SaaS (Software-as-a-Service) is creating a huge buzz all over, which has made its presence even in the software testing industry. What is SaaS? Is the hype worth it? How will it help in testing? What are the advantages and challenges? Let’s shed some light on all these questions and understand how SaaS-based testing will help your business.
Before getting into SaaS-based testing let’s understand a little more about just SaaS. Going by the textbook definition SaaS or Software as a Service is a Cloud-based service where applications are delivered over the internet as a service. It is one of the easier ways to use applications where you don’t have to install or maintain any hardware or software, all you do is avail the application on a subscription basis. Hosting, database, server maintenance etc are taken care of by the vendor who is providing the application.
SaaS testing is performed to check if the application created using the SaaS model is performing as expected. It tests all the functional and non-functional aspects of the application to ensure they are working without any flaws. There are a number of SaaS-based tools available today, one of the reliable SaaS-based testing platforms is Tenjin Online. It is a simple, codeless, and self-serviced test automation platform that offers ease and efficiency for testing web and mobile applications.
Why is SaaS-based testing popular?
As services are being delivered over the internet, organizations are building and maintaining applications with SaaS-based approach. To ensure the quality of the SaaS models are high, SaaS-based testing is performed; it is gaining popularity for the ease and accuracy it offers. Here are some of the reasons SaaS-based testing is being preferred by all:
Improved scalability: As a business grows, it attracts more and more customers creating a solid customer base. When the number of people using your application increase, the load also increases causing the application to crash at peak load. However, scalability issues are resolved while working on Cloud environment. Cloud environments should scale to accommodate the unpredicted load, prevent crashing, and improve app performance. SaaS-testing helps to improve scalability by thoroughly evaluating the associated challenges.
Cost-saving: Testing processes usually require a framework, infrastructure, resources, and involve cost to setup the appropriate testing environment. However, SaaS offers the complete setup of hardware and software of the test environment, on a subscription basis. Organizations can purchase monthly or annual subscriptions and use the entire test environment, hence, saving immensely on infrastructural and operational costs.
Easy accessibility: Unlike other testing setup which requires infrastructural facilities and accessibility gets rigid, testing of SaaS platforms require only a browser and internet connection. This easy accessibility makes the SaaS-testing most preferred.
Resilience: Infrastructural and operational disruption can affect the whole process, causing it to disrupt. As most of the infrastructural and operational part is taken care of in SaaS testing, it builds resilience and strengthens the process and offers accurate results.
Automation Opportunities in SaaS Testing
Organizations are moving towards SaaS platforms for the quicker services they offer, hence, the testing is also expected to perform quickly and give accurate results. To work at this speed, only automating the testing process will help. Automation helps in easing the tedious regression tasks, removes the complexity of manual testing, streamlines the process and offers accurate results. Cloud platforms also support complex processes like Device Farm; it is difficult to test them manually. Automation makes testing a breeze, easing the whole process. By automating testing, the outcome is accurate and consistent, while it ensures efficiency and reduces considerably on time, cost, and effort.
Conclusion
SaaS platforms are built to drive business growth and improve ROI, hence, organizations are moving towards SaaS platforms for better business. SaaS testing is performed to ensure that the application built on SaaS platforms is of high quality. Testing includes functional testing, performance testing, security testing, and cross-browser testing. SaaS testing is one of the preferred testing used by organizations today.