DevSecOps is the fix to this that can be defined as a set of practices to integrate security with DevOps. With this, it is important to get that-

“Embrace the ‘continuous’ in DevSecOps. Continuous integration, continuous delivery, continuous security.”

In simple words, security takes its spot as being ‘integral’ and an automated inclusion within the CI/CD pipelines. To reduce the occurrence or volume of existing vulnerabilities, developers are made aware of the right security practices for them to incorporate in the initial stages of the development project.

In this blog, we will explore the DevSecOps pipeline and delve deep into the importance of a long-lasting culture for this practice which can prove advantageous for the IT, security, and management teams to eventually favor the smooth delivery of efficient software products.

Understanding the DevSecOps Pipeline

The raging call for DevSecOps or DevOps Security on the global front is evident. According to forecasts, the DevSecOps market will acquire a CAGR of 30.76% by the end of 2030, with an estimated market value of $41.66 billion. It showcases its indispensable stature among various industries and business verticals and highlights a security-oriented mindset everyone wishes to adopt.

Here are the different stages of the DevSecOps pipeline:

Threat Modeling

Under threat modeling, different attack situations are drafted together with a precise highlight on vulnerabilities, crucial data flows, and options for risk mitigation. Threat modeling improves overall security knowledge and fills gaps to keep hackers out.

Security Inspection & Testing

In terms of inspection, it involves carefully going over the evidence and code to find any security flaws in the program. The code is continuously examined and tested using the SAST/ DAST tools. This step allows developers to find bugs early in the SDLC.

Analysis

Unknown security flaws are frequently found because of the preceding step (security inspection & testing). The analysis stage is crucial because it assists in identifying and ranking the problems that need to be fixed.

Remediation

This step focuses on resolving the prioritized vulnerabilities through continuous testing tools and processes such as penetration testing. It contributes to efficient threat resolution and the speed of delivery.

Monitoring

We call it that phase that monitors the security standpoint for software to identify real-time vulnerabilities and misconfigurations. In the unlikely event of a breach, we can learn valuable lessons from the DevSecOps process to prevent similar attacks shortly.

Beyond Buzzwords- Significance of DevSecOps Culture

According to industry experts, in the absence of a DevSecOps culture, teams may overlook security protocols in the urgency to deploy applications, resulting in potential vulnerabilities.

Instilling the mindset that every team member prioritizes security from the start, and encouraging a proactive rather than reactive approach, is the cornerstone of establishing a DevSecOps culture. Here are the prime elements of the DevSecOps approach.

Once these prime elements are put in place, the benefits (mentioned below) they reap are a plus for organizations willing to upscale their fulfillment of security targets.

1. Improved Security Landscape

Since security is incorporated from the start of the development lifecycle, a huge chunk of vulnerabilities is spotted and resolved at an early stage. The presence of timely assessments is a good way to minimize potential risks.

2. Collaborative Efforts

Maintaining a DevSecOps culture aids in breaking the ice around teams. To learn about DevOps and security, there must be cooperation with communication at its center. This approach resolves problems by having teams share accountability for achieving security objectives.

3. Automation-led Development

The DevSecOps teams and professionals excel in seamlessly integrating security testing into automated test suites, aiming to optimize operational efficiency. Your organization can utilize CI/CD pipelines to enhance the automation of both security and development processes for greater effectiveness.

4. Cost-effective & Speedy Delivery

Finding security loopholes and fixing coding problems can be a strenuous task. The software delivery process can be accelerated with DevSecOps while maintaining security protocols. It saves a great deal of time and guarantees less technical debt. Costs are lowered because repeated procedures are not necessary.

Exceeding with DevSecOps Best Practices

Shift Left Security

It involves pushing security considerations at an early stage in the development process. The incorporation of security practices from the start ensures that security is not merely a post-development activity.

Security as Code

Security as Code means the consideration of security configurations, controls, and policies as code. The use of version control systems is vital for security-focused artifacts, thereby making it simpler to identify modifications and attain consistency.

Continuous Monitoring

Implement the continuous monitoring of software and infrastructure for actively detecting and resolving security discrepancies in real time. It covers monitoring events, databases, and metrics to spot unexpected activities.

Infrastructure as Code (IaC)

The utility of security principles to define and manage infrastructure using code. This allows constant and repeatable security arrangements.

Zero Trust Security Model

With a zero-trust strategy, verification is necessary for anyone attempting to access resources. As a result, there is less chance of lateral network movement and unwanted access.

Conclusion

For enterprises to deliver secure, quality software, including DevSecOps is essential. To attain glitch-free applications, the address of all security gaps at the onset of the development stage is what counts as crucial. Going by the latest advancements, the foundation of many automated DevSecOps processes is supported by AI and ML. As a result, these factors serve as torchbearers for several new avenues. At ImpactQA our security testing service experts are hands-on with DevSecOps best practices to shut down system vulnerabilities. Contact us to share your requirements!

The post Building a Culture of Security with DevSecOps Practices appeared first on ImpactQA.

Approximately, 80% of organizations are already in the middle of this full-fledged adoption. The increase in demand for test automation for cloud-natives and migrated firms has created an opportunity for DevOps to secure a stronghold for decades to come.

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DevOps - Giving QA a Seat at the DevOps and Digital Transformation Table

Latest DevOps Trends to Takeover in 2024

Here are some future trends to look out for you to stay above the curve. 

1. Increased Focus on Platform Engineering

Platform Engineering can help increase the rate at which businesses produce value. According to The State of Platform Engineering Report, it is a fast-growing major trend. With innovations in the DevOps journey, approximately 93% of organizations believe that platform engineering is the right practice for better organizational efficiency and 94% of the respondents agree that it helps realize DevOps goals better (DevOps.com).

2. Infrastructure as Code (IaC)

In contrast to traditional data structure infrastructure, IaC maintains the data infrastructure as code. It helps in eliminating risks linked with manual data configuration and builds a more reliable infrastructure. According to consolidated reports, the IaC market is predicted to grow at a rate of 24% CAGR by 2027, touching $2.3 billion in the global market. Integrating IaC with DevOps can help accelerate continuous delivery (CD).

3. Increasing Need for DevOps Evolution through Edge Computing

Edge Computing is rapidly growing with a predicted CAGR of 15.7% by the end of 2028. With the consistently evolving IT world, a successful DevOps integration with Edge Computing will present new innovations, scalability, and efficiency in operations. The combination of Edge and DevOps builds a reliable network of real-time data processing, data insights, and application updates.

4. DevOps-as-a-Service (DaaS)

DaaS is a result of the ever-changing DevOps market and the evolution of cloud-based offerings. By deploying DevOps as a service, not only will the overall efficiency be increased (faster time-to-market, reduced manual errors, reduced operational costs) but the cultural barrier between different organizational teams will also thin out, making cooperation and information sharing easier.

5. Increasing Focus on DevOps Assembly Lines

DevOps Assembly Pipelines are an amalgamation of existing pipelines like CI/CD pipelines. They streamline processes by automating and combining team efforts – configuration management for operators, adding additional security layers through DevSecOps, automation scripts for testers, etc.  The combination of DevOps processes and tools along with CI/CD pipelines enables quicker and continuous delivery of software to the end-users. While the primary aim of CI/CD pipelines is the continuous delivery of products, the DevOps revolution is a major stepping stone to ensure that this organizational goal is successfully and efficiently achieved.

The major benefits that DevOps Assembly Lines provide are:

• Toolchain Collaboration
• End-to-end Visibility
• Continuous Delivery

6. Artificial Intelligence (AI) Advancements in DevOps

With a global growth rate of 37.3% CAGR (Forbes) over the next forecasted period 2024-2030, the AI market is sure to stay and become more prominent. 

Artificial Intelligence (AI), is the catalyst for the ever-evolving software development processes. It can help organizations in extracting new insights and opportunities. Integrating AI with DevOps processes can help in automating testing processes that are time-consuming and prone to errors. With predictive analysis of the running codes and systems, AI will alert users of the potential threats to the software even before the error occurs, making it easier to test for anomalies. Integrating AI with research tools can help recognize the ongoing trends and analyze where an organization is lacking and in need of touch-ups.

7. The Future of Serverless Architecture

The rising need for digital transformation, especially after the global pandemic, has fueled a bright future for many advancements in the IT industry. One such advancement is the Serverless Architecture which allows developers to build and run software applications without maintaining the infrastructure. The global serverless architecture market is projected to grow at a rate of 25% CAGR over the forecasted period between 2024 to 2032.

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Role of Software Testing in DevOps

Serverless Computing has allowed all the software infrastructure to be saved on the cloud which can be outsourced for the production of applications, making it easier for developers to focus on their product instead of the intricacies of maintaining the infrastructure. With DevOps being widely adopted by organizations to streamline processes and optimize resources, the appeal for serverless cloud integration is expanding to streamline this global adoption.

8. Changing the World through AI and Automation

The year 2024 has been all about Generative AI. Be it creating visual, audio, or written content. Generative AI is equipped with machine learning (ML) capabilities allowing end users to create content from all arrays of internet knowledge. However, automating AI to perform tasks has been all the rage among organizations looking to save time and minimize errors in their processes.  On the other hand, IA (Intelligent Automation) is an umbrella consisting of AI, business process management (BPM), and robotic process automation (RPA) to help streamline processes and enable smart decision-making.

Setbacks and Opportunities in Adoption of DevOps

1. Lack of Standardization in DevOps Processes

With no standard procedures for DevOps processes, most teams find it difficult to produce desirable organizational results. These difficulties spread across various tangents, including an array of tools to choose from to decide the best one; and no standard definition on which combination of tools, frameworks, and teams to choose for an optimum usage of resources to produce results.

2. Shortage of Related Skillsets

‘Skill Shortage’ is a leading challenge hindering the growth of the DevOps infrastructure. While 21% of organizations are still resisting the change onset by the DevOps resolution, almost 33% of the willing workforce lack the necessary skills to manifest the full potential of DevOps processes. This cultural setback is widened by teams operating in silos making it difficult to deploy DevOps strategies as a whole for the entire organization. Breaking down organizational silos and improving communication and cooperation between isolated teams, and improving in providing necessary skills/training to operate DevOps models is a milestone that all organizations should reach before further DevOps deployment.

To learn and implement better DevOps practices, you can contact our experts at ImpactQA. Initiate a conversation and they will be happy to assist you!

The post 8 DevOps Trends to be Aware of in 2024 appeared first on ImpactQA.

By adopting QAOps, the testing team assumes a more significant role in the software development life cycle. The foundation of QAOps lies in the implementation of Continuous Integration (CI), Continuous Testing (CT), and Continuous Deployment (CD) as its core principles.

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QAOps Framework Methodology

QAOps (Quality Assurance Operations) is a framework methodology that aims to streamline software development and testing processes while ensuring the delivery of high-quality products. It combines the principles of DevOps and QA to create a cohesive and collaborative environment for development, operations, and quality assurance teams.

1. Automated Testing

Automated Testing is a fundamental aspect of QAOps, allowing for faster and more reliable testing. Automated test cases can be efficiently executed, reducing manual intervention and increasing test coverage. This leads to early bug detection and faster feedback loops, facilitating continuous integration and deployment.

2. Parallel Testing

Parallel Testing is employed to accelerate the testing process by running multiple test cases simultaneously across different environments. This expedites the feedback loop and shortens the overall testing cycle, enhancing the efficiency of the development pipeline.

3. Scalability Testing

Scalability Testing is another critical component of the QAOps framework. It involves assessing the software’s ability to handle increased or decreased loads in terms of its non-functional capabilities. By simulating varying numbers of concurrent customer requests, this type of testing helps you understand how your application performs under different loads.

Scalability testing is essential for QA teams to identify performance issues and limitations in web applications. It provides crucial metrics such as Response Time, Network Usage, and CPU Usage. To conduct testing efficiently, QA Operations teams must have access to a scalable infrastructure.

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4. Integrating Dev and Ops with QA

The most crucial step in achieving a successful QAOps process involves seamlessly integrating QA activities into the CI/CD pipeline. The most effective approach to combining Dev, Ops, and QA is to involve developers in test design and have the Ops and product teams collaborate with the QA Team to identify UI/UX issues. This collaborative effort fosters a deeper understanding of the QA process for both developers and the Ops team, leading to a more effective SDLC (Software Development Life Cycle) process.

Benefits of QAOps

QAOps, the integration of Quality Assurance (QA) with DevOps practices, offers numerous benefits that significantly enhance software development and delivery processes.

A. Improved Software Quality and Faster Release Cycles

QAOps enables continuous testing and automation, which leads to higher software quality. By automating testing procedures, developers can quickly identify and address issues, reducing the chances of defects and vulnerabilities reaching production. This, in turn, ensures a more stable and reliable product. Furthermore, with continuous integration and continuous delivery (CI/CD) pipelines in place, development teams can release new features and updates faster, enhancing the overall time-to-market.

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B. Enhanced Collaboration and Defect Identification

QAOps fosters collaboration between development, testing, and operations teams. This cross-functional collaboration allows for better communication, sharing of ideas, and resolving potential bottlenecks early in the development process. Additionally, QAOps practices emphasize early testing, enabling teams to identify defects and issues at an early stage, making it easier and more cost-effective to fix them.

C. Advantages of Early Testing and Feedback Loops

QAOps encourages continuous testing throughout the development lifecycle. By testing early and often, teams receive valuable feedback on their code and design, leading to constant improvements. Developers can iterate quickly, incorporating feedback from testers, users, and stakeholders, resulting in a more refined and user-centric final product.

How QAOps Can Enhance Organizational Processes

QAOps, while resembling DevOps in some respects, distinguishes itself by not necessitating a complete cultural shift within the workplace. This methodology facilitates seamless collaboration between developers and testers, resulting in quicker and more thorough testing of new application components before their release.

To successfully integrate QAOps within an organization, effective communication of its value to key decision-makers and stakeholders, especially the technical team, becomes paramount. They must grasp the benefits of adopting a QAOps framework, enabling the entire organization, including developers, testing engineers, and IT operations managers, to align their efforts accordingly. Though convincing stakeholders of this novel approach may require time and effort, once implemented, the organization will begin to recognize the significance and advantages of having the QAOps framework in operation.

Leveraging Automation in QAOps

Leveraging Automation in QAOps has emerged as a game-changer in the software development and quality assurance landscape. QAOps, a synergy of QA and DevOps practices, streamlines the software delivery process by integrating quality assurance activities into the development pipeline. By incorporating automation into QAOps, organizations achieve faster and more reliable software releases, enhanced test coverage, and improved overall product quality.

Automation plays a pivotal role in executing repetitive test cases, regression testing, and continuous integration and deployment (CI/CD) processes. Automated testing frameworks and tools allow QA teams to conduct comprehensive tests across various environments with minimal human intervention, reducing human errors and accelerating feedback loops.

Moreover, automated monitoring and performance testing enable proactive identification of potential bottlenecks, enhancing the scalability and stability of applications. As a result, QAOps powered by automation empowers teams to deliver higher-quality software at a faster pace, meeting user expectations and driving business growth in today’s competitive digital landscape.

Industries Where QAOps is Getting Implemented

QAOps, the integration of Quality Assurance (QA) with DevOps practices, is gaining traction across various industries and service areas. In software development, QAOps ensures continuous testing, leading to faster delivery of reliable applications. IT companies are embracing QAOps to enhance collaboration between development, testing, and operations teams, improving software quality and reducing time-to-market.

In the healthcare sector, QAOps ensures compliance with regulations and seamless integration of health applications. Banking and finance industries utilize QAOps to achieve secure and efficient software deployments essential for financial transactions. Additionally, e-commerce companies adopt QAOps to optimize website performance, ensuring a seamless shopping experience.

Telecommunication businesses leverage QAOps to maintain network reliability, while the gaming industry implements it to deliver bug-free and immersive gaming experiences. QAOps permeates various domains, empowering organizations to achieve higher productivity, customer satisfaction, and innovation.

Conclusion

Embracing QAOps can provide your organization with a competitive edge in the software development industry. While implementing this approach demands significant investments, the substantial benefits it offers make it a worthwhile endeavor. Numerous companies have already adopted the DevOps methodology, and now QAOps presents the logical progression in enhancing the software development process.

To effectively implement QAOps and reap its benefits, partnering with a reliable testing and QA service provider is essential. This is where ImpactQA comes in. ImpactQA enables seamless QAOps implementation, providing expert guidance, comprehensive testing, and automated monitoring for accelerated software development, cost-efficiency, and a competitive edge. By leveraging ImpactQA’s expertise, your organization can navigate the complexities of QAOps and optimize the entire software development lifecycle.

The post QAOps: Understanding Its Significance and Relevance appeared first on ImpactQA.

We are all aware of the importance of software testing and how it can revolutionize a business by assisting in the delivery of high-quality software products to clients in less time. Manually executing test cases and evaluating the quality of each line of code at each level of the Continuous Delivery process is unfeasible.

According to a recent report in 2021 conducted by Code Time, engineering teams continue to face hurdles and inefficiencies during the software development process. According to the survey, developers are dealing with a variety of distractions on processes and systems, ranging from too many interruptions to too much delay or communication hurdles. This is when DevOps continuous testing enters the equation.

Enabling CI/CD For Your Enterprise Systems

The process of implementing continuous integration (CI) and continuous deployment (CD) generally involves two major aspects:

• Developing the right mindset toward CI/CD throughout the organization
• Picking the right tools for the job

Let’s discuss it a bit:

Adopting the Right Attitude to CI/CD approach

Before jumping on tools, thinking from a developer perspective is just as crucial as choosing the right CI/CD tools even if you don’t relate to development. To be effective with CI/CD, you must understand how to automate and change your existing procedures. You must also be able to collaborate closely with developers.

For establishing successful communication with the development team, it is important to understand what are the various stages of development an individual or team had to go through while developing a piece of software. These stages include, for example, research and analysis, architecture, design, coding, testing, and release.

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Picking the Right Tools for the Job

Currently, there are a variety of CI/CD tools accessible on the market. It’s critical to know what your goals are and what you want to accomplish while selecting the proper tool for the job.

Some relevant questions that you could ask yourself:

• What elements of your application, will you wish to integrate?
• Do you require deployments? And how many individuals will be involved in the code’s development?

When you estimated what features you want to include in CI, it’s easy to decide which tool is ideal for your project. Hiring the correct set of DevOps professionals, in addition to tools, may help you efficiently arrange things and make decisions.

In case you are still in some doubt, consulting with experts who worked in this field for decades could be the best solution.

Congratulations, you’ve finished half of the job so far. The first part of the approach is to integrate CI/CD into your development process; the second half is to ensure that your firm is doing it correctly. Here are some best practices that organizations may include in their CI/CD process to save operating costs and increase DevOps efficiency:

• Developers should establish a pipeline that runs from code check-in to testing to production. Because both developers and testers know what stage the code is in, they will be able to collaborate more effectively on the process.
• Setting up an array of automated release gates for each environment is the easiest method to accomplish this. This will help to ensure that all bugs are identified before they are introduced into your production environment.
• Enterprises should also keep track of how long it takes jobs to run in CI/CD settings so that you can improve the overall process. The longer something takes to run, the more expensive it becomes – and the less time your team has available to develop new features or resolve faults.

Continuous Testing Challenges & Ways to Overcome Them

Even after the successful implementation of Continuous Testing in the DevOps process, it’s not uncommon to see organizations facing several challenges. Creating an effective automation system is a challenging endeavor that necessitates a significant investment. Furthermore, enterprises lack the scalability infrastructure required to perform tests continually. Additionally, without effective coordination across the product, development, and testing teams, this appears to be considerably more difficult.

Tackling these challenges is indeed hectic but if you follow the below key points then it might be easier to overcome such issues in the future:

• Challenges arise due to miscommunication or any kind of cultural and communication barriers. By enabling effective coordination, collaboration, and understanding of various scenarios in the SDLC team, in short, proper management is all its needs to break such roadblocks.
• The emphasis should be on keeping it simple and logical while reducing superfluous and expensive testing strategies. Instead, the energy might be directed towards more relevant test objects, yielding far superior and measurable findings.
• Feedback is really important in maintaining the quality of the end product. By putting testing at all the levels of Quality Assurance (QA) and development it would create a continuous feedback chain to developers for software improvement.
• Automation can make it easier to deploy Continuous Testing in DevOps. Although perfect automation is not possible, the more process automation is achieved, the easier it is to carry out Continuous Testing.
• The final considerable point is enabling intelligence programs and harnessing the power of artificial intelligence for solving complex problems and thinking beyond automation at each software production delivery stage to boast the software development life cycle (SDLC).

Conclusion

Continuous testing plays a significant role in tying all the stages of software development, design, and deployment together for DevOps in any enterprise. Simply providing a software product is insufficient; nevertheless, providing a fantastic product sooner than your competitors is an important distinction for every successful firm.

ImpactQA is your one-stop-shop if you’re looking for the ideal QA partner to manage continuous testing with DevOps initiatives as a priority. We are confident in giving the best since we have decades of hands-on expertise on various quality assurance projects across many sectors. Download our case studies to know more.

The post Boast the Potential of DevOps with CI/CD appeared first on ImpactQA.

The trends these days favor Agile and DevOps, likely valued by enterprises to gain a significant competitive edge with Continuous Testing acting as a driving catalyst towards superior digital transformation.

The COVID-19 pandemic has escalated the focus towards quality digital offerings, thereby pushing organizations to test early and automatically for boosting business. The best possible way to rely upon Agile and DevOps is to agree with continuous testing that provides the proper framework to address all essential requirements with changing market dynamics.

Introduction to Continuous Testing

To be clear, Continuous Testing (CT) is not a tool or technology like test automation. Similarly, you cannot define it by calling it a ‘plug-and-play process.’ There are no fixed steps for forming a Continuous Testing strategy.

In simple words, Continuous Testing can be viewed as a methodology under which testing is implemented across different phases of software delivery. It is basically by testing early and correctly, organizations get the correct direction to arrange the systems, engineering, processes, and automation required to upscale cycle time and ultimately deliver quality products and services. Continuous testing is an intelligent way to ensure improved customer experience, operational efficiency, and competitive glory on a broader canvas.

What is the Need for Agile and DevOps?

For building quality applications that are stable and secure, enterprises must focus on issues related to resource mobilization and time limitations. Such measures are vital to ensure a competitive business environment and create greater attention on continuous test automation.

The crucial factors defining the value of these two methodologies are:

• DevOps helps enterprises address their integration and acceleration needs by setting up a toolchain that passes through development, integration, QA, and delivery.
• The DevOps methodology is suitable for enterprises that aren’t able to manage demand or deploy rapid changes across the SDLC smoothly

Impact of Continuous Testing on Agile & DevOps

How do you expect applications to be intuitive and high-performing? These days, applications are used across multiple devices, browsers, operating platforms, and networks. In order to make software apps scalable, secure, and high-performing, the software development process should accommodate a robust QA approach in the form of Agile or DevOps. Looking at the modern ways of testing, Agile and DevOps ensure QA is managed through an integrated team alongside the development process.

Below mentioned are the different ways how continuous testing can prove to be a tipping point for software testing companies.

• After implementing an Agile testing service, the application is tested based on performance, usability, security, and scalability. Therefore, defects are identified and immediately fixed quite early during the SDLC. For enterprises, deploying a continuous testing strategy helps arrange the systems, processes, and automation to advance the time-to-market and install better feedback loops. Eventually, the organizations experience desirable business results.
• The effect of continuous testing is beneficial for QA specialists within the Agile testing pipeline. It creates immediate feedback for recognizing end-user experiences. Such an arrangement is helpful in managing business risks developed due to process complexities.

Switching to Continuous Testing

If you wish to develop a Continuous Testing strategy, it highlights the will to align the organization with certain business milestones.

• Faster delivery of high-quality products
• Better customer experience via quality products
• Reduced cost and advanced operational efficiency

The implementation of continuous testing also works to target prime challenges within the cycle, including:

• Lack of traceability
• Delay is analyzing the health of the software product
• Unsatisfactory automation lead to delay in QA cycle time
• Lack of scalable infrastructure leading to incapability in terms of delivery of QA requirements
• Automation fails in the absence of external systems
• Lack of real-time reporting concerning software build and testing process
• Absence of dynamic infrastructure causing unproductive resource utilization
• No centralized dashboard for precise feedback

Final Say

The complementary association of Agile, DevOps, and Continuous Testing has favored the creation of a fresh standard that supports quality deployment as a continuous process. If your organization wishes to acquire new heights in the market, the delivery of top-notch software products and services requires the active deployment of these three methodologies.

But as per a recent study, out of 70% of enterprises that adopted Agile, only 30% preferred automated testing. This makes it evident how testing processes are still stuck up in the past even though organizations are ready to spend time and resources upgrading their development processes to match the ongoing business demands.

A better way is to get in touch with a renowned software testing provider for initiating continuous testing while continuously shifting from development to testing to deployment. Get in touch with ImpactQA, a leading software testing company, to create a continuous testing strategy by consulting skilled and experienced professionals. To know more, contact us right away!

The post Success with Agile & DevOps Guided by Continuous Testing appeared first on ImpactQA.

It bridged the divide between the two chief practices: software development and IT operations. But as technology progressed, it became apparent that additional technology was required to manage DevOps on a large scale. Without apt configuration management in place, many issues arose in the proper functioning of applications. 

The primary reason for the issues that arose with the running software was the conflict in the goals of IT and application configuration. This is where Kubernetes came to the rescue with its functionalities.

DevOps Kubernetes alleviated these issues in addition to providing automation, deployment, and agile methodologies for software integration and deployment. It allowed developers to create potent computer clusters for high performance and effective delivery.

To understand how Kubernetes changing DevOps has affected the delivery of applications, you must have a rudimentary understanding of what clusters are and how they work:

What are computer clusters?

A computer cluster consists of two or more computers over a network which works together to carry out tasks as a single system. This link created between several computers leads to a singular system that is faster, has more storage capacity, is more reliable, and has excellent availability of resources.

How do they help?

Computer clusters provide an enterprise with many benefits:

• More cost-efficient: Computer clusters are as stable as a mainframe computer and have the capability of performing at a higher level without the heavy costs that you have to incur while purchasing a mainframe computer.
• High processing speed: These clusters can compete with a supercomputer in terms of speed.

• Improved resource availability: Computers come across frequent breakdowns, so to eliminate this failure, cluster computers are available with high availability. In case one of the nodes fails the other nodes will get activated, functioning as a proxy for the failed node. This makes sure for enhanced availability.
• Increased Elasticity: Cluster computing provides its user with enhanced scalability and elasticity. As clustering allows you to add multiple computers, making your current system efficacious.

This is why computer clusters are essential for many businesses, especially in the financial, industrial, and public sectors. 

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Why do we need Kubernetes DevOps to run these clusters?

An enterprise might face many problems while running an application in a cluster of computers if the surrounding environments are not similar. A developed application might require a specific version of the software, which hasn’t been installed on the system.

A container puts an end to this complication. A container consists of a program that has to be executed and all its dependencies, such as the code, runtime, and system libraries, bound together in a box.

Container technology caught the public’s attention in 2013. The coherence and cost-efficiency containerization can offer, quickly made it a trend in cloud computing.

Controlling these containers at the cluster scale requires a specialized software tool that allows cluster management via a graphical user interface or command line. Kubernetes DevOps is a tool that allows you to do just that and more.

What is Kubernetes DevOps?

Kubernetes is an open-source platform that allows its users to manage containerized workloads and services. 

Kubernetes was created by Google to solve the problem of automation in terms of deployment, scaling, and management of applications in containers.

Kubernetes DevOps facilitates both declarative configuration and automation. It has a large, rapidly growing ecosystem. Kubernetes transforming DevOps testing services, support, and tools are widely available. 

What are the benefits of DevOps Kubernetes?

Enterprises, SME’s as well as start-ups all around the world are assimilating container technology and Kubernetes DevOps at an astounding pace. 

If you have been thinking about adopting this technology for your company. It is pivotal to acknowledge and understand the requirements of your company. Incorporating Kubernetes just because it has become a technological fad is not the right way to approach things. 

Rather, the contrivance should be helpful to your business, operational, and strategic goals. 

Let’s take a look at some of the benefits of Kubernetes DevOps to understand whether you should deploy it for your company:  

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1. Workload Scalability

• Horizontal infrastructure scaling: Kubernetes DevOps allows you to scale horizontally by operating at an individual server level. This scaling allows you to add or remove new servers effortlessly.
• Auto-scaling: Kubernetes can increase or reduce the number of containers automatically depending on CPU utilization.
• Manual scaling: The number of containers can be manually scaled using a command in Kubernetes DevOps.

2. High Accessibility

The ability of Kubernetes DevOps to address the availability of both applications and infrastructure, making it essential when deploying containers in production:

• Health checks and self-healing: Kubernetes protects your applications against failures by constantly checking the health of nodes and containers. Kubernetes also repairs and replaces a container when they crash due to an error.
• Traffic routing and load balancing: DevOps Kubernetes routs traffic to the appropriate containers. This functionality allows Kubernetes to balance load effectively, allowing you to respond to downtime quickly.  

3. Tailored for deployment

Kubernetes DevOps allows its users to speed the process of building, testing, and releasing software. It is optimized for deployment and offers many practical features:

• Automated roll-outs and rollbacks: Kubernetes allows you to seamlessly roll-out a new version of an app or an update without any downtime. In case of failure, it automatically rolls back.
• Canary Deployments: This functionality of Kubernetes allows you to juxtapose the previous and the current version of the app.
• Programming languages and frameworks support: Kubernetes supports a plethora of programming languages and frameworks like Java, Go, .Net, etc. If the environment of a container is suitable to run an application then it should run well on Kubernetes.

4. Passwords and configuration management

Kubernetes DevOps allows you to save sensitive information, such as passwords, OAuth tokens, and SSH keys. You can update and utilize secrets and application configuration without rebuilding your container images and without exposing secrets in your stack configuration.

Conclusion

DevOps with Kubernetes effectively ended the situation where there was a mismatch between the configured environment of a developer and IT. Kubernetes made it convenient for developers to move from development to production, making applications more portable and leveraging orchestration. 

Kubernetes in DevOps showcased a level of handiness that was previously seemed difficult to achieve; it allowed users to develop on one platform and release it seamlessly on another platform.

When it comes to testing, Kubernetes can allow developers and testing experts to work collectively and solve issues related to bug fixing faster and more accurately. Cases when a bug is reported, developers can swoop in and access the tester’s Kubernetes instance and see the bug instantly. Using this technology for testing can help save time and increase collaboration. Therefore getting in touch with companies that use such technologies can help you boost your project speed and be up to pace with the trending technologies. ImpactQA is a renowned software testing company that can be contacted for projects that require speed in the future.

Get in touch with ImpactQA to get a free consultation over the implementation of Kubernetes DevOps for your next project.

The post How is Kubernetes Transforming the DevOps Space? appeared first on ImpactQA.

Presently, artificial intelligence to supervise multiple IT functions, such as performance monitoring, service management, remediating blackouts, etc., is gaining popularity. Therefore, it is slowly becoming imperative to get hold of AIOps for ensuring fast-paced software delivery.

Growing Demand for AIOps

The extensiveness of AIOps as part of the software testing plan is positively responsible at the global level. This is mainly due to this process’s usefulness and its ability to assist the quicker release of complex applications. Many organizations have greatly benefitted as AIOps can handle vast amounts of data without much worry.

Machine learning (ML) and Big Data are seen as the two primary components of AIOps. Therefore, this unites data from monitoring and further assists in automation tasks accomplished in a streamlined order. Numerous companies planning to remodel their testing approach have placed their trust in AIOps to receive useful insights. According to recent research updates, many large enterprises have exclusively preferred AIOps and sophisticated monitoring tools to examine applications and associated infrastructure. Such operations are a great benefit to the organization as it helps enhance overall business value.

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The global AIOps market is estimated to reach USD 237 billion by 2025. These statistics highlight impressive growth that is majorly supported by modern technologies such as machine learning, big data platform, and predictive analytics.

How can Testers Contribute to AIOps Operations?

For the implementation of AIOps, you need to gather a team of testing professionals having a clear idea about the components and steps involved. Similar to DevOps, AIOps also requires a significant cultural shift with the tester placed in an important position.

At the beginning of AIOps implementation, testers’ team needs to get familiar with the AI and ML terminologies. This step is essential and proves beneficial while imparting training. To understand the complete role of a professional tester in an AIOps environment, let us stress on the pre- and post-implementation stages for better insight.

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Pre-Implementation Stage of AIOps

AIOps is known to assist teams in smartly carrying out performance testing operations. Usually, performance testing is conducted during the staging environment but without the involvement of production-related data.

Before AIOps is actually implemented, the testing team ensures the scripting of performance testing scenarios. These are then reviewed in collaboration with business and development teams.

The latter approach by the testing team is to execute the load tests. According to professionals’ tests, it was revealed that the scripting failed while the server collapsed when it reached peak memory usage. At this moment, the utilization of system resources was reasonably high.  

While the testers analyze the script execution results and application log files, they can ask the IT support team for additional assistance. This includes a comprehensive analysis by the IT team focused on various alerts related to the APM monitoring system.

Post-Implementation Stage of AIOps

During this phase, the testers select performance testing scenarios by seeking help from the IT & infrastructure teams. This stage acts useful towards better decision-making carried out by the business & development teams.

After implementing AIOps, the IT support team gets to prepare curative automated scripts for handling the peak usage of various system resources. At the time of performance test execution, the testers are notified regarding dynamic errors, which are carefully resolved by the IT team’s scripts.

Hence, system resources are very well managed; therefore, the testing team can completely dedicate themselves to performance testing activities. It is essential to understand that even after implementing AIOps, the testers’ capabilities are utilized from time to time per system resources. 

The post AIOps Role of Testing Professionals for Successful Implementation appeared first on ImpactQA.

Although the lockdown restrictions have started to ease up, several companies have maintained their policy of work from home on both full- time and part-time basis. For instance, you can easily check out big companies like Amazon and Facebook which have clearly announced that their employees won’t be resuming offices by the end of 2020.

There are even cases where certain enterprises are even discussing permanent guidelines associated with work from home. Twitter is a fine example, as the company’s CEO, Jack Dorsey, released an extraordinary statement addressing his employees to maintain the process of working from home “forever.” This permanent remote-work policy deployed by the Twitter CEO was an eye-opener for many giant firms that surely made them rethink about their employee safety measures during the ongoing COVID-19 scare.

Technology has proven effective in permitting remote work to operate in a smooth and productive manner. Maintenance of a collaborative environment even from home is all thanks to technology but we cannot ignore the impact it has caused to the software testing & QA sector. DevOps and the functions of development teams have been facing new challenges related to working processes and deliveries. This write-up is aimed at elaborating the impact of remote work on DevOps services and development activities.

Scope of DevOps during Remote Work

Considering the primary challenges posed on DevOps, the related teams have to look for solutions to maintain a mutual work order that streamlines interactions between DevOps service providers and clients.

With virtual engagement gaining prominence during this pandemic, the customers are eventually going to request for more services and features. This will directly provide an opportunity for developers to launch new software at a faster rate. Furthermore, with improvements in the development cycles, there would be increased traction to spot security vulnerabilities as part of the production process.

It is believed that as remote work extends in the coming months, organizations will need to clinch onto DevSecOps tools merged with agile techniques to upkeep the pace of software development.

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DevOps & Cloud-Native Operations

Over the years, many software testing companies have already understood the potential of DevOps with a view to extracting high-performance benefits. For the ones trying to make a mark with DevOps initiatives, there is the latest trend that has emerged due to the popularity of remote work.

You can call it an upgrade to the DevOps initiatives that companies are now focusing more on cloud-native programs permanently. This is all part of the shifting work culture that even established software development organizations have to remodel their DevOps goals.

For companies that had already become cloud-native a few years back, it is the perfect time for them to start adapting to the new version of cloud-native DevOps. It is vital to specify that the availability of cloud and SaaS operations are marked as a remedy for employees to maintain normal work activities from home. On a broader front, any organization can redefine and redevelop its DevOps & Development strategies with cloud-native facilitating business activities.

Impact on Firmware

Talking about new influences in the DevOps arena, there has been a serious change in firmware as well. There have been specified challenges with firmware during this ongoing pandemic since both hardware and software are involved. With remote work policy, the act of processing DevOps along with continuous integration (CI)/continuous delivery (CD) for a particular firmware developer has majorly transformed.

Typically, the firmware is all about associating an integration environment onto hardware components. This operation is carried out in the presence of the whole team where the devices are passed on and the developer can incorporate the firmware onto the device. However, in these challenging circumstances, the firmware developer now takes the device home.

DevOps processes have been hampered during remote work. For instance, the act of automating the whole process of fixing the firmware onto a hardware device requires an upgraded approach. QA experts and beta testers are now required to carry out operations with updated firmware which is already equipped with the latest features and bug fixes.

The extent of COVID-19 scare is still uncertain and hence, software testing organizations need to scale up their DevOps offerings. With due observation, not only DevOps but other software testing segments such as test automation and security testing services have also undergone serious changes in the past few months. The availability of efficient software testing companies like ImpactQA has proven advantageous since they have assisted tech organizations to smartly adapt to new ways.

The post How Remote Work Impacts DevOps & Development? appeared first on ImpactQA.

Currently, the merger of QA testing in DevOps has been readily acknowledged by several technology leaders from around the globe. It not only proves beneficial for bettering business goals but also impacts the development cycle.

Dependability on QA & Software Testing for DevOps

The role of testing in DevOps has several responsibilities that need to be addressed for better insight. Here are a few important pointers you should get familiar with:

• The inclusion of QA & software testing should be utilized for detecting bugs in the initial stages of the development cycle.

• QA testing must ensure that the various environments needed for testing processes are standardized and automated.

• With QA & software testing brought into the picture, bigger problems should be highlighted apart from bug fixes. The act of improving the development process with recommended changes are all part of it.

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QA & Software Testing Practices in DevOps

In the recent past, experts have skillfully concluded some of the best DevOps QA practices, which are advantageous for modern business models. Below mentioned are few of the vital QA & software testing practices in DevOps:

• The quality of the software product should be well-defined. The QA testing model is expected to primarily concentrate on achieving supreme user experience.

• The QA and testing teams must be brought in collaboration with the technical teams. Their approach should surpass manual functional testing to mainly focus on automation strategies.

• It is necessary to optimize the goals of the involved teams with a vision to strengthen quality assurance.

• QA & software testing approach should be majorly inclined towards automated regression testing of decisive areas.

• QA’s role in DevOps should push the teams to get readily involved in the overall requirements process for properly guiding the development teams.

• The sole purpose of QA & software testing is based on supporting the use of automation tools for initiating automation testing.

• To actively deploy continuous integration, all stakeholders need to combine their work regularly.

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Importance of Continuous Software Testing in DevOps

In order to properly incorporate software testing in DevOps, it is required to structure an automated test process that is capable of offering feedback on a timely basis. For instance, you need to have integration testing present on the build server, along with functional testing with its utmost requirement on the test server. Furthermore, we must also realize the need for deployment testing on the staging server.

Obviously, there are hindrances in the path of a team’s ability for incorporating DevOps. For instance, test automation does take time and it is not practically possible to automate every plausible test. Therefore, you need to structure a well-defined automation strategy. Your automated test development must focus on critical areas such as key functionality. It surely will prove productive to pick out early defects in new code right before automation, since the bugs might pose difficulties during automated test development.

The usefulness of QA to DevOps is seen as a blessing for streamlining the development cycle. With these above-mentioned practices of software testing in DevOps, you can improvise on SDLC to deliver quality products. For gaining enhanced knowledge about this particular methodology, you can reach out to professional DevOps testing company at ImpactQA. Each of your questions can be quickly resolved by these efficient testers at the earliest.

The post Role of Software Testing in DevOps appeared first on ImpactQA.

Testing experts and professionals view DevOps as a cultural swing which has initiated the amalgamation of QA, development and operations. Therefore, there isn’t any single product that can specifically be tagged as the perfect DevOps tool. In order to associate with different stages of a DevOps toolchain, there usually a collection of tools involved. It is imperative to note the tools used for each stage do vary for different organizations, type of applications and skill level of the testers.

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Business Advantages of DevOps Testing

The technological benefits of DevOps testing while treating your applications always act as the prime focus. Below mentioned are some of the vital advantages of DevOps testing for your organization that shouldn’t be missed.

1. Greater Team Collaborations

To be honest, DevOps builds a strong foundation to refine business agility through an active collaboration and enhanced communication among distributed teams within an organization. Hence, the presence of an encouraging DevOps structure involves all team members who feel responsible for fulfilling timelines and quality standards.

2. Quick Detection of Defects

The availability of a well defined DevOps environment supports knowledge sharing. As a result, the build quality gets strengthened through the deployment of continuous monitoring and constant code testing. Furthermore, teams conveniently pass on feedbacks in order to spot early defects for immediate corrections.

3. Improved Delivery Time

Currently, DevOps testing is held by three strong pillars:

• Automation
• Instant Feedback Cycle
• Continuous Delivery

These components ensure that the software development process gets streamlined in an efficient manner. Interestingly, DevOps supports collaborative methodologies to maintain continuous feedback; this empowers the testing teams to fix defects in time and manage faster releases.

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Smart DevOps Testing Practices

If the approach and practice to implement DevOps testing isn’t right, the whole process can fall into darkness. With a view to avoid failure, here are three important DevOps testing practices you can follow:

1. Deploy Agile Methodology

 In relation to software development, you can define ‘methodology’ as a way to refine the development process. The team of testers and developers can abide a set of instructions to create a plan and systematically manage the process. Presently, a large number of organizations are following Agile methodology in relation to their development process.

It should be understood that Agile enables continuous integration. Hence, its direct implementation permits the software development process to be cut down into smaller tasks. Furthermore, Agile conveniently addresses a difficult problem by cutting it short into controllable pieces of modules. The ease of handling iterations results in greater product quality that is one of the prime benefits of DevOps.

2. Selection of Accurate Tools

The selection of DevOps tools is one of the fundamental factors before carrying out any practice. It should be remembered that each of these tools must be consistent in accordance with software developers as well as the operational team. Below mentioned are some of the varied categories of DevOps tools that are preferred for diverse practices.

• Continuous Delivery Tools
• Version Control Tools
• Continuous Testing  Tools
• Monitoring Tools
• Agile Tools

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3. Process Documentation

Documentation is very important for DevOps since it is based on an active collaboration between different teams that are part of a software lifecycle. To be clear, the operations team monitors and analyzes several applications and systems simultaneously; therefore, there is a need to safe keep data on a timely basis. The primary documents covered are mainly business rules and their methods of implementation. With correct documentation you can structure a useful reference based on which the system can easily maintain a smooth process.

For attaining precise knowledge related to DevOps and its practices, you can connect with software testing company, ImpactQA. The team of skilled professionals will surely update you about the latest practices along with industrial trends.

The post DevOps Testing: Advantages and Best Practices appeared first on ImpactQA.

The sole purpose of DevOps is to automate and simplify the overall software delivery process. At present, most organizations focus on structuring a booming DevOps testing strategy that initiates the adoption of agile best practices related to Continuous Integration (CI). This operation involves developers to check code within a shared repository multiple times in a day. Every check-in is later verified using an automated build, thereby, permitting teams to identify errors and potential conflicts.

Identify the Correct DevOps Testing Arrangement

With most DevOps projects, the aim is to automate the maximum number of manual processes falling under the software delivery process. It is essential to keep track of major roadblocks within the DevOps pipeline that can lead to slow deployment. This includes error-prone manual processes like exchange actions from a development group to a QA group. Such handoffs point out to lack of shared possession of the end product, simply opposing to the basic development and agile testing methodology. This is the reason why testing involving an agile DevOps assignment is conducted by the entire team comprising of developers and testers. Talking about the DevOps testing advantages, the testing operations are managed continuously, and if needed even after the applications enter the production stage.

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How to Create a DevOps Testing Approach?

Creating a suitable DevOps testing strategy requires a careful assessment of the application or software. Further, there is a blend of several important facets that should be put in place to plan a proficient testing arrangement.

Let us focus on five key tips which help structure a successful DevOps testing strategy.

1. Prioritize Soft Skills

One of the prime challenges faced by testers is the adoption of DevOps centers focused on soft skills. In simple terms, DevOps does require testers to get involved in multiple testing phases during the software development Lifecycle. Therefore, you need to flex communication among testers and further merge skills which they haven’t essentially used in the past.

For instance, while managing a DevOps environment, testers are required to attend a planning session to communicate freely with developers about how & what needs to get tested.  

2. Concentrate on Fundamental Coding Skills

Apart from better soft skills, testers are also required to focus on basic coding skills. This is important to uplift their great role in the whole software development lifecycle. Talking about DevOps, testers are responsible to maintain the quality of the product as well as the process quality so as to successfully launch that product in the market. As a fact, testers are like doorkeepers who move the software from one space to the other.

Some of the prime responsibilities of the testers about fundamental skills are:

• They must check build logs, establish proper functioning of automated tests and comprehend how the software will operate at a much-rooted level

• Furthermore, testers should eagerly get involved with the delivery process to guide the software to pass the development lifecycle at a faster rate. This action leads to produce a superior quality end product

3. Emphasis on Test Optimization

For controlling a swift DevOps space, test automation is a basic necessity. In these modern times, there is a need to think vast and allow crucial changes to enhance test automation processes. You need to optimize the overall testing strategy for reaping satisfactory results.

According to experts, solely stressing on test automation without any measures for optimizing the DevOps testing strategy can limit the efficiency of the selected tool. On the other hand, if test optimization actions are systematically managed, they help enhance efficiency by activating the correct collaboration of unit, integration as well as functional automation in harmony with manual testing.

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4. Timely Completed Automation

Delaying to address a problem can prove dangerous in the long run. Hence, you should not let a problem worsen in the DevOps world as it can escalate quickly. Such a scenario can arise if you run numerous manual tests instead of managing an automated approach.

To cure this situation, it is sensible to implement frameworks that authorize automated tests to get completed before the software passes onto the production phase. One way to achieve it is through layering a combination of Test Driven Development (TDD) along with Behavior Driven Development (BDD) for ensuring testability, greater efficiency, and advance collaboration.

5. Cloud Utilization

For several organizations, DevOps heavily depends on cloud infrastructure which allows practitioners to stipulate and request resources. There is no compulsion for the cloud to be Amazon Web Services. The creation of an internal private cloud is very well received.

There have been cases when enterprises planning to uplift DevOps have struggled with legacy infrastructure that at times avoids interfering with advanced tools. However, in most cases a transition like this transforms as a requirement for the successful adoption of DevOps testing strategy.

This write-up presents a profound analysis of the importance of a correct DevOps testing strategy. The pointers mentioned above are of great help that streamlines the testing process and ensures a hassle-free action for software delivery. You can consult professional software testing company.., ImpactQA for receiving better insight about an effective DevOps testing strategy.

The post 5 Tips to Structure DevOps Testing Strategy appeared first on ImpactQA.

With technology being embraced in all aspects of our lives, its influence is expanding. Organizations want to fully take advantage of this growth, leading many to go through a total digital transformation to accelerate processes, develop innovations, and embrace opportunities. Quality assurance has an integral role in the journey of digital transformation. Implementing quality checkpoints along the path assures the desired business outcomes, as well as end-user satisfaction—the ultimate objective.

A complete digital transformation affects business processes at every level. Quality assurance efforts strengthen the product at each transition throughout the development lifecycle and mitigate challenges posed by new technology. QA is in the best supporting role in any organization’s digital initiative to safeguard performance and security. Luckily, enterprises advancing in the direction of expanded digitalization already recognize the associated risks and see the big picture of quality challenges. Therefore, many of them do not hesitate to expand their quality measures and spend a larger chunk of their IT budget on QA alone. Good quality assurance measures meet the three major objectives of a company’s digital transformation: protecting the corporate image, increasing quality awareness, and ensuring end-user satisfaction. Let’s break down these critical aspects. Protecting the customer experience and brand: QA efforts measure end-user experiences across multiple digital platforms. This improves accessibility, reduces response time, and increases the consistency of the brand. A good QA program can address the challenges of testing customer experience in multi-channel solutions:

• Getting the right coverage of end-user expectations and requirements in the test set
• Implementing and using test tools for customer experience testing
• Designing test cases
• Establishing environments and test data for customer experience testing

Lifecycle Automation: QA speeds up the transformation process not only by application-level automation but also by lifecycle automation. Apart from taking advantage of conventional automation, QA focuses on testing the entire lifecycle, thus assuring cross-platform compatibility and customer-experience testing. Quality user experience is a competency that’s not just related to the dev or testing team. Rather, it’s something that you need to work for as an entire unit. This is exactly what can be achieved with DevOps and test-driven development. Advanced analytics data support: QA makes use of advanced analytical technologies to mine data from various social and commercial platforms that can be used in productive decision-making. This gives quality insight into all stages of the end-to-end customer experience.A good QA program provides the most complete quality view, allowing dev teams to execute and analyze manual, automated, and performance tests for digital channels side by side, on desktop browsers and real mobile devices, under real end-user conditions. With this expansion, users can apply a single quality strategy to deliver seamless, responsive web and multichannel experiences.

Security – The Driving Force of Digital Transformation When an organization introduces digital transformation in its processes, quality assurance too becomes important. And in times companies are switching over to the digital mode in a bid to stay ahead of competition, and automation testing is helping them deliver increased efficiency. According to Raffi Margaliot, Senior Vice President & General Manager, Application Delivery Management, at HP Software,“Technology disruptions such as the Internet of Things (IoT), Big Data, and mobility are leading to faster business transformations than ever before. Companies have to pivot quickly in order to stay ahead of the curve, compete, and conform to the new style of business”.

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Organizations have increased their budget allocation for QA and digital testing and it will only go up in the coming years to ensure a perfect environment for their customers. Companies have realized that to stay ahead of the competition, they have to invest more in their IT budget. A report in 2015 found that 43% of executives foresee an increase in IT spending budgets and a 9% year-on-year increase in the budget directed towards testing and quality assurance. According to the experts, testing is critical when going digital. One of the biggest challenges in digital transformation is the security. Companies have to continuously invest in testing systems that ensure the integrity of their processes and applications. Digital security cannot be taken lightly by any organization that hopes to rise in business and wants to offer a smooth experience to its customers. Another reason why experts are in favor of testing is because these days the product life cycle is very short and there is a demand for greater agility. Organizations are modernizing their testing processes to meet these shorter life cycle programs. Digital Transformation has affected the way traditional business is done. There are a whole new set of processes that have to be incorporated in the system to deliver productive customer experiences and consequent business benefits. In view of tough competition, the need of the hour is for flexible and rapid delivery of software and systems. This is made possible only through the modes of testing, which themselves have evolved into a whole new process. Test automation is not enough by itself. What is needed is its integration with development processes so that testing becomes an integral part of overall business strategy.

Why Give QA a Seat at the Table? Nothing is new in the list of responsibilities I listed and QA has been performing some or all of these roles in many application development practices for some time. If you’re already investing in DevOps, you can’t achieve continuous delivery without factoring in some of these practices. The issue is that these needs are not given equal hearing in a DevOps transformation and QA seems to be getting step-motherly treatment and being squeezed out by their more aggressive Dev and Ops siblings. The mindset among many business and technical managers is that QA is still “the activity you do after the application is developed (they are still hooked up to the waterfall model although their teams have moved to agile development)”, and that developers should be writing bug-free code, and that whatever validations are required can be performed by the business or end users during UAT. Such projects are more likely to invest in additional developer resources if they believe it will gain them functionality or time to market. The CIO and IT leaders in these programs are then more likely to invest their efforts in maturing development (Dev) and operational practices (Ops) without learning quality assurance tools, best practices, and governance. This can also result in driving the project costs of such programs high. Whether you’d like some general advice with QA and Delivery issues or if you’d just like to say hello – you can reach us using these details. P: (214) 347-9928 or email: solutions@impactqa.com

The post DevOps – Giving QA a Seat at the DevOps and Digital Transformation Table appeared first on ImpactQA.