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Try for freeBoth cloud and automation are taking the testing world by storm right now. As businesses are growing, they are relying more and more on cloud automation to fulfill their testing need. In fact, cloud testing is expected to grow to USD 11 Billion by 2023. And we are talking about only cloud testing here, not cloud computing. Complex testing scenarios, such as cross-browser testing and parallel testing, are more effective when done on the cloud. This is the reason we bring you an entire blog on cloud automation advantages.
The reason is – the cloud provides the required testing environment effortlessly and even helps to scale up or down as per your business needs.
The digital market growth, Agile, and DevOps are all pushing organizations to adopt cloud-based solutions at lightning speed.
Table Of Contents
- 1 What is Cloud Automation Testing?
- 2 Top 8 Cloud Automation Advantages in Testing
- 2.1 1. Time is money and cloud based testing saves it
- 2.2 2. Saving costs by cloud automation tools
- 2.3 3. Global access 24*7 to perform automation testing
- 2.4 4. Scalability at its best
- 2.5 5. Integration options of Cloud based testing tools offer a streamlined and focused collaboration
- 2.6 6. Cloud service providers have a robust disaster recovery
- 2.7 7. Security is always excessive until it’s not enough
- 2.8 8. Cloud-based automation testing reduces time to market
- 3 Conclusion
What is Cloud Automation Testing?
Cloud automation testing is the process that utilizes cloud technology and its computing environments to run test cases and validate software under development. The approach helps to speed up the testing process and rapidly execute the test scripts that check for application functionality. You can schedule test runs with a different combination of browsers and operating systems using the cloud. Furthermore, your team can run parallel test cases on the cloud to identify and resolve development bugs, stress test core systems, and improve the efficiency of the overall QA processes.
One of the cloud automation advantages is leaving redundant tasks to your cloud providers. For instance, running manual regression tests takes time, resources, and money to ensure that no existing functionalities break while the new ones are being built. The overall process requires large teams to spend a lot of hours performing tedious work. You can automate all the regression work by integrating your application with the testing suite of your choice through an API. And thus, your cloud solution will handle these monotonous tasks while your team turns its attention toward more meaningful work.
Top 8 Cloud Automation Advantages in Testing
Let us explore the benefits of cloud based test automation in detail:
1. Time is money and cloud based testing saves it
When the automation testing is performed on the cloud we save time on:
- The initial set-up of the environment or devices
- Upgrades, installation and maintenance
- Codeless automation tools, based on the cloud, save coding time
- Reduces overall testing time due to all the above factors
2. Saving costs by cloud automation tools
When cloud-based automation testing tools are used we will be saving costs associated with :
- Setting up the in-house infrastructure from scratch
- Regular maintenance and upgrade installation on the devices and environment
- Licensing costs of the associated software
- Configuration is managed by the service provider hence no chance of human error. This removes the cost incurred in reconfiguration and associated rework.
3. Global access 24*7 to perform automation testing
Want to access and perform automation testing on the go? It is super easy with cloud-based automation tools, login from anywhere, anytime, 24*7. This feature supersedes the in-house test labs dominantly.
With work from home on the rise, remote work and cloud testing is the best combination of today.
4. Scalability at its best
Let us take an example, a mobile app for e-learning is released on Android devices. So the testing is performed according to the in-depth analysis of the user base, geographies, devices used, etc. The app received a very good response and now will be released on iOS as well.
Consider this whole scenario to be executed in an in-house test lab. The devices will be procured (cost involved here), they will be set up manually, required browsers/ software will be installed manually.
Finally, the testing can commence, if there is a browser or software update, that will have to be configured again before testing continues. This will be done once for Android and then for iOS for scaling up the test coverage.
The same scenario on a cloud-based automation tool will only require choosing the required environment/device via a few clicks and paying according to the choice made. That’s it!
No set-up, configuration, or maintenance hassle.
5. Integration options of Cloud based testing tools offer a streamlined and focused collaboration
During remote working or otherwise, a team should be on the same page and work in real-time collaboration. When working in a team, communication is the key to all problems and that is why cloud-based automation testing tools are such a hit. This can work on applications and software that businesses often use like VOIPs, custom built apps and any operational software.
The services, resources, artifacts, tasks, defects, reports, reviews, comments, everything is on the cloud and everyone has real-time access to it. Whenever a change is incorporated, the same gets reflected for everyone in the team. Therefore, cloud-based testing is a boon for teams.
Also, such tools allow integration with other tools for more streamlined and focused collaboration among team members e.g, CI/CD tools. So everyone involved (such as managers, testers, business analysts, developers, everyone) gets to see the same status of the project.
6. Cloud service providers have a robust disaster recovery
When using a cloud-based automation testing platform, the data related to development and testing is stored across systems on the cloud. The cloud service providers have a robust disaster recovery approach in place.
They facilitate the storage of huge data and have automated monitoring of the systems on the cloud. Anything that goes haywire will be caught and mended automatically.
Additionally, they have versioning and tracking mechanisms in place to deal with any sort of disaster. This helps in disaster recovery and also for auditing purposes.
If we create a disaster recovery mechanism ourselves for an in-house lab, that is going to be a lot of pain, cost, effort, and time.
7. Security is always excessive until it’s not enough
This is a quote by Robbie Sinclair, which depicts that it is better to understand the importance of security before it is broken. However, cloud-based automation testing has been under scrutiny when performed on shared cloud/resources.
But service providers are well aware of this and they provide strict and safe methods of authentication and authorization to the users.
The security is taken care of by:
- Identity and Access Management(IAM) of its users. Roles are created and restricted access is provided to the users based on their roles.
- Multi-Factor Authorization(MFA)
- Monitoring the security pitfalls, e.g. AWS CloudWatch
- Data scanning, monitoring to recognize sensitive data, and fixing the cloud in case of any security issues sensed. e.g. AWS Macie
8. Cloud-based automation testing reduces time to market
Undoubtedly, cloud-based automation testing reduces time to market. We have saved time on many instances:
- Setup
- Maintenance
- Test script writing if the tool is codeless such as Testsigma
Get started with automation testing on the cloud in minutes, with Testsigma
- Upgrades to the devices and software
- Reporting
- Test case execution since tests can run parallelly 24*7
Due to all these reasons, the time to market is decreased considerably when compared to in-house labs. This ensures that the product is going to be in the market for the long run because it hit the market earlier than its competitors. Also, the good quality of the product plays an irreplaceable part in the success.
Conclusion
With all the mentioned cloud automation advantages in testing, it is clear what the winner is here. Both cloud and automation are here to stay. And along with different tools available in the market, businesses can decide which one to choose that does the work for them.
There are several code-based cloud automation tools that offer more benefits to technically sound professionals. Many codeless cloud automation advantages are present for non-technical people as well. Testsigma is the latter cloud-powered automation testing tool that is easy to use by everyone in your company. If you know English, then you can readily write and run test cases in our tool.
Would you like to add to the list of benefits of automation testing on the cloud?
The future of automation testing is here for you to embrace it!