www.wipro.com

Reimagining Quality Assurance for the Digital Enterprise

Ramesh PaiPractice Head,

Digital Assurance practice

MER

LO

MERLO

02

Q: Is Testing really dead as some say it is?

A: Testing in the conventional sense is dead, but addressing quality in a

Software Development Life Cycle (SDLC) today (for digital enterprises)

requires an engineering approach rather than a Testing approach.

Addressing quality today is about enabling quality development rather

than validating a work product post-facto. It starts with automating Tests

and is in parallel to development. It is also about validating Application

Programming Languages (APIs) for function and User Interfaces (UIs) for

form factors as well as time to market, as much as about quality itself.

As a corollary – Testers in their traditional form with traditional skills are

dead too. An engineering approach in digital IT requires Testing aptitude

to be married with development skills. Hence, the need for Software

Development Engineer in Test (SDET) rather than a Tester.

Ramesh Pai, Director and Head of Wipro’s Digital Assurance practice, talks about how Quality is

helping bridge this gap. Traditionally considered as the weakest (read slowest) link in a software development

process, QA today is leading from the front to enable Digital Transformation.

Consumerization and digital adoption are leading to polarization of Enterprise IT strategy. Today systems of

engagement are transforming faster than ever with speed and experience as the driving factors. However, the slow

evolution of systems of record are weighing down this transformation.

03

Q: What is changing in this new approach

to quality?

A: The asks from QA are changing. In traditional QA, time (whatever

time remains after development is done), cost (as low as possible) and

quality (got to be perfect out of the door) were the key asks. Whereas

today, digital channels are enabling enterprises to reach end consumers

faster than ever with innovative products and services with experience

at the core. Hence in Digital QA, Speed (Test as you build or even

before), Experience (for personalized and omni-channel experience) and

iterative development (building a Minimum Viable Product) is what both

IT and business leaders are striving for.

Test Automation is moving beyond regression to enable parallel

development via progressive Test automation approaches. Behavioral

Development Driven (BDD) methodology is one such approach where

user expectation of behavior in natural language constructs is the

premise for automated Testing. Enterprises are embracing more and

more Open Source tools, not-yet-established frameworks and are open

to experimentation more than ever and the skill requirements are

changing too.

A: It was, but not in today’s digital world. Digital products and services

are evolving at a rapid pace which has led to consumers demanding these

services with least possible delay. Shorter releases have meant that the

priority of quality assurance has moved towards Test-as-you-build, with

customer experience as the key.

In Continuous Testing approaches, Tests are automated before products

are developed and then integrated with Continuous Integration

pipelines. New age tools and accelerators like EggPlant, JBehave, Appium,

SeeTest etc., enable Tests right at the development stage and crowd

platforms (internal & external) enable early user experience feedback.

All these are enabling QA to lead the Digital Transformation from the

front rather than being the slowest link in the SDLC chain as in the past.

Q: By virtue of its very nature or where it falls

in the lifecycle, isn’t it counter intuitive to

think of QA as a function that enables speed

or influences experience or effectively delivers

Minimum Viable Products (MVP)?

Q: The above mentioned trends are certainly

true about greenfield digital development

projects, but how do you support a large part

of Enterprise IT that is still migrating from

legacy architectures and infrastructure?

A: Digital Transformation today is not just about overhauling the UI, but

about transforming the entire ecosystem, including infra (cloud) and

software stacks (as a service). Quality Assurance, thus, is about

supporting such transitions and is achieved through techniques like

virtualization and, in many cases, SDETs, building custom tools for

validation. Remember, engineering is an approach to QA for today’s

digital enterprises.

“Speed, Experience &

Iterative Development are the

new Time, Cost & Quality”

04

Q: What benefits do large enterprises draw

from QA initiatives in the digital age?

A: With competition at an all-time high, digital age enterprises strive for

faster time-to-market with enhanced user experience. The end result:

higher conversion rates and customer loyalty highlighted by a

positive Net Promoter Score (NPS). These benefits are derived

today by reducing cycle time through QA approach like Continuous

Testing. This approach also provides much-needed flexibility and

enhanced user experience by incorporating user feedback early in

the iterative development. This eventually results in cost savings

through early bug fixes. It is estimated that by 2020, customer

experience will overtake price and product as the key brand

differentiator. The ideal way forward is a user-centric and Continuous

Testing approach for QA in digital.

05

About Wipro Ltd.

Wipro Ltd. (NYSE:WIT) is a leading information technology, consulting and business process services company that delivers solutions to enable its

clients do business better. Wipro delivers winning business outcomes through its deep industry experience and a 360 degree view of "Business

through Technology.” By combining digital strategy, customer centric design, advanced analytics and product engineering approach, Wipro helps its

clients create successful and adaptive businesses. A company recognized globally for its comprehensive portfolio of services, strong commitment to

sustainability and good corporate citizenship, Wipro has a dedicated workforce of over 160,000, serving clients in 175+ cities across 6 continents. For

more information, please visit www.wipro.com

For more information, please visit www.wipro.com

About the Author

Ramesh Pai

Ramesh Pai is the Head for Wipro’s Digital Assurance practice. Ramesh, who has worked with global customers for developing Digital Assurance

strategy for large transformation engagements, handles Technology, Enterprise and Financial Services verticals. He also has expertise in managing and

consulting large QA programs and QA CoE blueprinting with a focus on Digital Assurance.

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