EuroSTAR Conference

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5 Top Tips To Convert Leads After An Event (+ Examples)

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We all know that following up with leads after exhibiting at a live event is crucial to converting potential customers into actual customers – while you are at the forefront of their minds.

For those of you who are new to follow ups or if this was your first time exhibiting at a live event, I’ve put together a number of tips and techniques, plus some email examples, to help set you and your company up with a successful follow-up strategy.

Clare’s 5 Top Tips

1. Act promptly

Time is of the essence when it comes to following up with leads post-event. Of course, there’s lots to follow up on once you get back to the office and work is piling up. However, it is recommended that exhibitors should aim to reach out to captured leads 3-5 days after an event while your brand and interactions are fresh in their memory – Attendees are often still on a high from a live event and are therefore more engaged.

According to Forbes, statistics show that the average response time for a lead is almost 47 hours, which they maintain is too long. It is well known that a lead requires 7-10 touches to convert. Consider diversifying your follow-up approach by using different channels of communication.

2. Personalise your communication

Personalised messaging resonates more effectively than that of a generic sale approach. Personalisation plays a key role in building stronger relationships with current and prospective leads. Refer to relevant discussions you had onsite at the live event to build rapport. This will help jog their memory and establish a connection. Adapt your communication approach based on the lead’s preferred communication method. Below is a simple and effective follow-up email example.

Subject: Connecting After EuroSTAR Conference – Let’s Keep the Conversation Going

Dear [First Name],

I hope this email finds you well. It was a pleasure meeting you at the EuroSTAR Conference last week. The event was truly inspiring, and it was great to connect with so many people who share a passion for quality assurance and software testing.

Our conversation about [specific topic or interest discussed] was particularly engaging, and I believe there’s a lot of potential for us to collaborate or share insights in the future. As we discussed, [briefly mention any action items or ideas from your conversation].

I’d love to schedule a brief call to delve deeper into our ideas and identify potential avenues for collaboration. Please let me know a few convenient dates and times, and I’ll accommodate your schedule.

Thank you once again for your insightful contribution and interest and I look forward to the opportunity of further engaging with you. Feel free to reach out via email or phone.

Wishing you a productive and successful month ahead.

Sign off with your full name, title, company, and contact information.

3. Express appreciation & gratitude

Start you follow up with light messaging to express gratitude for the lead’s time and interest during the event. This lets them know you value the opportunity to meet and talk with them and re-establish the connection that you had onsite. Below are 3 ways in which you can begin your follow up, expressing your gratitude to your newly sourced leads:

Option 1:

Hello [Lead’s Name],

I hope you’re settling back into your routine after the EuroSTAR Conference. I wanted to extend my gratitude for the engaging discussion we shared. Your insights were refreshing, and I’m thankful for the opportunity to connect with professionals like you in the industry.

Option 2:

Hello [Lead’s Name],

I trust you’re doing well since we crossed paths at the EuroSTAR Conference. I wanted to reach out and express my appreciation for the engaging conversation we had. Your perspectives were thought-provoking, and I’m excited about the potential for collaboration that we explored.

Option 3:

Hello [Lead’s Name],

I hope you’re settling back into your routine after the EuroSTAR Conference. I wanted to extend my gratitude for the engaging discussion we shared at the [company name] booth. Your insights were refreshing, and I’m thankful for the opportunity to connect with professionals like you in the industry.

4. Offer additional information

Where relevant, offer them additional information or resources. There may be whitepapers, product brochures, or case studies that may inform your offering relevant to the lead’s inquiry with you.

It was great to have the opportunity to discuss [insert reference to conversation you had] with you at EuroSTAR. From our conversation, I thought it might be helpful to send along some digital resources that may be of use to you and help answer any further questions [link to any relevant resources on your company’s website]

5. Measure & Optimise:

“You can’t measure what you don’t track” is a quote attributed to Peter Drucker, one of the most influential thinkers on management.

By tracking the success of your follow-up efforts and approach, you can later analyze the data and identify patterns across response rates, conversions and overall lead quality. This will help inform your future strategy and optimize your follow-up process, setting you and your team up for greater success!

Successful follow-up post event is about building meaningful relationships, providing value, and nurturing the leads you’ve gathered. By being timely with your follow-up, personalizing your communications and offering relevant and valuable information, you can increase your chances of converting your leads into loyal customers!

For more information on how EuroSTAR can help you achieve your business goals, check out the EuroSTAR 2024 EXPO brochure or book a call with me.

Clare Burke

EXPO Team, EuroSTAR Conferences

With years of experience and a passion for all things EuroSTAR, Clare has been a driving force behind the success of our EXPO. She’s the wizard behind the EXPO scenes, connecting with exhibitors, soaking up the latest trends, and forging relationships that make the EuroSTAR EXPO a vibrant hub of knowledge and innovation. 

t: +353 91 416 001 
e: [email protected] 

How to get a Talk Accepted

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The EuroSTAR 2024 Call for Submissions is open until 17th September, and our Programme Committee, Michael Bolton (Chair), Ru Cindrea, Bas Dijkstra, Baldvin Gislason Bern, and Tanja Vos. are calling for testers, developers and quality professionals to submit their talk proposals for the 2024 programme.

In this blog post, Michael shares tips on what style of talks he’s keen to add to the line-up.

Greetings friends,

Here are a couple of things that you might want to consider for EuroSTAR 2024 that could help your submission to fit the theme, or otherwise to be successful.

People are hungry for stories, so that’s what we’re looking for. The theme is a question “What are we doing here?” and that isn’t quite the same as “What have we done?” Consider stories about the testing that you’re doing at the moment, even if it’s work in progress.

Either way, your story need not be about successes. Your presentation can be failures you’ve experienced and problems you’ve encountered, whether you managed to resolve them or not. Some of the most interesting and compelling conference talks I’ve attended have involved trouble and getting around it.  Others have ended with “to be continued”. You may even have attendees coming to you with suggestions afterwards!

“What are we doing here?” could be about something that’s happening, at the conference, in the room where we’re gathering. Whether you’re doing a tutorial, a workshop, or a track talk, consider something experiential:  a quick exercise, a role play a game, or a puzzle to work through. Give people a chance to meet, chat, and collaborate.

Moreover, the EuroSTAR community is an enormous resource. Hundreds of people with diverse skills and rich experience are eager to share their ideas with you, and to offer help with puzzles and problems that you may be trying to work through. During the discussions, after your story of what we’re doing here, you may get terrific insights on what they’re doing there.

Before you submit, it can help to ask a colleague or friend to read your abstract and learnings, so you get immediate feedback on whether it engages them and captures their attention. Below you’ll hear from the EuroSTAR team as they give you insights on the overall programme selection process.

Until next time,

Michael

EuroSTAR 2024 Programme Chair

Start Submission

How are talks selected?

The EuroSTAR programme process is as transparent as possible. Once all the submissions are in, they are independently reviewed by a team of 40-50 community reviewers. Reviewers are members of the testing community that volunteer their time to help read a selection of talks and then score them for:

  • Engagement – Does the talk appeal to you? Will the attendees engage with it?
  • Original Ideas – Has it all been heard before or are there new ideas that will excite and energise the listeners?
  • Scope & Relevance to the theme – is it in keeping with the 2024 theme “What Are We Doing Here?”

Reviewers see only the talk details (not the speaker) so every submitter has an equal opportunity. If you are unsure of how to write a good submission, get in touch and we’ll help guide you.

Each talk has 5 reviews and then the scores are averaged. The top scoring talks will be the main basis for the programme. There will be some invited speakers (like all conferences) but the majority of talks come from the above blind review process.

If you’d like to be part of the review panel, please contact our Programme Manager, Siobhán.

If you are thinking of submitting a talk proposal, check out the full Call for Speakers detailing potential topics and what the EuroSTAR 2024 Committee are looking for.

Over 55% of the speakers at EuroSTAR 2023 were speaking for the first or second time, that’s in 31 years of EuroSTAR Conferences so there is always a mix of voices on the EuroSTAR stage. If you’ve submitted before and didn’t make the programme, don’t be afraid to reach out and ask for help.

The Silver Bullet for Testing at Scale

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Thanks to Testory for providing us with this blog post.

Testing has always been a bottleneck in the development process. Since product teams often sacrifice time spent testing, the workload testers face ebbs and flows.

Your company’s testers most likely know what it’s like to work weekends and evenings when there’s a release coming up. At points like those, they generally have to take on low-level work to make sure they check everything and deliver a high-quality product. But that overworks them and leads to burnout.

Product teams often think about the silver bullet: how do you scale testing (increase capacity) instantly without just throwing money at the problem?

Before we answer that question, however, we should take a step back and look at the big picture. What challenges are inherent to testing?

Testing requirements by role

CTOProduct managerHead of testing
Faster time to marketYesYes–
Budget optimizationYesYes–
Product Quality for CustomersYesYesYes
Peak loads––Yes
Routine tasks––Yes
Variety of testing enviroments––Yes

Every role has its own problems. How do you solve them all at the same time?

A few years ago, we took a systematic approach to testing challenges, eventually coming up with a product for the largest IT company in our region. The solution married a variety of ML and other algorithms with traditional IT tools (Tracker, Wiki, TMS) and thousands of performers scattered across different time zones. That eliminated the bottleneck. With a dozen product teams online, they could scale testing or remove it altogether based on need.

On the one hand, we’re constantly improving our algorithms to give better feedback faster. On the other, our automated system selects professional testers who guarantee that same great result.

Another advantage our system offers is that it stands up well to load spikes around the clock rather than just during regular working hours.

Let’s look at an example. In February 2023, a large customer handed Testory a process that included 2240 hours of work, 1321 of which were outside business hours.

As you can see on the graph, the load placed on testers was anything but even. There are a thousand reasons why that could be. Some peaks outpaced the capacity of a full-time team working regular hours, though expanding the team would have resulted in team members sitting around the rest of the time.

All that makes sense on the graph. The red line represents hours, with eight full-time employees sufficient to cover the total of 65. As you can see on the graph, the load was more frequently heavier, meaning that team of eight wouldn’t be up to the task, though there were also times were they wouldn’t have had enough work.

How does it work?

The customer embeds crowd testing in their development pipeline, calling the process from their TMS as needed and running regress testing in our product with external testers.

When they submit work for crowd testing, our algorithms scour our pool to select the best performers in terms of knowledge, speed, and availability, then distributing tasks so we can complete a thorough product test in the shortest possible time. We then double-check the result, compile a report, and send the report to the customer. That’s how we fit N hours of work into N/X hours.

The customer can scale up testing whenever they want, then scaling back and paying nothing when they don’t have work to do. It’s an on-demand service.

Performers enjoy an endless stream of work that’s perfect for their skill set in addition to some that pushes them to learn and grow. For our part, we offer testers special skill- and knowledge-based courses, stable payment that depends on how many tasks they complete, and the opportunity to work from anywhere in the world.

What’s the bottom line?

We free up resources our clients can rededicate toward interesting and higher-risk work, help out with peak loads, and streamline costs:

How can you get that for yourself?

Testory is a separate process and product born to help large companies. It’s for anyone trying to quickly deliver IT products that solve user problems. If you’re interested in leveraging our experience, get in touch, and we’ll build a roadmap for you.

Author

Mary Zakharova

Mary has been working with crowdtesting products for 6 years. She started her career as a community manager in a testers’ network.

In recent years, Mary has been in charge of the Testory product

Testory is an EXPO Exhibitor partner at EuroSTAR 2023

How to Solve Your Recruitment Needs for Software Testers?

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Thanks to Talent2Test for providing us with this blog post.

The testing market is currently facing the same challenges as almost the entire IT industry. A lot of new projects are starting up, the challenge lies in finding the right profiles, with the right education for the right roles. Double match, win-win call it as you want. Often supplier and customer are fighting to get the upper hand in “winning the deal”: the best price, the best consultant,… and face each other’s agenda’s. These agenda’s prevent a smooth collaboration because one of both parties wants to win the deal.

From our years of experience in guiding and helping companies in their digital journeys, we developed a way of thinking that leads to a more profound collaboration. By noticing that, making a random match between request and offer is like flipping a coin, we decided to take the matter in our own hands and create a platform where both parties can meet each other and create a real win-win.

Our Answer to This Scarcity?

15 years ago, we started organizing classes for our customers. Throughout the years we started finetuning this setup and came to a format where the customer, the supplier and the consultant find the right way to go. Before the start we define the needs of the customer, what kind of profile do they need, which technologies do they prefer? Wat is the location of their offices? Based on this information, we start looking for possible candidates in collaboration with our brand “Cookie Crunchers”. The Cookies talk to the Juniors consultant’s and make a careful selection. The consultant does interviews with us as a supplier and with the customer to define if there is a match. We start the training, which is also a training based on the needs of the customer e.g. emphasis on manual testing, test automation…

Meet the friendly Carole, 23 years old, who decided this year: I want to delve into software testing. Today she is making waves as a software tester. How she achieved that, she is happy to tell!

A Leap of Faith

“During my studies Media & Entertainment I came into contact with a website for programming and front-end development, and this is where my love for IT arose. But after three years of studying, I just wanted to start working and gain experience on the job. On the advice of my aunt, I took the plunge and started applying for a job in IT without any degree or experience.”

Mission Accomplished

“Within two months I was allowed to start at a company as a functional software tester. I didn’t know anything about it, but I learned a lot in the process. Soon I felt like I could handle even more of a challenge. Quite coincidentally, I received a LinkedIn message from Merijn from Talent2Test: was I interested in a Software Testing Class? That’s how the ball started rolling.”

Software Tester of the Day

“After the class, I was able to start very quickly with a Talent2Test customer. I’m the only tester on the team so that takes a lot of responsibilities with it. It is a large, international company and there are many career opportunities. There is a lot of variation within IT and I speak English every day. I also have a very nice team that I can always turn to. When I started the Testing Class, I really wanted to go to automation, because I thought I had already seen the functional, but with my employer I really noticed that there are a lot of new functionalities and more involved.”

Career Boost

“I experienced the process at Cookie Crunchers very positively. The regular contact, follow-up and support; I had a really good feeling about it. There are also plenty of opportunities to follow training courses and take your knowledge to the next level. By starting at Cookie Crunchers, I now have so many more options and I’m glad I committed. The world of testing has opened up completely.”

Talent2Test – When Quality Matters

Want to know more about our junior classes? Are you looking for Software Tester? Or maybe you are a Software Tester looking for a new challenges or ways to improve your knowledge? Get in touch with Stijn, account manager.

a: Houtdok-Noordkaai 12, 2030 Antwerpen
m: +32 0497 64 10 25
e: [email protected]
w: www.talent2test.be

Author

Talent2Test

When quality matters, Talent2Test is your partner for software testing.

Talent2Test trains & supports and offer driven test engineers to help companies achieve the quality they need.

We have the flexibility of a local player, based in Antwerp. But also the ability to execute in an international environment. This due to the fact that we are part of the Nash Squared group.  

Talent2Test is an EXPO Exhibitor at EuroSTAR 2023

Test Automation Strategy – Everything You Need To Know

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Thanks to Solwit for providing us with this blog post.

Is it possible to implement test automation without a specific plan? What should a well-prepared strategy entail? In this interview, Michal Zaczynski, Software Testing Domain Expert, talks about the pros and cons of test automation and the benefits it can bring to businesses.

What are the short-term and long-term business benefits of automated software testing?

Business benefits can only be weighed by considering test automation, technology, and tools used in creating the product. Software testing always brings profits.

For a simple website without complex business logic, created using a popular platform, we can find out the results of automated tests even within a few hours using commercial automation tools. On the other hand, in the case of more complex test items and the multitude of automation tools or customized frameworks used, this time will significantly expand – even to 2-3 months.

Despite this, it is worth noting that this is not time wasted for business. The time saved by automated testing can be used to perform other, more complex tasks.

Among the most substantial long-term benefits is quick feedback on the quality of an application, the ability to test more often, releasing manual testers’ time resources, so they can focus on areas that still need to be tested, or the ability to repeat automated tests. All this leads to a significantly improved testing process and, ultimately, a higher quality product, assuming that the reported defects are remedied.

Is test automation required for all software projects, or are there situations where it is not?

No, it is not required, and there is no business case for doing so in many cases. This is particularly true for short-term projects, where automation can take longer than product development. Another example would include strictly hardware-related projects requiring manual actions, e.g., replacing a chip, rewiring expansion cards, etc. In this situation, the cost of setting up automated software testing equipment might be too high compared to the benefits. A project focused only on the graphical part of the application (UI), which changes.

Are there some criteria (maturity or otherwise) a company/project should meet to take advantage of software test automation?

That’s definitely an in-depth business analysis and defining realistic goals based on this that we would like to accomplish through software test automation.

Is an automation testing strategy always necessary, or can we do without it, and if so, why?

The test automation strategy should include, among other things:

  • defining the scope of automation and the level of testing,
  • defining the framework and tools for automation,
  • identifying test environments,
  • creating the tests themselves and running them.

It seems impossible to complete test automation by skipping any of the above steps. Even if you run a project that is very similar to the one already implemented, using the same technologies and resources, you still analyze the development possibilities subconsciously.

It is worthwhile to keep in mind that not having a strategy can also be a strategy.

What features should companies consider when designing an automation testing strategy?

These features are due to the steps included in the automation testing strategy, as defined in the earlier question. These are:

  •  Test type and level.
  •  The test team’s resources and skills.
  •  The desired features of the framework and automation tools (how they will be run).
  •  The purpose of test automation.

How do you know your automation testing strategy is actually effective?

A strategy is appropriate when it achieves defined objectives with an acceptable ROI. In light of these two pieces of information, we can say without a doubt that the automation path chosen is the right one.

What best practices or trends are you witnessing in the software testing automation field?

The context of recent trends suggests that many tools are adopting AI and taking a codeless approach to capture the market. Although they haven’t yet dominated the market, they are certainly growing in popularity. Their high license costs hinder their use, often linked to the number of automated tests created. It would also be worth mentioning the Playwright framework (open source), something the testing community has been hearing more and more about.

Many good practices exist, but they can all be combined into one – treat test automation like any other development project, following the same principles. This approach eliminates the need to re-solve old and familiar problems when developing applications or writing automated tests.

If you are seeking a technology partner to test your software, get in touch with us! We have successfully completed many projects that required the execution of automated tests, the choice of the right type of tests, the selection of the right tools, or creating them from scratch. We will be more than happy to tell you how to get it done. Set up a free consultation!

Author

Michał Zaczyński – Software Testing Domain Expert

Michał Zaczyński – has been with Solwit for over ten years. He’s a flesh and blood tester – his experience includes Quality Assurance activities, work with IEEE/ISO standards, and supervision of test projects. In his view, a competent specialist combines practical experience with theoretical understanding, seasoned with a dash of “that something” one must possess.

Solwit is an EXPO Exhibitor at EuroSTAR 2023, join us in Antwerp

New Track Talk Length for EuroSTAR 2024

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The EuroSTAR 2024 Call for Submissions is open, and Programme Chair, Michael Bolton, is calling for the testing community to submit their talk suggestions for the 2024 programme.

In this blog post, Michael shares his changes to the 2024 track talk format.

Greetings friends,

There is one minor change to the EuroSTAR 2024 programme layout. Instead of the previous track talk timing, we’ll be going with 60-minute sessions to afford more time for presenters to tell their stories (up to 40 minutes instead of 30), and more time for discussion afterwards (up to 20 minutes instead of 15).  The goal here is to provide more time to present the idea, and in particular, more time for discussion, reflection, and alternative perspectives.

That means as a speaker, you’ll need be prepared for comments and questions. You might find that some of those questions may be challenging. That’s normal. You’ll be talking to a room full of testers!  It’s our job to learn, to notice when details are missing, to recognize inconsistencies. As testers, our work and our findings will be challenged too. Consider a presentation less as a fashion show and more like a trip to the gym.

Imagine yourself an attendee sitting in the audience. What would you like to hear (or not)? What would make you feel your time was well-spent? Share your powerful ideas, case studies and the most innovative initiatives, solutions, or projects. Be useful! The EuroSTAR audience will want actionable content – learnings they can apply or make a difference with when they get back to their jobs. What have you learned that can be useful to them? How can they apply it? Advanced sessions perform well at EuroSTAR and usually draw larger audiences.

Of course, as testers, it’s also part of our job to be respectful and helpful to people who have created things, and a conference talk is no exception. EuroSTAR has its own code of conduct. In addition, I’d like to add to that by borrowing from my colleague Ilari Henrik Aegerter: Philosopher Immanuel Kant’s Categorical Imperative offers suitable instructions on how to act: ‍“Act only according to that maxim whereby you can at the same time will that it should become a universal law”. ‍Or, if that sounds too wordy, here is a simpler general heuristic: ‍

“Always act in a manner your parents/mentor/spiritual leader would approve of”

Thanks for reading. I’ll be sharing more tips shortly and in the meantime, the EuroSTAR team have added some helpful guidelines below.

Michael

EuroSTAR 2024 Programme Chair

Start Your Submission

Every year there are hundreds of submissions so to help guide you when considering what to propose, the EuroSTAR team have gathered their top tips of what the audience have told us they want in a Track Talk.

EuroSTAR Track Talks ideally:

  • Tell your stories of trials and triumphs, successes & lessons learned
  • Detail the methodologies or approaches that have helped individuals and organisations
  • Bring new information, emerging and/or innovative approaches or techniques
  • Introduce case studies of real projects
  • Show how you’ve addressed technical or non-technical pain points
  • Avoid sales pitches
  • Allow for discussion time – this is where a lot of the learning takes place
  • Include actionable takeaways for attendees and their teams

Start your Submission

If you’re inspired to submit a track talk – or indeed, one of our other talk types – check out the Call for Speakers details.

Here are some dates to bear in mind:

  • Call for Speakers deadline: 17 September 2023
  • Speaker selection notification: Late November 2023
  • EuroSTAR Conference: 11-14 June 2024 in Sweden

We look forward to reading your submission, and if you have any questions, please get in touch with us.

Orchestrated Testing Within Continuous Delivery

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Thanks to Sixsentix for providing us with this blog post.

Over the last few years, the market has put great effort into delivering solutions as fast as possible. The software has transitioned from having a supportive role in business to becoming a crucial part of the business itself. For instance, e-banking platforms have enabled clients to complete the job on their own. For many companies, this meant building new layers of software applications on top of the previous system of record, like CRMs or ERPs.

So, what’s the motivation behind this? Firstly, they are trying to differentiate themselves from the competition with faster and more flexible solutions. Secondly, they are disrupting the market with new innovative solutions. To go back to the banking example, many financial institutions are nowadays creating new brands (companies, applications, services, etc.) to target new segments of the market or even to create new niche markets.

The Problem: Excessive focus on the system of innovation (and disregard for other systems)

On the one hand, utilizing the systems of records to create a new service can be challenging to facilitate a quality release in a short period of time. For example, systems of record can be heavily impacted by regulatory mandates or using legacy technologies with old software architecture patterns.

Then, companies have rolled out the Agile Delivery Frameworks used in the systems of innovation, expecting to have the same outcome. But is this really possible? Are all the organizations able to become the next Spotify? In our experience, it’s not so easy. There are some serious challenges that need to be overcome:

  • The systems coexist, but some of our clients do not even notice that.
  • The same Agile Delivery framework does not suit all the systems, even in the same company or organization.
Source: Ketut Subiyanto

The Solution: Orchestrating testing between all systems

On the other hand, a new app can be done overnight within system innovation. Thus, time constraints, as well as the level of dependencies, are crucial attributes for a faster release among the three system platforms.

So, what do we do? Should we slow down the innovation to onboard the systems of differentiation and record onto our model? Definitely not!

Sixsentix’s approach is to use QA and specially the test architecture discipline as the orchestrator between systems. The main purpose of test architecture is to prepare the systems of differentiation and record to keep up with the pace of the system of innovation or even increase it! Our client portfolio consists of mid-sized and large companies from diverse business domains with one thing in common – most of them have developed new systems of differentiation and innovation very quickly. Here are some of the crucial lessons we’ve learned so far:

  • Risk-based testing brings two main benefits when testing applications within the system of record. On one side, it plays the role of guardian of quality for the system of record. On the other side, it helps the system of innovation to get faster evidence and, consequently, make early decisions whether to release to production or not.
  • Each system needs a different type of testing strategy, and each test strategy must consider the coexistence with the other systems. One testing strategy (i.e., approach, infrastructure, tooling) does not fit all the systems.
Source: Sixsentix’s adaptation of Gartner’s PACE Layered Application Strategy 

The Sixsentix Way: Using test architecture service to bridge the gaps

To further illustrate these ideas, let us consider the situation at one of our client companies, where we identified a lot of dependencies between the system of innovation (i.e., mobile apps) and the system of record (i.e., core business CRM).

  • Before implementing our test architecture service, we spotted the following symptoms:
  • Overload of delivery backlogs
  • Dependencies between agile teams consumed almost all the development capacity
  • Delivery objectives (time to market) could not be accomplished
  • Detection of side-effects in production environment
  • Huge effort on consolidating test evidence for audit-relevant systems

But after implementing the service, we could observe a number of improvements:

  • Quality Assurance supports faster releases with risk-based testing
  • Test automation degree was massively improved, allowing Continuous Testing
  • Audit-relevant test evidence is delivered efficiently thanks to methodological test coverage
  • Throughout business-facing testing, the dependencies are better understood and therefore the backlogs of all three systems are better aligned and prioritized
  • On an organizational level, shift-left has been enabled
Source: Envato

This perspective on frequent SDLC challenges is the result of Sixsentix experience, by consulting and operationalizing QA solutions at large scale organizations. If you wish to find out more about how test architecture can help bridge gaps between the three systems, find us at the Sixsentix booth. We look forward to discussing this topic and exchanging ideas about QA and software testing with you at the EuroStar conference!

Author

Sixsentix

Sixsentix is a leading provider of Software Testing Services, QA Visual Analytics and Reporting, helping enterprises to accelerate their Software Delivery. Our unique risk-based Testing and QACube ALM Reporting and Dashboards, provide business with unprecedented quality and transparency across Software Delivery projects for faster time-to-market. Sixsentix customers include the largest banks, financial services, insurance, telecom providers and others. Sixsentix Onsite, and Nearshore (SWAT) services deliver optimized testing outcomes at significantly lower costs and help customers with scalability to keep pace with digitalization.

Sixsentix is an EXPO Exhibitor at EuroSTAR 2023, join us in Antwerp.

Why Crowdtesting Should be an Imperative Pillar of Quality Assurance

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Thanks to MSG for providing us with this blog post.

Users are looking for products that inspire – or at least don’t bother them

Future generations – all of them digital natives – will no longer enter their business relationships as traditional customers. The changed demands and the constant transformation through digitalization are turning customers into users. But where no human interaction can create trust, dispel doubts, and answer questions, the product alone is in the spotlight and must have the ability to convince in a very short time and with a reduced attention span.

Attractive, easy to use and – best of all – with a higher range of functions.

Constantly available and nearly unlimited offerings are no longer disruptive but common standards. This applies to products, services, and public offerings at the same time. So, whatever your offer is, you must make sure, the users find it attractive, easy to use and with a suitable range of functions.

The users – not a homogeneous mass

Another challenge is to meet the different target groups and to create a digital infrastructure that covers their different needs equally. Those of Generation Y and Z, which have the purchase power and demand of the future expect modern forms of interaction, purchasing products and services fully digital. The future “everything is now” generation, which is no longer tied to long-term contracts and is used to getting whatever they are looking for on demand.

The competition among web-offerings, which compete without ties and with the promise of a “change of supplier in minutes”, meets this need. The time span to inspire or disturb new users is accordingly very short. Not at least because the tolerance for errors also decreases with the rising use of digital products. By now, most users have gained so much experience with apps and online products that they have a clear expectation of functions and usability. If these expectations are disappointing, they simply download the next app. And even if this is sometimes tied to opening an account, today this can be done quickly enough and with reasonable efforts.

The subjective experience counts

As good as product design and functionality may be, the product experience is and remains subjective. Every product will always create a subjective use case for the user, and this must work to store a positive experience.
A subjective use case could be that a user carries out his transactions exclusively while commuting on a mobile device and expects for instance a banking app to be compatible with his mobile device. The app should be so intuitive to use that external distractions do not disrupt the user flow and ideally the data flow should adequately handle the switch from 3G/4G mobile networks to WLAN networks. If all this fits, the experience is consistently positive.

This in turn not only brings the advantage that the individual user is satisfied, but providers also benefit from the fact that an experience is always communicated to others.

Position yourself on the market through assured quality

By assessing the product quality, you may influence your positioning on the market towards an outstanding product experience. This inherits the following to be ensured:

  • The smooth functionality of the product on the most popular devices in the market.
  • The provision of the appropriate range of functions with the right characteristics for the target group.
  • Covering as many subjective use cases as possible to avoid negative surprises after go-live.

While the first point can still be tested internally and in the laboratory, for example with emulated devices, as part of a verification, the other two points can only be tested as part of a validation.

Crowdtesting offers solutions

Crowdtesting is the validation of digital products involving your target group – remotely via the internet. Leaving this rather rigid definition behind, this method offers good tools to meet the three challenges of digital assurance. It allows positioning towards the upper right quadrant of digital excellence and thus can serve to stand out from the masses with an outstanding product.

Figure. 1: The quadrants of digital excellence

Crowdtesting helps you to cover subjective use cases and perceptions in any phase of the life cycle. You get a direct insight into whether your target group feels heard and can adapt at any time. In addition, with the variety off devices and mindsets added to your testing process you will be enabled to find functional and technical issues which wouldn’t be uncovered in the lab. And if there are no functional problems, that’s worth a pat on the back for your development and builds confidence in your product.

Feedback will always be a part of this testing process and even if the insights and “bugs” gathered in this process may not be fixed, they can be incorporated into the further development of the product. In the meantime, the results help customer support to prepare for possible enquiries and to create meaningful FAQ lists.

Conclusion – Crowdtesting is useful in any phase of a products lifecycle

It gives a good insight into the technical and functional stability of your product and provides the opportunity to understand the (future) users from the beginning and develop with a focus on their added value. You don’t have to wait for feedback from customers who may be disappointed once, not return to your site at all and not using your app a second time.

Author

Johannes Widmann

Johannes Widmann has been working in the field of software quality and digital assurance for over 22 years. He is a dedicated desciple of crowdtesting since 2011 and has built up passbrains, one of the leading service providers for crowd-sourced quality assurance. Since January 2021 passbrains is part of the msg group.

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