What Is Cloud-based Software Testing and How Can It Enhance Testing Services?
Tags: devops, testing, cicd, github
Published: 2022-11-08 11:09:03

Due to the sudden upsurge in the usage of software applications around the globe, enterprises are finding it extremely difficult to meet the time to market demands.  [**Enterprise QA teams**](https://www.runforesight.com/blog/series-2-building-a-test-automation-team)  that are able to detect errors at the earliest will have more time to work on various other development phases as well as enhance the application quality. With the advent of cloud computing technology, enterprises have leveraged several innovative opportunities in software testing and software deployment. It has opened new possibilities, particularly in the domain of software testing & maintenance.

[**Cloud-based software testing**](https://www.testrigtechnologies.com/get-ready-for-some-of-the-best-cloud-testing-trends-in-2021/)  is a set of procedures, tools, and processes that are leveraged by testers inefficiently and precisely testing software. With the utilization of Cloud service models, enterprises can implement testing as a service, without the need to completely invest in testing labs, tools, or infrastructure. Cloud services deal with not just testing but also everything from cloud security, software development, resource utilization, etc.

Without a proper test, the software will always be vulnerable to threats, errors, security breaches, and many more factors that will significantly affect customer experiences. Therefore, while selecting a test tool, infrastructure, or automation service from the cloud, testers must completely understand its platform compatibility, resource support, flexibility, and  [**service cost**](https://www.runforesight.com/blog/the-known-and-unknown-costs-of-ci-testing). Completely ingraining QA, at multiple phases of cloud adoption and administration, must be an overriding mandate. This means enterprises must carry out robust QA planning and stipulation to guarantee that the Cloud services cover the entire  [**test automation process**](https://www.runforesight.com/blog/building-a-test-automation-strategy)  successfully. Moreover, enterprises must be keenly conscious of the growing levels of regulatory scrutiny of Cloud technology. Clients anticipate seeing proof that enterprises have fully completed and implemented cloud-based software testing strategies for data, flexibility, and application exit.

## How Can Cloud Computing Enhance Software Testing

Cloud computing technology has revolutionized the way enterprises utilize IT resources across a software development life cycle. From development and testing to the final deployment, it has enhanced the software life cycle and has significantly reduced time as well as cost. Cloud Computing is defined as a platform for facilitating omnipresent, relevant, budget-friendly, on-demand network access to multiple computing resources at a time. Enterprises can leverage everything from networks and servers to storage and tools without having to buy the entire solution. These resources can be rapidly provisioned from the cloud and implemented with minimum administration effort or service provider interaction.

This makes it all the more imperative for enterprises to leverage cloud services across the different business operations.

Here are some benefits for enterprises that leverage cloud computing technology:

1)**On-demand self-service:** Computing resources such as server performance time and cloud storage can seamlessly be utilized by the enterprise. Once the enterprise signs up for the required services, there will be no need for interaction with the cloud service provider.

2)**Broad network access:** The cloud interaction or the communication between devices are all based on the cloud network services. Therefore large enterprises that leverage multiple IoT devices, smart devices, machines, or even laptops and phones can seamlessly interconnect and access devices through cloud networks.

3)**Resource pooling**: Public computing resources are distributed and accessed by several consumers beyond a single enterprise. This type of resource sharing helps companies leverage processing, storage, memory, data centers, and much more from different geographical locations.

4)**Rapid elasticity:** Computing resources can automatically be provisioned to enterprises for time being based on the need. The resources are mostly under a pay-as-you-use policy which makes it easier for enterprises to implement them or cancel them when not needed.

## Benefits of Cloud-Based Software Testing

The majority of the IT companies and software developers are now migrating their legacy systems to a cloud ecosystem for better  [**test automation services**](https://thinkpalm.com/services/test-automation-services/). With cloud-based testing, their applications are scalable, flexible, and easily adaptable. Here are some reasons why enterprises are adopting  [**cloud-based software testing**](https://www.runforesight.com/blog/testing-tips-for-todays-distributed-cloud-environments)  over traditional or manual application testing.

1. It significantly reduces the expenses and the process cycles by sharing the resources when the testing strategy is performed. This is because cloud-based Testing as a Service (TaaS) enables IT and software developers to initialize practical experimental tests on cloud platforms without the necessity to possess licenses or purchasing the resource. This reduces the expenses of testing and improves sharing of resources and the use of services.

2. Better testing environment of testing and virtual infrastructures. The flexibility of cloud technology enables enterprises to leverage TaaS from any part of the globe as long as the place has a good internet connection. Also, the cloud provides a better virtual environment for testing and SaaS solutions that support the entire testing life cycle, including development. With these virtual infrastructures, enterprises will not have to spend a lot on real labs or traffic generators but just lease the resources from the cloud.

4. The Pay per use policy of cloud services is the most notable factor for enterprises. As opposed to traditional software testing, in cloud-based software testing, enterprises can choose the resource, tools, or technologies for just the time they need. They will have to only pay for the service based on the utilization time and can stop leveraging cloud services once the testing is complete.

## Conclusion

Cloud computing and cloud-based software testing open up new possibilities for QA teams and software development companies. Especially during the current COVID-19 crisis, when there are huge restrictions on human interactions, manual testing will face severe challenges. With the adoption of Cloud-based software testing, enterprises can leverage cloud solutions from any part of the globe at any given time. Even the post-covid era will see a rise in technological innovations, where more applications will have modern advancements such as Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning integrated into their architecture. To efficiently test such applications and ensure zero errors, enterprises must invest in cloud computing and test automation services.

## Bonus Section:

### Observability for Cloud-based Software Testing

The shift-left paradigm shows that observability has to be implemented early in the software development lifecycle because it is incontrovertible that any bug in production is more costly than the biggest pre-production failure.

Testing is a must to deliver reliable software to your end-users. Since modern applications are architectured in a distributed way, hosted in the cloud or on-prem, it is difficult to test them and even more difficult to troubleshoot when tests fail.

By being able to gather data from the app in real-time, developers and QA engineers gain 100% code-level observability and faster resolution of test failures.  [**Foresight**](https://www.runforesight.com/)  replaces the iterative, non-agile process required today for debugging failed builds in CI pipelines.  [**Foresight**](https://github.com/marketplace/thundra-foresight)  is platform-agnostic, working on-prem, in the cloud, on containers, and on serverless code.