Test Automation-as-a-service (TAaaS)? If you haven’t been exposed to the idea, you may conclude that we have reached critical mass of things being offered “as-a-service.” Well, before you roll your eyes, note that software/platform/infrastructure/database-as-a-service have promised one thing that is largely coming to fruition: shorter lead times and faster application development. This implies that there is growing demand for high-quality testing, meaning that the efficiencies of developers with 5 IM windows open all fielding questions from test engineers winnowing down a list of critical defects must be called into question. Indeed, as indicated by “port-athons” like the one sponsored recently to get 70,000 applications ready for the Blackberry 10 in time for its release, we are churning out software faster than traditional methods have allowed us to test it. Let us keep this in mind as we glimpse at the promises of cloud-based process automation for testing. Test automation is certainly not new – many are familiar with Microsoft’s “Software Development Engineers in Test” (SDET) who apply all the methodologies and skills of a developer to writing automated tests. However, as of 2012 it appeared that 92% of test automation implementations failed to meet ROI, despite the size of the market for test automation tools. This is one reason why the cost-saving promises of cloud-based solutions are a natural fit for test automation services. On top of the savings on upfront costs, there is the possibility of creating a truly platform-agnostic test suite that uses natural language to allow non-technical staff to automate tests. As far as specific implementations go, a cloud-based test automation service called TestObject recently received over seven figures in a round of funding. The Berlin-based startup is dedicated to overcoming the fragmentation that occurs in the world of Android development given its multitude of different configurations. There is also a new offering from CloudShare called CloudShare Labs that offers a variety of self-service tools for developers, including test automation. One of the following key features promised by this platform should sound pretty delicious to anyone who has ever had to troubleshoot a defect in a complex system environment:
If that is part of the future of cloud test automation, sign us up.
