With the evolution of the software industry, test automation has also evolved to a greater extent, and there is no going back now. The motive of test automation is to ensure quality products. According to consultants and tool providers, several vital advancements to watch for over the next 12 months should make life easier for test automation engineers, while others to avoid will just add to the uncertainty. More artificial intelligence (AI) capabilities, a possible ramp-up of robotic process automation (RPA) in testing, further fragmentation in the test automation tool industry, and the continuous emergence of secure DevOps, or DevSecOps, are all on the horizon.
1: AI and ML-powered test automation tools: Automation testing reduces the manual effort for repetitive processes to a greater extent. But we need to focus on avoiding even a minimal manual effort of writing a script. Because customers today expect fast delivery. So how will that be possible? Artificial intelligence’s most recent and most effective concepts come with a solution. AI-powered tools are easy to maintain, and they constantly monitor the code and look for changes. They are expected to be very prominent automation testing trends in 2021, based on their adoption. You won’t have to worry about maintaining or altering your scripts in the future, even if your application grows to thousands of test cases.
2: Codeless test automation tools: Codeless test automation tools are based on Artificial Intelligence and visual modelling, allowing for the rapid creation of test cases for test automation. QA engineers may design test case scenarios with zero coding skills and reduce the time spent on recurring test cases with such great automated testing solutions. The codeless test automation tools are emerging because it is simple to review test cases, no need to learn new programming languages, and are less error-prone. One of the software testing trends to watch in 2021 will be the increased adoption of codeless automated test technologies.
3: Robotic Process Automation (RPA) Will Keep Proliferating: RPA-related solutions are becoming more common over time, encompassing a wide range of QA and software testing applications. As a result, Robotic Process Automation significantly reduces the time spent on software testing and substantially reduces the amount of money spent. As a result, businesses should consider creating more comprehensive test environments to achieve and maintain high levels of stability. Companies can quickly employ this strategy without incurring high out-of-pocket costs. As a result, it is expected that businesses will continue to accept the Robotic Process Automation technique to a greater amount. For automated testing and scrutiny of automation reports, companies are expected to use a combination of Artificial Intelligence and Robotic Process Automation in the coming future.
4: Chatbot Tests/Evaluations: Several businesses have employed chatbots due to the global lockdown that lasted months. Even chatbots provided round-the-clock service to millions of retail outlets, financial institutions, brands, and other businesses. Users expect to find solutions to all of their inquiries on websites. Conversational artificial intelligence (AI) chatbots for customer sentiment analysis, machine learning, and speech recognition technology are examples of smart, AI-powered technologies that can improve the user experience. Teams may prepare for the future by learning more about QA-ops testing of chatbots, voice, and ML-powered software starting in 2021.
5: Higher Demand for QAOps: Two main principles define QAOps:
- The CI/CD pipeline should include Quality Assurance activities.
- QA testers should collaborate with software developers and be involved throughout the Continuous Integration/Continuous Delivery process.
QAOps are used in small and medium-sized teams as well as large software companies. This QAOps approach can be scaled up or down to match the needs of any enterprise. As more companies use DevOps, QAOps is expected to grow in popularity in 2021.
6: Cloud Service Automation Testing: Cloud-based automation testing has the advantages of low cost, scalability, and ease of maintenance. But what are the benefits of using a cloud-based tool? You can conduct mobile and web testing in various contexts and machines using cloud-based technologies without building your infrastructure. Cloud computing will be in high demand in 2021, just as it was in 2020.
7: API and Service Test automation: API testing has been discussed as a trend in the testing community for years. The use of application programming interfaces (APIs) is increasing every day as micro-service architecture on the web and software development improves. This year will be no exception. The QA team must verify that these APIs are communicating and working independently. In 2021, automated API testing will become more prevalent.
8: Blockchain Test: The scope of blockchain technology has expanded significantly in recent years. Blockchain technology is used in the food, transportation, and supply chain management industries, among others. This is because blockchain offers the highest level of security available for any financial transaction. Demand for QA experts with the special domain expertise of blockchain app testing will rise in 2021, making it one of the top automated testing topics to watch. Having stated that, in addition to subject knowledge, testing specialists should be familiar with automated tools.
9: Mobile App Testing Automation: In the last few years, businesses have begun to adopt a mobile-first strategy for web development. Many businesses have started producing mobile versions of their online applications in recent years. As the number of mobile apps grows, firms will devote more resources to testing them. According to research, the mobile app testing market would produce $8.23 billion in revenue by 2025. With the expanding number of mobile devices with varying resolutions and operating systems, it’s safe to assume that firms will seek out testers with automated mobile app testing experience.
10: A blend of DevOps and Agile: DevOps and Agile techniques have emerged as the most desired for several organisations. Do you want to know why? These approaches are all precisely intended to encourage rapid deployment and strong collaboration between developers and QA engineers. Agile is a continuous development and testing process, whereas DevOps is well-known for its cross-departmental collaboration. As a result, Agile and DevOps make it easier to produce high-quality products quickly, and many businesses will soon embrace the techniques.
These are the top trends and challenges for test automation tools for the year 2021. We can see that a lot of automation and artificial intelligence has captured a wide market and the manual efforts are extremely reduced. Only with a suitable strategy to use manual and automation when necessary will a corporation be able to offer a high-quality product.
