Test automation in the financial industry is crucial for ensuring the reliability, security, and operational continuity of systems critical to the functioning of the institution itself, as well as maintaining the trust of its customers. This article will focus on the importance of test automation in the financial industry, with an emphasis on the necessary skills, benefits, challenges, and key steps in managing this process.
This is not just a description of the technical aspects of automation, but an attempt to understand more deeply why it is worth investing in this technology and what specific tools can help.
Test automation is crucial in the financial industry because of the critical role these services play for customers. Access to funds and the ability to make payments must be provided without interruption, 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. Even the smallest disruptions are unacceptable, as they may impact customers’ daily operations. Therefore, the financial sector must keep its IT systems operational to ensure that customers have continuous access to services and funds.
Nowadays, more and more services are available online, from applying for a loan to making payments. Customers can use payment cards, mobile applications, and NFC technology. As the availability and scale of these services grow, it becomes equally important to ensure they operate error-free, which requires intensive testing and continuous monitoring.
Effective testing of all products and services in test environments requires conducting thousands of scenarios on a continuous basis. This means performing hundreds of thousands of tests every day, which, without automation, would require a huge amount of manual work.
Fortunately, test automation supports functional testers by automating their repetitive and time-consuming tasks, saving significant costs. This allows for an increase in the scale, accuracy, and frequency of testing.
Financial institutions can implement automated tests by making a one-time investment in test scripts that can be used for many months or even years. Although these tools require some investment to maintain, the benefits of automation are enormous:
Implementing test automation brings not only numerous operational and economic benefits but is also a key element of the strategy for adapting financial institutions to the dynamically changing IT environment and growing market requirements.
Below, we discuss in detail the various benefits of implementing test automation in the financial industry.
The key effect of implementing automated tests is to support functional testers in repetitive and time-consuming tasks. This allows them to allocate more time and resources to more demanding, complex, and creative tasks.
An equally important benefit is the increased number and frequency of tests performed. Thanks to automation, tests can be carried out 24 hours a day, reacting to changes and events in the environment. This results in several additional benefits, such as faster error detection at this stage and lower repair costs compared to situations where errors are detected in the production environment.
Test automation allows you to formalize the testing process, where predefined scenarios are executed in a repeatable and uniform manner. This ensures higher test quality by eliminating the human factor and ensuring that tests are conducted according to established standards, regardless of changing environmental conditions or the availability of specialists.
Automation eliminates the risk associated with the lack of availability of specialists with unique knowledge of specific business processes. Automated test scenarios serve as a repository of this knowledge, which can be executed and analyzed even in the absence of specialists.
As a result, the proper functioning of financial applications no longer depends heavily on individual skills or the presence of specific employees. This enhances the stability and continuity of not only the testing process itself but also the operation of the final product.
It is worth noting that the benefits of test automation may vary depending on the maturity level of the testing process in the organization:
The financial industry is characterized by a wide variety of systems and applications, which poses numerous challenges for automated testers. They require thorough business knowledge and experience in automating tests across various technologies.
One of the key aspects of test automation in banks is testing complete business paths, encompassing backend, frontend, and interactions with business customers. This necessitates the development of integrated tools tailored to specific requirements.
A particularly challenging area involves testing printouts and documentation generated as part of business processes (e.g., loan agreements), as they need to be created in various configurations and include specific legal information.
For test automation to bring the expected benefits, it must be implemented thoughtfully and integrated with the entire testing process. It is also important to build trust in the results of automated tests among functional testers and other individuals involved in the quality control process.
Please note the following issues related to test automation in financial institutions:
In a mature software delivery process, building a test pyramid should begin in the development stage. We start by creating and executing unit tests, then gradually progress to the next levels of testing using different environments. This includes integration testing, validation testing, functional test automation, regression testing, and ultimately monitoring in the production environment.
This strategy ensures comprehensive software testing at all stages of development, enabling early detection of errors and significantly improving the quality of the final product.
Test automation allows the measurement of many key performance indicators (KPIs) that assess the effectiveness of the testing process and its impact on the organization.
Here are some examples of KPIs that can be measured in the context of test automation:
Test automation in the financial industry is crucial for ensuring the reliability and continuity of services that must operate 24/7. Implementing automation saves time and costs while enhancing the quality and repeatability of tests. Despite its many benefits, financial institutions must address challenges such as integrating with various systems, ensuring regulatory compliance, and avoiding common implementation pitfalls.
Key success indicators (KPIs) and tools like Smartware support the automation process, ensuring comprehensive and effective test management. If you have any questions about the content of the article, information about our solutions, or interest in cooperation, please contact us.
