Q&A on Codeless Test Automation with Forrester’s Diego Lo Giudice
I recently had the opportunity to participate in a webinar on codeless test automation with guest speaker Diego Lo Giudice, Vice President and Principal Analyst, Forrester. Continuing the conversation on codeless, here are Diego’s takes on some topics we didn’t get to explore in great detail.
Q. In the recent webinar, you mentioned that despite growing demands to release better quality software more quickly, test automation has plateaued. Why do you think that’s the case?
A. Many factors have caused this: limited budgets for testing, poor automation technology mostly based on UI led record and replay, skills miss-match, too much focus on process instead of practices and last and not least siloed organization and limited roles. With Agile and DevOps testers have been asked to become developers and apply coding skills and practices to build automation, but that comes with a huge re-skilling need that takes time. On the other hand developers taking on more testing is also picking up very slowly.
Q. What are some of the commonalities you see across organizations that succeed with test automation?
A. I see many and non-exclusive commonalities. Organizations:
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Automate the execution of tests: Those that have the skills create and optimize test automation with a development approach adopting typical developers tools and practices like, full version control of the automation assets, automating beyond the UI with APIs, etc. They take an SDLC approach to automation.
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Automate the design of tests: Adoption of a true shift left approach to automation starting from requirements and design. Generating and optimizing the right tests cases, and from these the automation.
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Select the right tools for the right job and for the right testing personas, which won’t be just a developer tester, a technical tester or a business tester but most likely a different mix of all depending on the type of application.
Q. Where do you see codeless test automation potentially delivering the greatest value for businesses and how do you see it best fitting in with traditional coded test automation?
A. Forrester believes testing takes a village. A range of testing personas are needed:
1) Business testers that don’t have any technical skills but need to test functionality and business requirements quickly (think the product owners of product teams).
2) On the other hand, testing SMEs will also need to be involved to make sure product teams are testing the right things, are testing enough and in the right way. They too need to automate testing. Both these roles would leverage codeless.
3) Dev-testers will also be needed because applications architecture are becoming more distributed and complex, and coded approaches will also be needed for non-functional testing and for functional testing at the API or web services level. The three have to collaborate.
Q. In addition to adopting codeless automation products, what are some other ways you see companies reaching greater levels of test automation maturity?
A. Besides shift left and “democratizing” testing across multiple roles, adopting practices such as BDD and model based testing approaches seem to be increasing and optimizing test automation.
Q. How do you think the ways teams use codeless test automation will change over the next three years?
A. The big game changer will be AI where ML and natural language will increase the level of abstraction of tools augmenting both codeless and coded led testers. If it holds to its promises, AI will make testing even more of a codeless experience just as it will also make development of enterprise applications less of a coded experience.
For more insight on how to mature your automation strategy, watch the on-demand webinar Automate QA Testing Easily with Codeless Tools.
Apps targeting young people
Naturally, banks and online brokers are also increasingly offering mobile solutions for stock trading. However, this new group of fintech startups has a different structure than traditional providers. As international apps with social media appeal, they are aimed at a particularly young target group of 25- to 35-year-olds who want not only access to stock trading but also a new kind of user experience. It has become clear that accessibility and user-friendliness are key selling points for these new investment apps. For example, according to Bitkom’s Digital Finance Report 2020, 40% of respondents expressed the expectation that “smartphone apps’ ease of use for stock and securities transactions will enable more people to benefit from companies’ performances.”
In a nutshell, the easy access via smartphones makes these “neobrokers” so appealing. Clear design, community integration, and ease of entry has turned UI/UX into an actual product.
Special opportunities – special risks?
Many apps have little to no limit on how small a trade can be, making it possible to buy fractional shares. As mentioned, they charge very low fees — or none at all — and are available outside of regular trading hours. The apps clearly aim to lower the entry threshold for stock trading, and sometimes lure new users with free shares. On the flip side, the apps offer no or minimal investing advice, unlike traditional brokers. Consequently, purchasers must do their own research outside of the app, using articles, forums and social media. This aspect has raised suspicions in the German market. In the survey undertaken for the Bitkom Digital Finance Report referenced above, 69% of respondents stated that “an advisor’s input is absolutely key to making good investment decisions.” As a result, the separation of professional advisory services and the gamification of trading stocks carries certain risks, especially for inexperienced users.
Too much power?
The potential dynamics unleashed by direct market access were demonstrated in an interesting case study in January. Small investors coordinated a purchase of GameStop stock via Reddit to prevent a decline in the company’s value, on which hedge funds had speculated. In fact, the Reddit community’s actions were so successful that U.S. authorities are now investigating the possibility of market manipulation. Outrage erupted, however, when Robinhood simply suspended trading in GameStop shares at the height of the buying frenzy.
Ultimately, the neobroker did have a good reason for halting trading. The security it had deposited with clearinghouse DTCC was insufficient to match increased trading volume. However, this episode illustrates that some luster has fallen from the new market power of small investors: Even trading apps do not eliminate the intermediary function; they only replace it, sometimes with even more opaque conditions than before.
The outlook is promising
And yet, neobrokers are attracting young investors by reinventing the process of investing and stock trading. With pleasing designs and customer experiences geared toward millennials, these apps will be able to gain many users in the next few years. At that point, they will have to show that they can keep up with the momentum that they created. Users expect apps, acting as financial service providers and managers of highly sensitive data, to be error-free at all times and in all places – and rightly so. User trust and compliance with financial rules will play a crucial role in determining whether neobrokers will remain competitive as market penetration continues.
However, the new investment apps’ penetration of the DACH market is still at an early stage. Established providers, especially banking apps, may leverage the trend by incorporating a more attractive UX and simplified investment features into their existing apps. For example, a whitepaper from the Sparkassen Innovation Hub on the topic of changing values recommends “opening up products to small investment amounts” as well as “using a clear, appealing interface (UI), playful elements for data entry and maintenance, [and] the use of status and progress indicators to guide users through processes” to attract a new group of potential investors.
One thing is certain: The phenomenal growth of investment and trading apps, especially in Germany, could be a precursor to interesting developments in the coming years.
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