APIs could very well be the ‘wheels’ of software development. Populating GitHub with over 3.2 million repositories, these software intermediaries make communication between applications easier and allow developers to easily access and use existing coding infrastructure. The result? Apps come to life quickly and get scaled effectively. Most testers will also tell you that using APIs simplifies testing.
For instance, given APIs are machine-readable, businesses can automate testing with tools, reducing the total man-hours testers usually spend otherwise. Furthermore, test cases get executed easily, given that APIs follow specific standards and a consistent interface for communication. But perhaps most importantly, APIs enable testers to conduct tests for specific application components in isolation without the complete development of associated structures. This means, thanks to APIs, developers can identify issues faster and address them effectively as well. (We compiled a more extensive set of reasons for why API testing can help you shift left more effectively. Find it here.)
Ask a tester how much time they spend testing APIs, and they’ll give you a ballpark of an ungodly amount of hours, despite all these advancements. But why?
Challenges faced during API testing
Manual onboarding of APIs Tens of APIs get activated every time one performs an action on an application. And given several actions result in a process, it takes hundreds of APIs working in unison to perform a particular task. Keeping track of the functioning of all these APIs can be a challenging task, which is why developers tend to onboard APIs manually to help them with it.
It’s worth noting that manually onboarding APIs one by one is extremely time-consuming. But testers prefer it given it helps them perform tasks like API document verification and run other tests simultaneously.
Knowledge of business application process Knowing the function of an API is fundamental in the testing process, given it helps testers understand how APIs work individually and in conjunction with each other, to develop effective testing protocols. However, testers are required to do the grunt work of reading documentation and conducting calls with developer teams for this. Moreover, familiarising oneself with API functions is a time-consuming process in itself.
Coding background necessary From understanding API functionality to developing API tests, the testing process requires a basic understanding of code. Amateur API QA testers may therefore find developing tests intimidating and learning coding basics time-consuming.
Long story short, despite the advancements in tech, API testing is complex, given it requires having a thorough understanding of API functions and code. The process is also extremely time-consuming, given the reliance on manual onboarding and developer catch-ups involved. And must we mention the costs associated with bungled-up API tests? We’re talking about longer time spent in development and, worst case, angry users.
A reliable API testing tool could be the difference between being known as a business with a good app user experience or being dragged on social media for not having one. And we might have a tool to help you with the former.
Qyrus API Discovery plugin: Your personal API discovery assistant
Few tools in the market help streamline all aspects of API testing. Fewer still are intuitive and easy to use. The Qyrus API Discovery plugin is a rare blend of both. Essentially a Google Chrome plugin, the tool makes identifying, and testing, APIs a breeze. Here’s some more scoop into the benefits of the tool.
Record relevant API calls Qyrus’ API Discovery extension records all API calls in a web application or the User Acceptance testing environment, depending on your business use case. Furthermore, these recorded APIs can be exported as API tests and stored on the cloud. Once recorded, testers can also view the explanation of the API call on the plugin. That means they no longer need to spend hours going through developer docs to understand the functioning of the API.
Find relations between APIs through graphs Along with recording APIs, testers can identify dependencies easily using the API discovery tool. Put another way, they can generate API processes. Through this, testers understand the direction of the data flow and help them develop useful tests to understand the efficiency of the APIs involved in performing a particular task.
Generate assertions to battle test APIs QA engineers verify the functioning of APIs through assertions. Essentially, they generate the expected response first, then run the test to check if the response matches it. This is why generating assertions requires a fair understanding of coding. The API Discovery tool helps you automate software testing with artificial intelligence. Essentially, it uses Generative AI to create assertions from the header and body code and also runs the API test for you, simplifying the API testing process even further.
Qyrus provides customers exactly what they desire – a smart, consistent, and integrated test experience that supports end-to-end processes across platforms, with automation capabilities.
A quick API testing process reduces the time from software development to deployment significantly. It helps QA testers and engineers recognize and resolve critical errors earlier, reducing costs and turnaround time, and enhancing security in the process. This, in turn, helps businesses introduce updates and application upgrades quickly and effectively. Furthermore, it helps businesses resolve bugs quicker, thereby reducing the instances of a subpar customer app experience.
Qyrus provides testers with an easy-to-use and intuitive platform that streamlines all tedious API testing tasks and offers rich reporting. The best part? It is available as a Google Chrome extension and can be used by a variety of users to simplify their existing software testing processes.
So, automate API testing with artificial intelligence. Try the API discovery extension yourself!
Alright, folks, buckle up because we’re about to dive into a new Feature Friday adventure that’s as thrilling as a rollercoaster ride! We’re talking about script version control in the world of mobility. If you’ve ever wondered how you can keep your test scripts in check and travel back in time with them, Joyal and Linto from Qyrus have got the scoop for you. They’ll unravel the mysteries of versioning test scripts in Mobile testing. So grab your favorite snack, hit that comfy chair, and journey through the fascinating world of test script time travel!
Tell us more about script version control in mobility and its use cases.
Joyal: This feature creates multiple different versions of a test script. Beyond just being able to clone and copy tests, users can also take advantage of versioning it out. This means anyone can view previous versions and even revert test scripts back to their previous versions.
Linto: A sample use case would be a user having to make edits or changes to an existing test script after a product update, release, or hotfix. That way, these changes can be tracked alongside other team members.
What is the overall impact on the testing process this feature might have?
Linto: In general, versioning helps reduce the effort required to build out new versions of test scripts. This helps mainly during script building and creation in the testing lifecycle and process. The ability to version existed previously in our Web testing service, but now we’re expanding this into other areas of Qyrus. As we’re discussing today, we’ve expanded that into Mobile testing.
Joyal: Also, this feature significantly simplifies troubleshooting and issue identification. If an unexpected problem arises in a new build, testers can refer back to previous versions of the test script to pinpoint when and where the issue was introduced. This forensic approach to testing helps in isolating and addressing problems more swiftly.
How might this feature help testers, developers, and business technologists? What value can this feature bring?
Joyal: Testers can create a master project with all the test scripts for their most stable app version. Then, they can version the project and change the test scripts to match the changes in the new app build. Once those app changes become stable and get released, the tester can update their scripts in a master project with the scripts in the cloned project, so the master project has the latest version of the scripts to test the most stable app build.
Linto: Similarly, a developer could use Qyrus for their possible unit and preliminary testing. Business technologists and business-oriented users wouldn’t have to figure out how to use something like GitHub or other such software.
Does the same or similar functionality exist without Qyrus, and how do competitors address similar problems?
Joyal: Before Qyrus, a tester would have to manually build out these integrations to version control systems in a traditional automated testing ecosystem. Competitors most likely have integrations with systems like GitHub, GitLab, and more. However, for most competitors, this is not something that’s inherently built into their platforms like ours.
Linto: Yeah, and on top of that, we also have integrations with all versioning control systems. So it’s not like they have us beat there!
How do you see this feature impacting day-to-day operations across organizations?
Joyal: On a day-to-day basis, the user would not have to make new projects, suites, and scripts to test new versions or application changes. This can all be done by cloning the master project and modifying the scripts. The user has access to all the versions of the scripts that match app builds, such that they would have a version of scripts for each build.
So, there you have it, our fantastic time-traveling feature for script version control in Mobile testing. With this, testing becomes efficient and smooth as a perfectly rolled bowling ball down the lane. Testers, developers, and business technologists are in for a treat. Say goodbye to test script headaches and hello to a brighter, more productive testing future. It’s like having a DeLorean for your testing scripts!
It is estimated that in 2029, the mobile applications solutions market will be worth US$ 20.3 billion. Also, by 2027, worldwide mobile app revenue is expected to touch US$732.75 billion; these figures illustrate the growing popularity of mobile apps and the fact that more and more businesses will see mobile apps as a critical driver of revenue generation. Suppose your company is building or wants to build a mobile app and bite into this vast and growing revenue pie. In that case, it must ensure that this app meets all performance, usability, and functionality benchmarks and the expectations of its target users.
Apps suffer from a very high failure rate, and apart from the usual reasons of lack of demand and user engagement, we can point a figure to performance and functional issues as some of the other reasons why apps fail. No one likes a buggy app, and therefore, an extensive mobile app testing service is essential to building a successful app.
However, mobile testing presents challenges that are difficult to overcome. Device fragmentation, numerous screen resolutions, different device models, and massive user journeys are just some challenges that make mobile testing a long, drawn-out, and complex exercise.
But this is only if you leverage a traditional, time-consuming, error-prone, and expensive mobile testing service. Moving to a more modern and advanced approach to mobile testing can make testing more uncomplicated, effective, widen coverage, and productive.
But what does this approach look like? Let us take a look at some of the mobile testing trends driving this approach and which are making the lives of testers, testing engineers, and all testing stakeholders a whole lot simpler and more outcomes-focused:
Automation Leverage automation in mobile testing to build test scripts quickly across many scenarios to improve test coverage. With the ability to execute tests automatically, you can speed up the testing process and make it more accurate. Moreover, you can conduct a test for multiple devices parallelly, reducing the testing time. Also, automation makes test scripts reusable, meaning a test script built for functional testing can be imported and executed for performance testing. By integrating automation into your mobile testing services, you can move mobile testing to the early stages of the development cycle, allowing testers and developers to work in conjunction to get rid of bugs and test app feasibility in an agile environment. Automation also ensures key stakeholders, including testers, developers, and business users, can benefit from a collaborative testing effort to ensure that features, release cycles, and application functionality align with pre-determined objectives. Read the related article: Codeless Testing and Automation testing– Why is it important to be ready?
Cloud-Based Device Farms A device farm is a hosting location for many devices your business wants to test for, but they come with infrastructure support and maintenance expenses. This is why you must move your mobile testing from a traditional device farm to a dedicated cloud-based device farm that offers numerous and diverse mobile devices and tablets for testing. What’s more, it is vital to choose a platform that allows you to test on multiple devices and operating systems simultaneously to accelerate the testing lifecycle. Also, choose a cloud-based platform that helps you conduct tests on many devices and deliver actionable insights based on critical metrics such as battery consumption, memory usage, CPO, etc.
Artificial Intelligence Today, everyone is discussing AI and its impact across various industries. Testing is not immune to the power of AI, and with the market size for AI in testing estimated to touch US$ 1.63 billion by 2030, there is no prize for guessing that it is making a significant impact in mobile testing services. The job of AI in mobile testing is not just about simplifying and accelerating the testing process, but also about improving testing coverage.
Every tester will recognize the difficulty of creating test scripts for every user flow on the mobile app. But AI integrated with a mobile test automation tool can do this job efficiently. It can traverse your mobile app, record the traversal, and help build and export test scripts based on the collected information. This simplifies the testing of visual user interfaces, which is a big challenge in mobile testing. AI helps identify specific flows in the app that a tester might have overlooked or did not know existed. They can leverage the report to visualize navigational flows users can take to build tests efficiently. Moreover, they also get clarity into the performance metrics, which, together with the user navigation flow information, helps improve test coverage. Read the related eBook: How Artificial Intelligence is Shaping the QA and Testing Space
AI can also help testers save time spent modifying, refactoring, and maintaining scripts. Testing problems can occur when testers are unaware of the development team changing/updating/modifying a locator value of certain elements. In such cases, tests can fail, with the tester having to update all such values across test scripts. Here, AI can monitor and make changes to scripts as necessary without the tester having to make manual updates. The result is a marked reduction in test flakiness and brittleness.
A Modern Tool for a Modern Approach Qyrus is an AI-enhanced, codeless, automation testing platform that facilitates test building, and execution, increased test coverage, reduced testing costs, and improved testing efficiency. It offers a range of features, including Rover, Healer, Mobile Recorder, Mobile Performance Profiling, Mobile Native Locators, and many more, to help optimize your mobile testing efforts and build a robust mobile app. With Qyrus, you not only embark on a modern testing approach but can transform your testing environment to ensure it can meet the mobile testing needs of the present and future.
Greetings, Qyrus trailblazers! It’s Feature Friday, and we’ve got a game-changer that’s as exciting as winning a round of your favorite video game. Ananya and Jorell are your in-game guides, demonstrating how to master our fresh API Process test building updates. It’s like discovering a secret level in the testing world, filled with power-ups and shortcuts. Ready to level up your testing skills?
Tell us more about our updates to API Process test building!
Ananya: The new way to build API Process tests is out! It offers a new perspective on chaining or stitching together the APIs to make the process test itself. Previously, we would chain the APIs together and go to a new screen to configure the connections, but now it’s all seamlessly built together on the same page.
Jorell: Overall, this is more user-friendly and also offers an “all-in-one package,” so to speak. Instead of splitting the experiences, it makes more sense to have users configure the connections from where they make the connections themselves.
What is the overall impact on the testing process this update has?
Ananya: Simply put, it makes building out the test easier. One important aspect is that everything is done on the same page now, as we mentioned. It prevents the user from getting or feeling lost and losing train of focus.
Jorell: You know when you’re sitting at your workstation, and you have to get something from another room, but when you walk into that room, you completely forget what you were looking for? Believe it or not, a similar thing can happen to people when using applications. If that thing that you needed happened to be right next to you, then you’d not even have to get up or stop your workflow in the first place.
How might these updates help testers, developers, and business technologists? What value can this feature bring?
Jorell: Testers can organize and build out these API process tests more effectively. Again, going back to what I just said, they’d have all the details in one place.
Ananya: Developers would probably find the process themselves less convoluted and might find themselves writing out their own simple API Process tests. The goal of Qyrus is to make testing more accessible, and that means even for developers.
Jorell: Finally, business technologists would have an easier time visualizing and understanding API flows’ more technical aspects and what their teams are testing. This helps them be on the same page as the testers.
Does the same or similar functionality exist without Qyrus, and how do competitors address similar problems?
Ananya: Without Qyrus, users must either build out these visuals and systems themselves or do it all programmatically and from the code. This would work retroactively by making testing more accessible and easy to understand for all parties involved.
How do you see these updates impacting day-to-day operations across organizations?
Jorell: Seeing the whole API flow in one view reduces the margin for errors when building out these tests.
Ananya: You can see the data flows and stitches in one view and get metrics on your API tests, both individually and for the whole flow.
In a world where testing complexity often rivals the most intricate mazes, Ananya and Jorell have unveiled the treasure map for seamless API Process test building. Think of it as the “X” that marks the spot where efficiency meets simplicity. Testers, developers, and business technologists can now set sail on smoother seas, charting their courses confidently and precisely. These updates are your trusty compass, guiding you through the daily operations with clarity and speed. So, hoist your sails and prepare for a testing adventure like no other because the wind is at your back, and the horizon is boundless!
Annie Leonard, Executive Director of Greenpeace USA, famously said, “If we throw something away, it has to go somewhere.” Waste management companies work day in and day out to make that happen. Many companies in the USA use advanced software to manage tasks efficiently. These tasks include collections, waste disposal, logistics, inventory, and supply chain distribution. Bugs, when present, can cause this intricate web of systems to completely break down, impacting both customer service and the health and safety of communities.
With over 50,000 employees and 15.2 billion in revenue, the client is a Fortune 500 North American leader in garbage collection, recycling pickup, and waste disposal services with extensive requirements in field service monitoring and organization (collection trucks and drivers), inventory management (garbage & recycling centers), and supply chain distribution and logistics. The company adopted a digital transformation dependent on API technology to make their workflows seamless.
This waste management case study is the success story of how the company leveraged automated API software testing to help with it and the corresponding test automation ROIs.
The problems Behind the success story of every company is a long list of problems the company addressed. This one had three major software testing issues across two of its applications – an e-commerce application and an internal business application.
Outdated manual testing approach Revamping both the e-commerce application and the internal business process application meant that there would be a net increase in the total number of API endpoints. Furthermore, since the company was using manual testing processes, it would have to spend extensive time and testers to validate the applications.
Poor test coverage Given the time it would take to test the application APIs individually, the company was forced to limit test case coverage to reduce the resource spend and deliver critical releases on time.
API defects Lack of automation coupled with poor test coverage meant that bugs and inconsistencies appeared throughout applications across different environments. Rectifying these bugs was not only costly but also reduced the speed to market.
The waste management company needed an intuitive, codeless, and automated solution to simplify testing in the initial stages of the development process and facilitate effective sprint cycles to speed up time to market and lower costs. In the next section of this waste management case study, we explore how the company effectively solved all these problems through a test automation solution.
The solution The company improved its software testing process for its e-commerce application and internal business processes application by implementing Qyrus’ automation testing software, a simple, smart, and scalable testing solution. Through implementing the tool, the company witnessed:
Expanded test coverage With Qyrus, the waste management company developed tests for validating the applications end-to-end quickly across browsers, devices, and OS combinations. Furthermore, they facilitated mobile testing using a large variety of custom devices as well.
The company also monitored the success of these tests through robust visual and data-driven reporting and facilitated an inside-out service journey by enabling natural progression. Through these efforts, the company managed to increase its test coverage by 10x.
Improved test execution time The company successfully built hundreds of API-led workflows focused on dynamic data transfer and validation. It also automated the testing of regression suites through Jenkins, further improving test execution time and repurposing functional tests into performance tests. The effect? Test automation ROIs like 4,500+ tests in less than 5 minutes and a 50% decrease in execution time.
Enhanced release quality The company made it a point to rigorously test their applications before release, effectively testing 80+ applications and validating 400+ endpoints. This is how it was able to deliver applications with zero bugs over a 24-month period with Qyrus.
The Impact This waste management case study is the success story of how the company efficiently automated its testing practices with Qyrus.
The test automation ROIs for the company were as follows:
50% decrease in execution time
10x increase in coverage
Zero API bugs leaked into QA and Production over 24 months
Through Qyrus, the company was able to successfully expand its test coverage and improve its testing processes. This translated to a better user experience for customers and company executives.
Hello, testing aficionados! It’s Feature Friday, and we’ve got a treat for you that’s sweeter than a double-chocolate fudge sundae. Parth and Milton are about to uncover the magic behind our email reporting updates. Imagine getting your test results delivered straight to your digital doorstep, neatly packed, and ready to share with your fellow testers. It’s like a testing picnic, and you’re the one bringing the potato salad!
Tell us more about our updates to our email reporting capabilities!
Parth: Some of our updates include more details of the test in the email report itself, so users can directly send these reports to others on their team. Users can now also download reports directly from the email, something we couldn’t do before.
Milton: On top of that, we all know how much people love PDFs! Especially when it comes to providing reports and analytics, it’s just better to consume with. Well, now users can directly view the PDF version of the report via email. These kinds of updates help users quickly share test results with teammates and collaborate more effectively.
What is the overall impact on the testing process these updates might bring?
Parth: Qyrus aims to make the entire testing process more collaborative. Instead of having testers in their own little silos, we can have them communicate and work together more effectively. And these updates are just one way that Qyrus aims to do so.
Milton: Reporting and analytics are definitely a strong aspect of Qyrus. With continuous updates to how we provide data and analytics, we are constantly trying to improve the reporting aspect of the testing process.
How might these updates help testers, developers, and business technologists? What value can this feature bring?
Milton: Testers can directly send these reports as soon as their test finishes to other members, and in turn, those members will receive all details of the execution directly to their email. Developers can be more in tune with the testing process and receive direct reports on bugs that show up in the application.
Parth: Business-oriented users can receive all this information as well but in an easy-to-consume format.
Qyrus aims to make testing more accessible to non-technical individuals, so they can easily interpret what’s going on in their testing ecosystem.
Does the same or similar functionality exist without Qyrus, and how do competitors address similar problems?
Milton: Building up such a robust reporting and analytics system would take a lot of development time for any individual testing team. All of this is already built out on the Qyrus platform and ready for anyone to use at the click of a button.
Parth: And we would say that we offer more robust reporting and analytics to the end user when compared to our competitors.
How do you see these updates impacting day-to-day operations across organizations?
Parth: Well, instead of triggering tests manually, testers can schedule their tests and have the email of the test reports directly sent to anyone on their team.
Milton: They don’t have to build an email report themselves. Qyrus automatically builds it for them, saving them a lot of time. Recipients of these email reports will know all the details of the application directly from the email without having to login to Qyrus.
So, dear Qyrus users, it’s time to embrace these sizzling updates! Sending reports has never been this easy, like tossing a Frisbee on a sunny day. Testers, developers, and business technologists can collaborate effortlessly, and non-tech folks can dive into reports without breaking a sweat. And here’s the cherry on top – we’ve baked in more robust reporting and analytics than your grandma’s secret cookie recipe! So, hop on board with these updates, and let’s make testing a walk in the park!
Global Banks are at risk of losing one in five (20%) of their customers due to poor customer experience, according to 10X banking. This is particularly relevant for mega retail banks, which can’t afford to jeopardize their customer base due to lackluster web and mobile app interactions.
With over 4,500 employees, our client is a retail bank with over 290 branches and a trusted customer brand that offers full-service banking to more than five million customers. They operate on a modern banking platform and serve customers through digital channels, native IOS and Android applications, and in branches across the UK offering personal and business banking options with 1.33 billion in revenue.
That said, they recognized the pitfalls of manual testing—resulting in strained resources, sluggish release cycles, underwhelming web and mobile app performance, and subsequent revenue loss—one retail bank embarked on a mission to overhaul its full-service banking through digital banking testing infrastructure. Their goal? Delivering unmatched user experiences.
The Problems In the context of this banking case study example, the bank sought to establish a dedicated process aimed at improving customer experience across their web and mobile applications. In the process, they encountered obstacles such as:
Inefficient manual testing The manual testing infrastructure led to redundancies in testing, with testers having to re-write test scripts, choking their bandwidth and as a result bottlenecks in product release cycles. The outcome? Inefficient testing, complex bug detection, and resolution.
Additionally, the manual approach impeded the creation of automated CI/CD pipelines, given its inherent requirement for manual intervention.
Direct loss of customers due to inferior apps With inefficient testing came substandard applications, resulting in a less-than-optimal user experience. This directly impacted the bank’s business with a noticeable loss of customers and revenue.
In an effort to put an end to losing customers to competition, the retail bank turned to Qyrus to completely automate its testing framework. The next section of this banking case study example highlights how Qyrus helped achieve this and the magnitude of the transformation.
The Solutions The bank was able to ramp up speed to market by automation resulting in the expansion of test coverage using Qyrus’ testing solutions. End result was a consistent customer experience across its full-service banking infrastructure. Here’s how:
The transition from full manual to automated testing Qyrus prioritized application testing, starting with automated test scripts for mobile and web. Employing cloud-hosted reports featuring step-by-step screenshots and videos of test executions, a foundation for robust, data-driven reporting was established.
The endeavor resulted in a substantial increase in the scale of testing with the bank achieving more than 2,500 automated test executions each week, coupled with over 10,000 manual and object spy sessions per week.
Comprehensive test coverage With Qyrus’ automation came expanded test coverage – from web and mobile to API and end-to-end customer journey test cases. As a consequence, testers could repurpose test scripts, eliminating the need to create scripts anew for scenarios ranging from logging in to verifying balances and other transactions. For perspective, the bank accomplished a test coverage rating of 90%, wherein 100% of the tests generated were automated and reusable.
Leveraging Qyrus’ diverse device farm, the retail bank scaled testing from 30 to over 50 real devices, spanning Android and Apple tablets and mobiles, as well as various browsers (Chrome, FF, Edge, Safari, etc.) and operating systems (Windows, Linux, Mac).
Improved testing and QA through collaboration Qyrus’ testing solution made test sharing among cross-functional teams a breeze with as many as 50 testers, developers, and analysts building automated tests. Furthermore, test de-bugging was simplified owing to live test executions on the web and mobile.
Qyrus’ solution also enabled direct issue logging in Jira,profiling performance metrics for gauging system responsiveness, and visual regression for preventing unintended visual discrepancies across different software builds. All this meant efficient testing, fewer release delays, and faster bug-free releases.
The Impact The retail bank’s success story in this banking case study example exemplifies how testing automation can translate to an unparalleled customer experience, the outcome translated to:
2,500+ automated executions per week
10,000+ manual and object spy sessions per week
90% test case coverage (Web and Mobile)
Expanded usage from 30 to more than 50 devices
Conclusion The banking sector is recognized for its customer-centric approach, and this principle applies equally to digital banking. Battling with the challenges in manual testing and subpar user experiences, the bank benefited from Qyrus’ scalable and secure testing automation solution. The outcome? A remarkable 90% test coverage streamlined operations across web and mobile platforms, and ultimately elevated customer experience to a class of its own.
Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, it’s Feature Friday, and we’ve got a story of partnership that’s sweeter than a scoop of vanilla ice cream on a warm summer day. Today, Suraj and Brett are here to tell us about the incredible collaboration between Qyrus and Quinnox, a duo that’s more dynamic than Batman and Robin, more harmonious than a symphony orchestra, and more unstoppable than a freight train with rocket boosters!
Tell us a little bit more about Qyrus and its parent company, Quinnox.
Suraj: So, Qyrus as a platform was developed by Quinnox, a professional services company with over twenty years of testing experience. As a result, we always have on-hand service members to help clients with testing needs.
Brett: Generally speaking, anytime there is not enough bandwidth in terms of testers required at a project level, clients always have the option to engage our services team to help them test a given application, feature, or release. Furthermore, in terms of migrating test cases onto Qyrus, there is a lot of value in having cases in Qyrus. And though there are import options, for large-scale or complex migrations a dedicated services team comes in quite handy.
Utilizing both Qyrus as a testing platform and Quinnox, what would be the overall impact on the testing process?
Suraj: Well, as Brett described, Quinnox can step in and be a game changer when it comes to larger releases when testing bandwidth becomes a commodity. In general, you can see a reduction of effort from your team’s side as work is offloaded to a professional team with unmatched expertise on the Qyrus platform.
How might this duo help both technical and non-technical users? What value can it bring?
Brett: Well, testers have the ability to give clear outlines on high-volume test scenarios and then have a team of trained members on hand to ensure test coverage overall.
Suraj: On top of that, our service members, all trained professionals, are able to effectively assist the entire process with close attention to detail. That way, business-oriented users can ensure that the high-volume features and functionalities of their applications are met within testing requirements. This allows them to identify and communicate issues without burdening them with detailed test case generation, infrastructure, or other taxing QA requirements.
Does the same or similar functionality exist without Qyrus, and how do competitors address similar problems?
Suraj: Other competitors do not have dedicated service teams, which means customers would have to engage a third party. This causes a range of problems, especially when these third-party testers do not know the platform by hand. It minimizes productivity as the new testers have to get up to speed with not only the testing that is required but also the platform on which they are testing.
Brett: Furthermore, without full product knowledge, they may not be getting full efficiency from the platform with which they are testing. This means inefficiency from the testers and the platform. This is all mitigated as Qyrus has a services team which are already experts on the solution.
How do you see this dynamic duo impacting day-to-day operations across organizations?
Brett: It offloads the burden of maximizing coverage and ensuring functionality. With large-scale releases or steadfast testing requirements, having the ability to call a team of testing experts who are already aligned with the Qyrus testing platform truly maximizes efficiency. Furthermore, being able to scale up and down with services as required gives the freedom required to ensure proper QA lifecycles.
Folks, it’s a match made in testing heaven! Qyrus and Quinnox are the ultimate tag team that can make your testing process a walk in the park, even if that park happens to be a jungle of complex applications. Whether you’re a tech wizard or a business guru, this power duo can simplify your testing journey. Say goodbye to testing headaches and hello to a brighter, more efficient testing future. Join us next Feature Friday as we keep unveiling the secrets of testing success!
Developing new banking products quickly while offering best-in-class service is difficult for most banks in the UK, given there’s no dearth of competitors and there’s a surge in demanding customers. Needless to say, banks have to struggle harder to retain their customer base in the UK.
One Yobota survey revealed that 77% of UK banks and financial services firms surveyed began to engage with new customer segments in recent years. Moreover, 80% of them were regularly seeking feedback from customers, and 71% were already implementing them by introducing new products. While many others are focused on modernizing their digital channels since over 50% of the UK population is expected to use mobile phone banking services by 2026.
Improving the customer experience significantly while introducing new products is even harder for specialist banks with lower budgets, given the higher web application development and testing costs. This case report highlights how Shawbrook Bank, despite lower budgets and higher development and technological costs, managed to improve the customer experience significantly. Let’s get right into it.
The Challenge Every bank’s success story for digitization begins with a challenge, usually web application development. But for this bank, it was testing.
When this UK bank began developing new digital banking features to woo its existing customers, they were faced with the following challenges:
Inefficient testing They had a hard time validating the customer experience across various browsers. Since the bank did not have parallel testing measures in place post-web application development, they were wasting over 2500+ person days and significant funds to simply validate changes and test their product.
High tester turnover The tester turnover was unbearably high, presumably due to redundant and inefficient testing processes, leading to poor maintenance of the testing ecosystem. At one point, the bank was spending over $400,000 solely on testing.
Poor customer experience Given the inefficient testing practices and high tester turnover, validation efforts were delayed. So, the bank had to release the software to production prematurely. This, in turn, meant that customers were at the receiving end of a buggy software experience.
To put an end to all these problems, the bank decided to automate testing and accelerate the software development and feedback times. And for that, they turned to Quinnox for help. In the next section of this case report, we go over how the UK bank solved its software testing problems with Qyrus.
The Solution Quinnox used Qyrus, its proprietary AI-powered automation platform, to implement a shift-left quality strategy, through which the specialist bank was able to release software updates quickly without compromising the stability of business processes. Here’s how.
Automated tests The Qyrus team successfully automated a range of tests for the bank’s software through CI/CD pipeline integrations and Qyrus-native plugins and streamlined crucial processes like savings account activities, customer due diligence, and customer onboarding in its savings applications, lending applications, and customer apps.
Through Qyrus CI/CD automation, tests were executed immediately after the build, increasing testing efficiency. X-ray was used for test management and reporting was simplified as well, given reports got added directly to the pipeline.
Such automation lowered the number of hours spent by the UK bank’s testing team and reduced the number of manual errors dramatically. For perspective, such automation prevented the release of over 2500+ bugs into production.
Repurposed functional tests for performance testing To reduce the testing time, the bank repurposed functional tests for performance testing with Qyrus. They executed tests for over 1000+ users simultaneously, increasing test reusability and improving testing efficiency. Furthermore, thanks to repurposing tests, they were able to ensure greater consistency and run reliable tests, given there was no scope for introducing errors manually.
This meant that their savings applications, lending applications, and customer-facing applications were bug-free.
Scalable infrastructure and coverage With Qyrus’ help, the bank was also able to expand its test coverage across multiple platforms, browsers, devices, and operating systems, quickly. This ensured the bank’s customers had a consistent user experience across platforms, no matter which platform they used, savings applications, lending applications, or others.
The Impact The Shawbrook Bank success story is an excellent example of how companies can follow through with their promise of providing its customers the best experience possible, with better testing.
After all, with Qyrus’ AI-based testing automation platform, the UK bank was able to streamline testing considerably.
For the purpose of this case report, it translated to:
60% reduction in manual efforts with Qyrus automation
85% effort reduction across testing and QA lifecycle
200% ROI within first 12 months
“Quinnox is a key partner of ours, not only supporting our technology delivery teams but also with tools like Qyrus. Test automation is a critical capability for any engineering team, and Qyrus supports the testing of our web, API, and mobile components as a part of our CI/CD processes, and also in ongoing regression testing across our partner ecosystem. The real power of Qyrus is that we have this extremely broad testing capability in one tool, run in the Cloud, and reusable across all our development teams.” – Russ Thornton, CTO, Shawbrook Bank
Hey there, testing heroes! It’s Feature Friday, and we’re about to embark on a mobile testing adventure that’s as wild as a squirrel with a caffeine addiction. Have you ever felt like finding that elusive element in your mobile app was like searching for your keys in the Bermuda Triangle? Well, fear not, because Dan and Steve from Qyrus are here with their secret sauce. They’ll spill the beans on how to find those elements with our action types like “Tap by Relative Coordinates,” “Send Text,” and the superhero-sounding “Dynamic Press Keys.” So, grab your coffee, lean in closer, and let’s unveil these nifty mobile testing hacks together!
Tell us, what happens when a user cannot find the element they’re looking for when building mobile tests?
Dan: Well, we have a few ways that users can get around not being able to find an element they’re trying to interact with in their script. And that comes in a few different ways through using a few of our various action types. Firstly, we have “Tap by Relative Coordinates,” then we have “Send Text,” and lastly “Dynamic Press Keys.”
Steve: Qyrus can provide a more robust way of interacting with elements than simply using “Tap By Coordinates,” which can be very flaky between devices. By using “Tap By Relative Coordinates,” the user can use a parent element locator as a reference point to interact with an internal element that has been hidden. A user can then use “Send Text” to set data or “Dynamic Press Keys” to add data from a dynamic variable.
What is the overall impact on the testing process?
Dan: Well, by implementing the strategy we outlined above, users can reduce the amount of time it takes to build or create test scripts. Also, this workaround is much simpler than each time adjusting the coordinates you want to tap on each based on the device being tested.
Steve: Imagine testing on a range of different devices, all with differing resolutions. That means each device would almost require its own script because of the coordinate issue. Furthermore, it’s an easy-to-understand process that all takes place on the Qyrus UI with no code involved. That means it’s also more accessible to the potential business users of Qyrus.
Does the same or similar functionality exist without Qyrus, and how do competitors address similar problems?
Dan: Competitors typically utilize a coordinate-based approach when it comes to workarounds for these types of issues. These solutions tend to be flaky. Sometimes we also see a computer vision-based approach to match an element from an image. To be clear, Qyrus has this capability as well, but we have found that it can slow down performance.
Steve: Before “Tap By Relative Coordinates,” a user would use the phone coordinates on the image to interact with the element. To handle tests on multiple phones, they would have to create a series of variables and environment profiles, which is time-consuming. The other way would be the computer vision route, which would require uploading an image and then taking a performance hit during test execution.
How do you see this solution impacting day-to-day operations across organizations?
Steve: It reduces the potential for flaky tests in the element not found use case. It also reduces the amount of work to find a path towards working with the solution. There is also obviously less hassle with broken tests from unreachable elements.
Dan: Again, the biggest benefit is that the same locator information can be shared across different devices, improving the potential of reusing the same test script across different phones.
And there you have it, fellow testing heroes! We hope you’ve enjoyed this caffeinated journey through the mobile testing jungle with Dan and Steve. Just remember, when you find yourself hunting for those elusive elements, you now have some superhero action types in your utility belt. So go forth, conquer those mobile testing challenges, and may your app always be as smooth as a perfectly brewed cup of coffee. Stay caffeinated, stay testing, and stay awesome!
Kumar Vivek
Development
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