security breach. On August 18, 2021, data involving sensitive information of card holders whose payment information went through Juspay was dumped online. A few years earlier also, Yahoo had information from about 500 million of its user accounts stolen. The company confirmed the incident as a software failure.

Quality testing helps to identify and address all security vulnerabilities, thus protecting against malicious attacks.

5. It makes it easy to meet requirements and specifications: Quality testing ensures that the software complies with its specifications and requirements and executes as designed. It also helps prevent scope creep and guarantees that the final product fulfils the expectations of the client.
6. It facilitates cost reduction: Identifying and fixing defects such as bugs, usability issues and performance problems early in the development process helps to reduce cost before they become more expensive to correct. In addition, the improved functionality and reliability of the software reduces the need for customer support and maintenance, thus improving user satisfaction. Ultimately, this helps the company to cut maintenance costs while realising increased revenue from its satisfied customers.
7. It improves team productivity: Astute entrepreneurs always recognise that essentially, they are in the time business. The secret is to solve problems in the least possible time to create a window to handle more revenue-generating projects. By catching and fixing defects early enough through quality testing, developers can avoid the need for a more time-consuming rework later on.

Moreover, effective quality testing produces code of higher quality that needs less maintenance; it also helps to ensure that software meet the stipulated requirements. All of these increase the overall efficiency and productivity of the development team.

8. Quality testing increases software lifespan: Most of the problems that affect untested software products lead directly or indirectly to the shortage of their lifespans, and, conversely, conducting testing preserves the lifespan in various ways. For instance, because high-quality software products are less likely to require significant maintenance or updates, it increases the length of time it will run efficiently. Also, early detection of security vulnerabilities prevents security breaches that can terminate the software’s functionality. Because quality testing also improves software performance and usability and, in essence, user satisfaction, there is fewer request for support. Not having to tinker with the codes all the time ensures that the software remain relevant for a longer period of time.
9. It improves product quality: Quality testing helps to keep software products consistent with benchmark quality and industry standards, which in turn enhances the reputation of an organisation. Washington-based company, Boeing, continues to suffer a reputational damage today after two of its aircrafts, Boeing 737 Max crashed within 5 months apart, killing a total of 346 passengers a result. Investigations revealed that the problems arose from the malfunctioning Manoeuvring Characteristics Augmentation System (MCAS) software which was installed before it was ready for execution. With quality testing, anomalies such as this would be detected and nipped in the bud to avoid costly malfunction.
10. It helps companies stay competitive: Quality testing may provide businesses a competitive edge in the marketplace and help them stay profitable. Customers are more inclined to buy an app if it is consistently released without issues, as opposed to one from a rival that is consistently released with flaws.

Once you decide that to carry out quality assurance testing, here are some full-proof steps you should also consider:

1. Test each item separately:

   Testing one thing at a time encourages the devotion of time and effort to crucial components.

2. Consider automating your testing process:

   Automated testing has the potential to speed up and cut costs for your QA testing.

3. Define your release conditions

   Ensure to incorporate all crucial elements required to release a successful product that complies with your standards as this determines your product’s quality.

4. Play around with various scenarios:

   Test your product in many different scenarios; it’s crucial to understand how it responds in different circumstances. Test for durability also by exposing the product to maximum capacity use.

5. Keep records of your testing:

   You can gather information about recurring issues and save time if they come up again in the future by using documentation and reports.

To conclude, it is impossible to overstate the importance of quality testing as an essential phase in the creation and delivery of products and services that satisfy user demands and expectations. Testing for quality ensures that products and projects are error-free, safe for execution, and perform as intended. Early problem detection and resolution during the development process also helps to save time and money in the long run. A company’s credibility must be upheld, and consumer trust must be earned, which calls for quality testing.

To invest in quality testing is to invest in the success of a business, and in the highly competitive business terrain of today, it is now more important than ever to prioritise testing to stay ahead of the curve and continually satisfy the ever-evolving needs of customers.

With Hidden Brains Africa, you can optimise customer experience, eliminate errors, and so much more with our quality testing services. From consultancy to performance testing, API and database testing, we offer the best quality assurance services. For more details, visit our website or send an email to [email protected].