Automation: saving businesses time and money during the financial downturn

Louise Owen, Senior Automation Quality Engineer at Roq, Quality Engineering Consultancy

Organisations are under constant pressure to deliver high-quality, high-functioning technology faster than ever before. Competition is fierce, and margins are tight. What’s more, many organisations are facing budgetary cuts, projects being shelved and recruitment freezes. Effectively, businesses are attempting to deliver more, with less resource. But how is this possible without sacrificing the quality of their output?

This is where the intelligent application of automation testing comes into play as companies look to streamline processes and save money whilst remaining competitive.

What is test automation and why is it important for businesses?

Put simply, automation is the process of running tests using technology to identify defects and reducing the need for human intervention. It’s a means of automatically performing repetitive tasks quickly and accurately, freeing up employees to focus on more strategic tasks. Automation can provide significant time and monetary savings which are invaluable in the current climate.

Using automation to increase consumer spend

An important benefit of automation that is often overlooked is its potential to increase customer spending. By design, automation enables businesses to respond quickly to changing market trends and customer demands by increasing delivery speeds. It helps organisations move at pace to provide quality solutions, without increasing costs, a win for both the business and its customers. This agility can lead to increased customer loyalty, encouraging higher spending and increased market share.

At Roq, we have worked with a number of eCommerce clients (https://www.roq.co.uk/blog/how-does-test-automation-increase-customer-spend/) to implement test automation. Many of these clients have witnessed a significant rise in quality and customer satisfaction as a result. A slick, quick, bang-on-trend, bug-free purchase journey means customers will return again and again because there are no barriers to them obtaining the products they want to buy.

Using automation testing to save time and money

In addition to raising the bar on customer satisfaction, automation can also lower costs by reducing the need for manual testing, allowing businesses to focus their resources elsewhere while the need to save money is high.

Roq recently automated a regression test pack for a global organisation, (https://www.roq.co.uk/projects/roq-provides-yearly-saving-of-pound45k-and-a-time-saving-of-125-through-automated-ios-testing-project/) achieving 58.5% test coverage, time savings of 125%, and estimated yearly cost savings of over £45,000. The project was completed on time and 7% under budget - a fantastic outcome for the client.

A multinational legal organisation approached Roq for support with uploading 170 million documents to their new cloud server. The client operates in a highly regulated industry, so the accurate and secure migration of these documents was paramount.

From the client’s calculations a manual upload of their documents would take five years to complete. However, with Roq’s carefully scripted automated solution the project timeline was reduced to 200 days – an 89% time saving! (https://www.roq.co.uk/projects/database-migration-testing-for-global-law-firm/?utm_source=hubspot&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=general_aud_email1)

Using Automation to improve accuracy

Another advantage of automation is that it can improve test accuracy. When monotonous, repetitive tasks are performed manually, there is always a risk of human error. However, by automating these tasks, businesses can ensure they are completed consistently and accurately, reducing the risk of costly mistakes. Of course, implementing automation does require an investment of time and resources upfront. However, the long-term benefits are worth it. Not only can automation drive time and cost efficiencies, it can also improve employee satisfaction by freeing up engineers for more enjoyable, meaningful work.

Automation vs manual testing

Automation is a powerful tool in the Quality Assurance arsenal, however, it is important to remember you cannot automate absolutely everything. Manual testing is still relevant in instances where human intuition, creativity, and exploration are required. A blended approach leverages the strengths of both manual and automated testing, enabling businesses to automate where possible and free up manual testing resource for more complicated projects. [JH1]

Access to niche skills during a digital skills shortage

Introducing Roq’s Quality Engineers to your organisation augments your team with additional skills quickly. During the current digital skills shortage, people with this niche expertise are hard to come by, and bringing new team members up to speed takes time you can’t afford. Roq enables your team fast and easy access to our consultants who work within frameworks that enable them to hit the ground running, and specialise in streamlining workflows and driving time and cost efficiencies for business.

We believe that a successful engagement is measured by leaving a client and their teams in a better place compared to when we started. Our Quality Engineers help coach the wider team to bring everyone up to a higher level to ensure they can continue working to industry best practices long after a project is completed.

Summary

In a world where innovation and speed are paramount, automated testing isn't just an option; it's a necessity. Despite the current market challenges, many businesses are striving to do more with less. However, it is important that quality is not sacrificed to achieve this. Overall, businesses looking to drive time and budgetary savings whilst protecting market share and brand reputation should consider automated testing. It increases efficiency and ensures consistent, reliable testing outcomes. Not everything can be automated, some testing manual testing will still be required, but where you can automate, you can drive efficiency!

If you would like to know more about automation, or assess whether your existing tools are giving you the most return, reach out to Roq for a no-obligation conversation.

About Roq

Roq is an outcomes-focused quality engineering consultancy with a Platinum status from Investors in People. Roq provides a genuinely independent view on all things quality, working with some of the world’s largest organisations on their most important technology initiatives. Roq’s goal is to help organisations realise the benefits of high-functioning, high-quality software applications delivered at a pace that aligns with our client’s business imperatives. With an excellent Net Promoter Score of 77% and a Client Satisfaction Score of 93%, we know our work is having a real impact on our customers.

Roq has been proudly providing services since 2009.