Last week, we took a high-level look at Cloud Testing — sometimes referred to as QAaaS (Quality Assurance as a Service). Software development companies are now able to leverage these kinds of services to perform QA in the Cloud, with cost savings and additional flexibility as the result. It is the latest in the trend of IT functions migrating to a Cloud-based service model.
If your firm hopes to use a Cloud Testing service on its next development project, knowing what features are typically offered by a QAaaS provider helps. Let’s take a closer look at what you should expect.
Most of the functionality supported by a Cloud-based testing provider mimics that of any regular QA shop. You should expect the firm to offer a full range of testing services: Regression, Performance, Functional, Stress, Load, and more. Both automated and manual QA needs to be supported.
Your QA engineers need access to Cloud-based applications for the creation of test cases, plans, and any other associated documentation. The system you choose needs to be flexible enough to work with a variety of software development methodologies; most notably Waterfall and Agile. All members of your team need to be able to access the Cloud Testing system using different devices (desktops, tablets, and smartphones) from a variety of locations.
Support for mobile device testing is another desired feature, especially if your company focuses on development for the iOS and Android platforms. In these scenarios, the ability to handle a virtualized “smartphone test farm” or even a Cloud-based mobile device lab is definitely important. You also need to be able to easily test web applications on a mobile footprint.
As we stated in last week’s article, if you are using a Cloud-based service to test an application slated for a Cloud host, it is important to match the testing and production environments as closely as possible. You don’t want a scenario to happen where your load tests pass on your Cloud Test provider, but fail once your application is released to the public and goes viral. Ensure your production servers — virtualized or not — are highly scalable to handle any traffic unable to be properly modeled in QA.
Many different companies are now offering Cloud Testing services. This includes everything from industry giants like IBM to a whole host of smaller providers. Make sure to go with a firm whose offering supports your own shop’s methodology and toolset.
This article from InfoQ takes a closer look at Cloud Computing in general with a focus on the practice of QAaaS. It also provides a convenient list of Cloud Testing providers along with information on what services they offer.
Ultimately, Cloud Testing offers companies the same flexibility and potential cost savings achieved by leveraging other Cloud-based services like SaaS, IaaS, and DBaaS. If your organization is already benefiting from the Cloud, moving your software testing role to a QAaaS provider might make perfect sense.
Stay tuned to future posts on the Betica Blog as we analyze other aspects of the evolving world of software development.
Posted on August 12, 2016 | Categories Quality Assurance | Tags Cloud Testing, QAaaS, Quality Assurance, Software Testing