Top trends to follow in Software and Quality Assurance in 2018

Quality Assurance has taken a big leap since its evolution. From testing the ability to load an image to loading it in a nanosecond, the technology has multiplied in volumes. With digital platform getting more immense, more dominant, there always is a new product in the market for manual, automation, security and performance testing. Hence, it is now more so imperative to have the knowledge of advanced technologies and trends that are floating around in the market. It has now become mandatory to have Software and Quality Assurance teams ready for elevated functionality, performance, compatibility, security testing and usability. Introducing here the top trends to follow going forward in 2018:

DevOps and Agile are now more dominant than ever: DevOps combined with Agile is creating a renaissance revolution in the IT industry. It is gaining popularity because of its integrated automation and testing methods. When Development and Operations collaborate, they create DevOps and now they have joined forces with Agile teams as well. The prime motive is to bridge the gap between carrying out activities for development and operations separately. DevOps assure faster testing at the initial stages of development. It also addresses the security issues associated with network and web interface connections between hardware and internet, requiring secured authentication procedures.

The emerging trends focus on quality engineering. This new trend in software testing allows Quality Assurance teams to be thorough while testing static and dynamic of IoT gadgets. This future of software development would create a benchmark for delivery speeds and QA, giving high returns in the most cost-efficient manner.

Tools game getting on point:  With the expanse of development in DevOps and Agile, with automation and testing, the only thing left with the room for development is tools. Richness in features, complete support, fast speed and high quality tools would be made pocket friendly. This advancement would prove beneficial for programmers and non-programmers alike.

Open Source services are becoming a new cool for tech giants. These are the external services that are availed for the execution of Agile and DevOps, automation and defect management and would lead to the rapid growth of such agents providing Open Services.

Performance Engineering: The interest is gradually shifting from performance testing to performance engineering. Software/System Performance Engineering (SPE) is becoming a preference due to competition and the necessity to provide a better UX.  The systematic and quantitative approach focuses on architecture, design, and implementation. It is also a cost-effective way to carry out development process, without compromising on quality.

Data Testing: In 2018, Big Data and Cloud Computing would see exponential usage growth in Testing. Quality assurance would require strategic approach to comply with the high quality analytical tools and techniques. Big datasets would grow with time and would require high level testing procedures, which would result in lesser time-to-market life cycles.

Mobile Application: User experience (UX), satisfaction and ease have become norms in mobile industry. Smartphones are a great success due to compatibility with applications. Mobile testing and application testing have gained great importance due to the advanced applications introduced in market every day. Quality Assurance professionals are making testing quicker and simpler by formulating new strategies to stay ahead in competition. Latest mobile operating systems and fast transformations are going to create huge lasting impact on the testing industry which would result in well-planned strategies in future. 

New tools, software testing and security testing trends are going to create new challenges and opportunities for Quality Assurance professionals. In future, development strategies are going to be more cost-efficient and effective. Grouped with sufficient level of testing, expertise teams would require to have all the above future software technologies on the table.