Delivering a top notch user experience seamlessly across all platforms and devices is one of the top priorities for today’s applications. In this blog we will discuss key shifts that you need to consider in testing, to ensure a seamless user experience for your applications:
1. User engagement – focus testing for user experience
2. Device strategy – have a device centric test strategy
3. Improvise test automation maturity – move towards a framework driven automation.
4. Technology: Modern test practices for new technology trends – RWD, html5, hybrid etc.
“Mobile first testing” for a Rich Customer Experience
According to a Forrester report (reference: (1)), global mobile traffic has doubled in the past year, representing around 10% of Internet traffic. If this trend continues, Mobile traffic will surpass the desktop in the near future.
During a recent visit to a retail store in the Bay area, California I was assisted by a store associate who guided me through the shopping process and completed the checkout without having to stand in line at the cash register. This was done with the aid of mobile technology which has been around for some time now. What I noticed was that the technologies in play have shifted from native to hybrid mobile over the past one year. There has been a significant shift in technology and validating this needs a well thought through testing strategy.
However, only a small majority of the customers have a testing strategy in place, and even when they do, it is mostly around the coverage they need to provide for testing on another device. This philosophy has to fundamentally change because
Mobility is a very different scenario when compared with traditional channels.
A testing strategy should address the following:
1) User engagement: Plan for early validation of user experience, using tools and utilities. Infosys has an early UI Validation called STRiPE (Mobile Scenario Test Rapid Prototype Engine).
2) Device strategy: Align your device inventory and tracking based on project needs. Move towards a shared test lab model and if required partner with a service provider who can provide a device lab infrastructure to address your testing needs.
3) Maturing test automation: The current test automation in the mobility world is centered on the record play back model which is a maintenance night mare. Encourage your teams to design framework driven automation. We have developed a diverse set of test suites with both domain and platform specific mobile test scenarios for accelerated testing. Our strategy is to build these test suites for standard platforms (ex. mCommerce, Sales force etc.) and for set of generic OS (iOS, Mobile Web, Windows and Android).
4) Technology: One must keep abreast of the latest mobile technologies, upcoming Operating system features and trends to plan testing ahead in time. As a partner we are notified of new releases, process updates and such from the product vendors. Our testing team participates in the pre-beta, beta and production stages of various OS releases, which helps us to strategize the future testing needs for the mobility applications we develop for our customers.
A well designed testing strategy will help you deliver a top notch User experience seamlessly across all platforms and devices.
Author
Manoj Narayan leads the Mobility practice for the Energy, Utilities, Communications and Services industry verticals. Manoj is responsible for overseeing mobility services and solutions for global clients in this segment. He manages critical relationships with client executives, and industry analysts. Manoj has over 18 years of experience in IT across industry segments and has a diverse background in mobile strategy, testing and emerging trends in IT. Manoj has a bachelor’s degree in engineering from the College of Engineering, Trivandrum, India.
Reference
(1) Best Practices – How To Implement A Mobile Product And Service Road Map_Jul12 by Forrester
