Integrated Mobility QA: A Strategic Business Enabler for Enhancing End-user Experience Across Digital ChannelsAs smartphones and tablets enter the market at breakneck speed, organizations need to develop sophisticated testing capabilities and provide cross-platform support in order to deliver proper application quality and business assurance.

Executive SummaryEnterprise mobility is transforming the end-user experience, creating new value for business-es that get it right. Already, forward-thinking companies are leveraging enterprise mobility for competitive differentiation.

The mobile apps landscape has grown exponen-tially, fueled by the emergence of new platforms, diverse technologies and devices, all requiring seamless integration for widespread adoption. Ensuring impeccable quality and usability of apps is the key for organizations that seek to stay ahead. This is easier said than done, as a fully-formed and functional enterprise mobility quality assurance (QA) strategy continues to elude most IT organizations.

Premium-priced solutions address only the system testing phase of the mobile QA lifecycle; however, they often do not account for strategy definition, nor do they cover mobile nonfunctional testing requirements, which is extremely critical for ensuring a satisfactory user experience. Most often standalone, these solutions do not integrate with standard test management platforms.

Therefore, an integrated, cost-effective, compre-hensive mobile QA solution that addresses the end-to-end testing lifecycle will go a long way toward ensuring not only the quality but also the usability of enterprise apps, internally and with customers and partners.

Mobility QA: Driving Business Agility Mobility is a lever that needs to be aligned with business objectives. Activating that lever is becoming increasingly challenging as the mobile ecosystem expands from mere telephonic devices to smartphones, smart devices, tablets and phablets (devices that include characteristics of both conventional laptops and tablets). To get the most bang for the buck, mobile apps must be compatible and run seamlessly across all of these platforms.

As new platforms are introduced into the enter-prise mobility landscape, new support require-ments will emerge, with refined features that need to be accounted for. Conventional testing methodologies, which typically begin later in an app’s lifecycle, are rendered inadequate because enterprise requirements for leveraging new

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business capabilities pivot around accelerated time to market. As such, three interrelated chal-lenges have emerged:

• Changing QA mobility priorities. Mobile QA requires a unique combination of business knowledge, design thinking and service maturity. It transcends functional validation and encompasses interoperability, perfor-mance and security issues, shifting the focus

from traditional testing to quality engineering. Moreover, as BYOD (bring your own device) becomes commonplace within many organizations, a compre-hensive QA strategy that encompasses multiple platforms (including iOS and Android), devices, networks and geographies is paramount.

App session times on tablets run twice as long as app sessions on smart-

phones, but apps are more frequently used on smartphones, according to recent research by Adobe.1 In order to provide the right end-user experience, organizations must adopt different QA strategies to validate functionalities based on user behavior.

Convergence of QA is inevitable as enter-prises struggle to manage multiple devel-opment frameworks, mobility priorities and key variables, such as relevant technologies, networks and geographies (see Figure 1).

• Lack of comprehensive lifecycle coverage. Unlike with desktops, screen dimension and resolution of mobile devices are not stan-dardized, which increases the complexity of rendering mobile test automation. Organiza-tions are also limited by the availability of automated mobile app test tools. Many are point solutions that, in our view, do not offer an end-to-end view of the mobile QA lifecycle.

Open source Web tools are cost-effective, but they often do not support native applications, and they fail to execute scripts on a device cloud. Moreover, many of these tools lack support for automation across browsers and platforms.

• High cost of setting up the mobile QA infra-structure. Organizations struggle to strike a balance between setup costs for a dedicated and exhaustive mobile testing infrastructure and the limited coverage that minimal devices might otherwise lead to. While on-demand cloud options are available, device clouds more often than not continue to be an expensive proposition for most organizations.

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Parameters for Effective Analysis and Outcome

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devices might otherwise lead to.

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Smartly Coupled SolutionsBecause of the need for a mobile QA ecosystem, it is imperative that solutions address the aforemen-tioned challenges and enable end-to-end integra-tion, while also providing flexibility. The term we use for such solutions is “smartly coupled.”

Getting Started with Smart-Coupling Mobile QA

Organizations need access to deep experi-ence and industry knowledge to gain a quick assessment of their mobile QA capabilities and long-term needs. Leading QA organizations leverage this experience to build assessment engines that benchmark application performance against industry standards and recommend the optimal device suite, automation, infrastructure and tools to manage their testing needs.

Key considerations that organizations use to define their mobile QA strategy include:

• Mobile application development methodolo-gies (Agile, waterfall).

• Mobile application technologies (native, hybrid and Web).

• Multiple mobile platforms (iOS, Android, Windows, BlackBerry).

• Infrastructure combinations (BYOD, in-house, on-demand, emulators).

• Execution/deployment methodologies (B2B or B2C).

• Mobile application complexities.

• User geographies.

• Niche applications (voice-based, Wifi, Bluetooth, etc.)

• Consumer applications (telematics, smartphone banking, etc.)

• Mobility across enterprise apps.

Automation Across Browsers, Platforms and Tools

Automation flexibility is an integral part of the mobile quality ecosystem because it enables com-

Quick Take

When a leading bank wanted to implement an enterprise-wide mobile rollout of its internal apps, it required testing of its mobile apps across various platforms and devices, including testing between desktop and mobile apps. The client rejected existing solutions based on a popular platform because they were expensive, required a dedicated device cloud infrastructure and had limited functionality, including limited access to the latest devices.

In contrast, our proposed solution promised to significantly reduce costs by introducing QA early in the development process. We also offered to conduct a far-ranging strategic assessment to enable a smooth transition to our proprietary cloud device testing infrastructure, provisioned through our integrated platform.

The result: App release cycle time was fast-tracked by 55%, and QA infrastructure costs were reduced by over 80%.

Banking on a Holistic Approach to Enterprise Mobile QA

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prehensive testing across platforms. The wide variety of platforms and browsers in use today necessitates cross-platform validation. However, the ongoing lack of automation tools to support cross-browser/platform testing can incur high costs for organizations that must procure indi-vidual tool licenses that only partially meet their QA needs.

Mobile QA Infrastructure

A limitation of devices provisioned on the cloud is the small number of provider-recommended auto-mation tools. A platform that can integrate a flex-

ible automation tool suite and device cloud will allow organizations to handle their QA needs with great-er agility and reduced cost. When you consider many organizations’ encourage-ment of BYOD through vir-tualization techniques, it becomes clear that exten-sive coverage of testing apps will become a matter of choice.

An ideal mobile QA solution aims to reduce costs by leveraging avenues to test mobile devices on-demand, and easily push devices on and off the device cloud. This not only accelerates QA activities, but it also reduces the maintenance expense of the devices and infrastructure needed to support these vital activities.

Benefits of an Integrated SolutionDespite the fact that enterprise mobility QA is seen as a strategic enabler, it is still a work in progress for many companies. For instance, of all companies that test their Web sites, only 23% test their mobile Web site, and only 4% test their mobile apps.2 An integrated solution that provides comprehensive QA coverage will support organi-zations wishing to adopt an enterprise strategy for their mobile QA needs and provide users with an enhanced mobile experience.

As such, a high-quality mobile lifecycle manage-ment solution will encompass:

• A scalable mobile QA infrastructure.

• Multi-mobile platform testing.

• End-to-end tool set across the testing lifecycle.

• App validation for key nonfunctional parameters.

• Geographic scalability for testing.

• Device provisioning on the cloud, on-demand.

Looking ForwardThe path to mobile consolidation is evolving. However, organizations that embrace leading QA solutions can gain the flexibility needed to provide an integrated mobile test solution that delivers cross-platform support and flexibility for the future. Organizations should choose an approach that enables continuous enhancements to enter-prise mobility as devices, platforms and service providers evolve toward equipping users with a highly functional and consistent experience.

Footnotes1 Amy Gesenhues, “Report: App Session Times Run Longer on Tablets, but App Usage Is More Frequent on

Smartphones,” Marketing Land, Nov. 7, 2013, http://marketingland.com/report-3-64362.

2 “What Users Want from Mobile,” Equation Research on behalf of Compuware, July 2011, http://e-commer-cefacts.com/research/2011/07/what-usrs-want-from-mobil/19986_WhatMobileUsersWant_Wp.pdf.

A platform that can integrate a flexible

automation tool suite and device cloud will

allow organizations to handle their QA needs

with greater agility and reduced cost.

About CognizantCognizant (NASDAQ: CTSH) is a leading provider of information technology, consulting, and business process out-sourcing services, dedicated to helping the world’s leading companies build stronger businesses. Headquartered in Teaneck, New Jersey (U.S.), Cognizant combines a passion for client satisfaction, technology innovation, deep industry and business process expertise, and a global, collaborative workforce that embodies the future of work. With over 50 delivery centers worldwide and approximately 166,400 employees as of September 30, 2013, Cognizant is a member of the NASDAQ-100, the S&P 500, the Forbes Global 2000, and the Fortune 500 and is ranked among the top performing and fastest growing companies in the world. Visit us online at www.cognizant.com or follow us on Twitter: Cognizant.

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About the AuthorsRamakrishnan Venkatasubramanian is Cognizant’s Offshore Head of its Global Mobile QA center of excellence. He has 14 years of experience in the information technology industry, spanning software development, product engineering, testing, test automation, mobility and technology consulting. Ram manages multiple complex mobility engagements, focusing on consulting, delivery and business devel-opment initiatives. He holds a post-graduate degree in computer technologies and can be reached at Ramakrishnan.Venkatasubramanian@cognizant.com.

Rangarajan Rajamani is a Senior Manager of Product Management within Cognizant’s Quality Engi-neering & Assurance Technology center of excellence. He has over 11 years of experience, performing roles such as consulting, business development and program management across multiple industry verticals. Ranga holds a post-graduate degree in sciences and management. He can be reached at Rangarajan.Rajamani@cognizant.com.

Vinoth Kumar John Peter is a Senior Manager, New Market Specialist within Cognizant’s Quality Engineer-ing and Assurance Group. He has over 10 years of experience in the financial, healthcare, supply chain and automobile sectors, with experience spanning Six Sigma, data mining and analysis, channel intelli-gence and IT quality assurance. Vinoth holds a graduate degree in international business from University of South Carolina. He can be reached at Vinothkumar.Johnpeter@cognizant.com.

The authors would like to thank Pradeep Kumar Govindasamy for his contributions to this white paper.