The Trick to Scaling Your Test Automation

Unlock the Potential of Automated Testing

Shipping high quality apps requires thorough testing, and testing thoroughly requires teams to automate more of their process. Quality isn’t just about testing more – it’s about testing smarter. By optimizing your workflow, you create space to validate every critical part of your application efficiently and reliably. Full-scale quality comes from full-coverage testing. 

In this blog, we’ll explore how full-coverage automation is possible with the right combination of: 

• Comprehensive app support 

• Diverse test types and environments 

• AI-driven testing efficiencies 

• And more…  

Let’s break it down.  

Support the Full Breadth of Your Business

A common challenge teams face when expanding test coverage is application diversity. Many enterprises operate across multiple platforms – desktop, web, mobile, and even legacy systems – making it difficult to create a unified test automation strategy. 

When planning your automation approach, consider the following: 

• Do you need to automate testing across multiple environments? – You may be working with thick-client desktop applications, modern web apps, and even mobile platforms – you don’t want to have a testing tool for each one. Instead, prioritize finding solutions that offer more capabilities in a single place.  

• Can you handle complex UI and custom controls? – Your applications may feature dynamic elements and third-party libraries that automation script has trouble detecting, but that doesn’t mean they should be resigned to manual testing. To reach full-coverage, even your most complex app features should be included in your test automation.  

• Are you testing internal and regulated applications? – Internal and legacy applications are some of the hardest to test, and many will keep their legacy testing teams siloed from the rest of their teams to keep things clear. When transforming your business, though, legacy and modern apps alike need to be fully supported with automation.  

Many QA teams are juggling multiple application types within their organization and that can make scaling automation feel nigh impossible. With SmartBear TestComplete, businesses can fully consolidate their testing efforts,  eliminate the need for multiple automation frameworks, and unify  teams – all while streamlining effort in the process.  

Expand Test Coverage Beyond Functional Testing

When teams first start adopting test automation for their UI, they will naturally begin with functional test automation – because of course your application needs to work! While functional automation is essential, true full-coverage automation extends beyond the functional. To ensure robust application quality, organizations must incorporate: 

• Load testing – Simulating real-world user activity under various loads to identify performance bottlenecks before they reach production. 

• Visual regression testing – Ensuring UI consistency across releases by detecting visual discrepancies that functional tests may overlook. 

• Data-driven testing – Automating tests with varying inputs to validate system behavior under different conditions, reducing manual test case creation. 

• Accessibility testing – Validating app components such that they can be used by anyone with any degree of disability.  

• Cross-browser and cross-device testing – Replicating functional tests across a wide range of browsers and devices your customers may find you on 

This is where teams can make a significant impact on quality – by focusing on all the different ways you can test an application to ensure maximal user satisfaction.  

Often, teams fail to expand beyond functional testing because their automation tools don’t support additional test types. With TestComplete, teams can instantly expand their end-to-end testing coverage by tapping into a host of features and capabilities that allow them to create and automate functional tests and then enhance them by testing them on real devices and browsers, converting them into performance tests, and even including visual regression and accessibility tests.  

Leverage AI to Overcome Testing Bottlenecks

Even with the best test coverage strategy, QA teams often face time-consuming and error-prone manual work. This is the type of work that AI innovation was meant for – to enable teams to cover their most burdensome workloads so that they can shift focus to additional tasks.  

When considering how you might use AI in your testing, start by considering the following functionality: 

1. Self-Healing Tests 

One of the biggest challenges in automation is test maintenance. UI changes frequently break test scripts, requiring constant updates. TestComplete’s AI-powered self-healing capability detects changes in application elements and updates locators automatically, preventing test failures due to minor UI modifications. 

2. Optical Character Recognition (OCR) for Complex Interfaces 

Many applications – especially in industries like finance and healthcare – use PDFs, scanned documents, and dynamic text elements that traditional test automation struggles to validate. TestComplete’s built-in OCR technology can read and validate text in complex UI elements, reducing reliance on brittle workarounds. 

3. False-Positive Filtering in Regression Testing 

Regression tests often generate false positives, causing QA teams to waste time investigating non-issues. AI-powered false-positive filtering in TestComplete minimizes unnecessary test failures, allowing teams to focus on actual defects. 

4. AI-Driven Test Data Generation 

Many regulated industries require customized, secure test data to maintain compliance with standards like PCI DSS, GDPR, and SOX. TestComplete’s AI-powered test data generation automates this process, ensuring tests run with realistic data while maintaining privacy and security requirements. 

These are just a sample of AI capabilities we offer at SmartBear designed specifically to tackle repetitive, but essential, work. It is our belief that AI has immense potential, but it only adds value if it can empower the individuals using it. AI isn’t meant to replace, it’s meant to enhance.  

The Cost of Falling Behind in Test Automation

Organizations that fail to invest in full-coverage automation risk bottlenecks, security vulnerabilities, and delayed releases. IDC found in their 2023 Market Analysis Perspective reportthat 80% of testing still requires manual intervention, despite the growing complexity of software applications. 

The consequences of incomplete automation include: 

• Increased risk of defects reaching production – Late-stage bug fixes are exponentially more expensive than catching issues early. 

• Regulatory non-compliance – In industries like financial services, where compliance is critical, inadequate test automation can lead to legal penalties and reputational damage . 

• Competitive disadvantages – Businesses that adopt AI-driven test automation gain a significant edge in release velocity and software quality. 

To succeed, be prepared to extend your automation to more than just functional testing individual applications – coverage will be your key to avoiding these costly mistakes. 

 

Elevate Your Test Automation to Full-Scale Coverage with TestComplete 

With SmartBear TestComplete, your team can maximize coverage, accelerate release cycles, and eliminate the bottlenecks that prevent full automation. Teams can deliver higher quality results and continue to build automation confidence with the ability to: 

• Achieve full test automation across desktop, web, and mobile applications 

• Incorporate load, visual, and data-driven testing into their automation strategy 

• Leverage AI for self-healing, OCR, false-positive filtering, test data generation, and more… 

Start your journey to full-coverage automation today!