This is an in-depth review of Global App Testing: A Remote On-Demand QA Testing, Web And App Testing service in your workflow at speed:
If your organization develops any sort of software application or web or mobile apps, then you already know the many hurdles you have to get over delivering a successful software product to market.
What starts as a great idea then has to go through stages such as feasibility studies, market research, and investigating your ability to deliver something that works and has good functionality.
Your DevOps team and your QA team have big jobs ahead of them in the process. Not only do they have to build the architecture for your product, but they also have to keep an eye open for bugs or flaws and check that the product will function on different platforms and devices.
Constant and ongoing testing is an integral part of the Software Development Life Cycle, whether it be black-box testing, QA testing, software testing, unit testing, acceptance testing, or testing of mobile and web apps. These tests can highlight issues or spot bugs in the product that may affect its functionality and efficiency.
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Nowadays, much of that testing is outsourced to specialized crowd testing platforms. This is a booming market, worth $1.3 billion in 2019 and is expected to grow to $2 billion by 2024.
This growth is driven by the need for businesses to improve the user experience and for any organization developing such products to not divert time and resources to the testing process.
One of the leading players in this burgeoning market is Global App Testing.
Table of Contents:
What Is Global App Testing
Just what is Global App Testing? Why should you choose them above other companies or testing tools and what sort of testing services do they offer?
Let’s see!!
Global App Testing is a crowd testing company offering a variety of functional app testing services to the development community. Based in London, Ronald Cummings-John and Owais Peer founded the business in 2013.
As developers, Ronald and Owais were frustrated by the number of bugs appearing in the products they worked on. They realized that a lack of quality control was causing customers to abandon apps for something better. They also realized that other DevOps teams experienced the same frustration and those same problems around the world.
They decided to form Global App Testing to offer a third-party specialized service that could offer to solve the issues they had themselves experienced, to offer various types of dynamic testing, and to allow DevOps teams to focus their time and skills on more important issues.
By doing so, they could help businesses speed up the development process and to offer higher software quality to the market.
Website: Visit Global App Testing
Headquarters: 90-92 Pentonville Rd, London N1 9HS
Founding date: 2013
Founders: Ronald Cummings-John and Owais Peer
Industry sector: Software testing as both a managed service and SaaS platform
Global App Testing Community
It uses a blend of crowd testing and intelligent automation to help you release high-quality software anywhere in the world. It executes software tests directly via their platform using 60,000+ vetted professional testers or has their team handle the testing for you.
Testathon
GAT has gained a reputation for innovation and cutting-edge ideas. One notable innovation was their development of the Testathon, a competition where testers can compete with the best of their peers performing various types of testing on apps to win a wide range of prizes.
Who Is Global App Testing For
GAT provides testing services for any company developing software, web apps, mobile apps, and websites, as well as SaaS companies. Their services are specifically aimed at assisting your Agile and DevOps teams to help them stay on release schedules and let your teams focus on any issues identified during the testing process.
GAT clients know that the testing process not only takes time, it also diverts some of your most essential human resources away from the ongoing development of your product. This is especially true when you want your product to work on different operating systems, such as Android and iOS, as well as varied devices.
GAT does all the system testing and performance testing for you, allowing your development team to focus on moving forward.
Notable Clients
When you look at just some clients who use GAT for testing new products, you realize just how lofty their reputation is. In the tech sector, GAT clients include giants such as Google, Microsoft, WhatsApp, and Facebook. Their customer list also includes major Blue Chip corporations like P&G and General Electric.
Features
Organizations will have different needs when it comes to the testing process. For some, the priority may be an app’s functionality across a wide range of devices, including those with different operating systems. For others, the priority may be to ensure that new software is going to do what it was designed to do.
While clients may often have different focused needs, there is usually some common product features an organization will want to be tested. These can include:
- Language/translation for different regions
- Response rates
- Load testing
- Mobile apps interfering with other functions of the device
- Update ability
- Testing on actual devices rather than emulators
- Stability
- Product’s ability to send feedback and identify issues
- Operational capability on different screen sizes
- The efficiency of any touch screen interface
#1) Functional Testing
Functional testing (sometimes also known as black-box testing) checks that a program or app can carry out the tasks and functions it was designed to.
This stage of testing usually involves functions such as security, APIs (Application Programming Interface – which may be open-source), databases, UI (user interface), and how well client to server communication works. This is an important part of the software engineering cycle.
This is a basic but crucial part of the overall testing process. GAT uses a combination of test automation and human testing methodologies to ensure that all the functions of your product work to the level you require. They prioritize the major functions you need, such as moving a customer through the checkout funnel: Basket to payment to verification to the confirmation email.
GAT utilizes six major steps when carrying out functional testing:
- Identify the functions you expect and the priority of each.
- Design a list of data to input that relates to the functions that have been listed.
- Identify expected results and outputs.
- Put together a series of tests to collect the relevant data (automated and manual).
- Use collected data to compare to what was expected.
- Make changes where needed to improve functionality.
#2) Exploratory Testing
While functional testing tends to be linear, exploratory testing is a little less organized. In this stage, any testers will wander around the program/app to see if they can spot any bugs or issues.
Testers in this stage do not need to know coding or any of the specific programming languages, such as Linux, Java, or Python, they just need a good idea of the expected quality.
GAT offers ad hoc testing that is scaled to your needs. For every exploratory project, GAT assigns between 15 and 20 testers who are experienced in the area and who know the best practices to find and identify bugs. GAT also recognizes the importance of time, meaning you receive test results within 36 hours (including videos, full logs, and screenshots).
#3) Regression Testing
A big issue that can arise during development is that when an issue is identified, and then fixed, the changes can have a knock-on effect on existing features and functions of the product.
The purpose of regression testing is to ensure there have been no negative effects from any changes. It usually involves repeating some or all of the previous tests to ensure everything still works. This is another area of testing where a combination of manual and automated testing produces results quickly.
GAT offers regression testing by dedicated QA engineers and QA testers to ensure quality assurance and to deliver results as quickly as possible so that your DevOps team can focus on other areas. They look at what stage, or maturity your product is at and apply relevant regression testing as and when needed.
#4) Test case execution
Although many areas of testing do not require specialized coding knowledge, test case execution is an area that requires it. Rather than looking at functionality and other features, this test looks at how your source code works compared to what you wanted it to achieve.
Test case execution involves several stages, including resolving blocking issues and daily reporting. Unit testing may also play a role here.
GAT approaches every test execution project as a unique case. They design and provide workflows that are specific to your app or program. GAT then uses its combination of crowd testing resources and testing software to process all tests you need to be carried out. They can also import existing test cases, send you concise reports, and offer 24/7 support, as well as helpful tutorials.
#5) Usability testing
Usability testing goes beyond all the technical aspects and looks at how your digital product will perform for your end-users. Testers will try out the product to see how the various functions work in the real world, and they will test it across all the different devices and platforms you want it to work on. They will collect data, both quantitative and qualitative, to identify usability issues.
GAT uses teams of experienced usability testers who act as if they were end-users who had bought the product. They examine not only whether the product works, but also how good the user experience was. The testers review everything from functionality and content to linguistics. Usability reports can help you decide whether to make improvements to the product.
#6) Web app testing
If you’re developing a web app, this form of testing looks at the quality of the app and whether it works as intended. It can identify bugs, both pre-and post-release (testing can be done daily). This can be helpful, as even minor bugs can affect other areas of the app.
GAT enables you to manage specific testing at any point in your test case suite. If needed, test cases can look at the functionalities you have prioritized. You can even set up automatic testing with the GAT API that anyone on your team can create and run. This sort of testing is also good for security testing.
#7) Mobile app testing
If your app is aimed at the mobile devices market, then you need it to work on a whole range of devices and different operating systems. This type of testing will look at all the relevant factors, including performance, usability, compatibility, and functionality, and will highlight if there are any issues on a specific device or OS.
GAT doesn’t use emulators, so our testers act like real users, testing your app on actual devices so that any reports are accurate and realistic and will give validation for each device you list. They always work for your specified requirements. With quick turnarounds, you can move to fix any issues that appear and can keep to your development schedule.
#8) Localized app testing
While many apps can be used globally, more and more have functions specific to the geographic location they are used in (for example, food ordering apps). Localized testing will check that your app works in those locations, but will also check on factors such as language and culture so that your app does not contravene any local laws or regulations.
This is another area where GAT excels. With coverage of more than 189 countries, their localized testing is second to none. You will get swift results highlighting any local issues and they also offer a cross-browser and cross-device test to recognize regional patterns.
#9) Test analysis
Testing software and apps is one thing, but having a good analysis after the testing phase is crucial to your development process. You need clear and understandable reports that highlight any bugs and flaws and the seriousness of each.
GAT understands that time is critical and that any serious delays can have major repercussions. That’s why we give you reports that provide full visibility of all bugs, especially those which could have the greatest impact on the end-user experience.
GAT’s bug reports include:
- Before and after screenshots of each step.
- Step by step details of how each test was run and test scripts involved.
- Videos of any issues found.
- Crash & session logs.
- Environmental details (such as device or OS).
GAT also allows you to import results into your workflow via the API, allowing DevOps teams to integrate GAT testing into their existing workflow.
This also helps you re-run tests to simplify any regression, and you can manage and export results directly from the GAT platform. If you have existing bug trackers such as Jira or GitHub, then you can easily integrate GAT with them.
#10) Fast test results
You may well be working on a tight development schedule with a launch date already in place. That means you need fast, actionable results that help prevent delays. GAT aims to get you the results you need as quickly as possible.
Those times include:
- Exploratory test results in under 48 hours.
- Test case execution results in less than two hours.
- Detailed bug reports in under 36 hours.
Integrations
Of course, your DevOps team will already use an array of different apps and programs. That means you want a testing platform that will easily integrate with existing tools.
GAT offers simple integration with the following:
- Jira: This integration makes it easy for your team to both track and fix bugs before they impact end-users. When you find a bug with GAT’s Ada platform, you can then export it to Jira so that your developers can track their status.
- GitHub: As with Jira, integrating GitHub with Ada is easy, making export and tracking a simple process for your DevOps team till problems are solved.
- Azure DevOps: Development workflows can be intricate at the best of times, so GAT’s integration with Azure DevOps helps to avoid breaks in your workflow and gives you a solution that covers every aspect, including planning, development, and delivery. It also allows you to connect GAT testers to your Azure processes.
- Pivotal Tracker: Combining GAT with Pivotal Tracker makes it easier for your team to prioritize what bugs should be fixed in what order. GAT software testers highlight the bugs, then Pivotal Tracker lets you add bugs to its process, assign tasks, and even break tasks down into smaller ones.
- Trello: Trello is a popular tool with DevOps teams as it makes collaboration between all stakeholders simple. Even staff with no tech knowledge can access it through its intuitive UI (user interface). Integration with GAT lets all your team easily see any identified bugs as well as progress made in fixing them.
- Sprintly: Keeping track of any found bugs can get messy if you use spreadsheets. Sprintly offers an easy-to-use dashboard that lets staff track bugs and progress made on fixing them in real-time. With GAT integration, your team can add bugs to the tracker as they are identified.
- DoneDone: Of course, bugs and issues may still arise after release, and GAT’s integration with DoneDone is perfect for handling any customer support issues that happen once people are using the product. It lets your support team communicate directly with your customers.
- Asana: Asana is a widely used tool for productivity and for assigning tasks. Continuous integration with GAT lets you add identified bugs to Asana, then assign work on fixing that issue to the most qualified or relevant person.
- Basecamp: Basecamp is another tool that enables collaborative work, scheduling, and task management when integrated with GAT. It also offers excellent communication tools as group chats and messaging boards.
Security
You want your product to work well, but you will always be concerned with security aspects, especially when working with a third party. GAT understands this fully and adheres to the highest worldwide security standards.
Some of the security measures that GAT has met or adheres to include:
- Successful completion of ISO 27001 audit.
- A platform built and hosted by AWS (Amazon Web Services). This means that GAT benefits from a data center and network architecture designed to meet the very highest security levels. AWS has compliance with AICPA SOC 2 and ISO 27001 and has ISO 27017 certified hosting provider designation.
- High-level security for data hosting and encryption. All apps, storage, and databases are encrypted using 256-bit AES encryption with all keys managed by AWS Key Management Services.
- GAT uses Auth0 to provide authentication. Any user has to use SSO (Single Sign On) tech with the Google G Suite Directory, which uses a strong password policy and multi-factor authentication.
- Any and all incoming traffic goes through Cloudflare with its Web Application Firewall enabled. TLS (Transport Layer Security) is always negotiated at a minimum of V1.2 and all web traffic goes through a secure SSL channel.
With these and other security measures, you can choose GAT for your testing processes with the highest confidence, no matter how confidential or sensitive your info is.
Benefits
To summarize, it helps to have a simple list of the benefits of choosing GAT as your testing partner:
- 24/7/365 testing and scalability.
- Almost full global coverage with over 55,000 testers in 189+ countries.
- Generate extra revenue by adding global testing to your go-to market.
- Combination of crowd testing and AI-powered automation testing to ensure your product is of high quality.
- Integration testing approaches to ensure your product works with other apps or tools.
- Black box and white box testing.
- Functional and non-functional testing.
- Best-in-class testing methods are designed to fit with your workflow.
- Fast results and easy-to-understand reports.
- Integration with many of the tools your DevOps teams are already using.
- Trusted By major entities such as Facebook, Microsoft, and General Electric.
- Highest global security standards and measures.
Conclusion
The digital products market is increasingly competitive, so keeping to any planned development and release schedule as well as releasing a product as close to flawless as possible is essential.
Having your DevOps team shoulder the responsibility of the various tests alone takes them away from the main development process itself. Outsourcing tests make sense.
With Global App Testing as your partner, you can be assured of the highest standards in all areas, from the tests themselves to that crucial security. That helps ensure software system quality and app quality at the release date. GAT can have crowd testers work on your product, can automate the process, or offer a combination of the two.
Global App Testing offers a high-impact approach to app testing, combining the best of automation with intelligent crowd testing to deliver fast, accurate, and actionable test results.
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