Since the old days, communication has been the key to a thriving civilization. It holds true in the current scenario, especially after the pandemic-induced digitalization. With the telecommunications industry witnessing a huge load since the big crisis, it has shown the best growth.
The world was almost on the verge of a mass of digital transformation and right after that, Covid-19 pushed it off the edge and amplified the virtual world. As expected, the telecommunications industry didn’t go untouched. It became the heart and soul of the connectivity the world cherishes and will continue to avail.
But what if the telecom sector encounters an unexpected glitch? Imagine a scenario where communication gets hampered. Won’t the entire virtual world turn upside down? The consequences would be catastrophic and hard to imagine. Therefore, more than any industry, it is responsible for providing a flawless customer experience. Thorough testing makes it possible.
This post will look at test automation in the telecom industry. We will uncover some core challenges in software testing for Telco and check out some ways to enhance testing that can accelerate the process. Let’s check out the details.
Importance of Telecom Testing
Telecom companies cannot afford a disruption in their services. There are strict standards in place to reach they have to stick to. Software testing, including testing user experience, must fulfill specific criteria.
Testing in the telecom industry ensures low latency and secure data transmissions between networks. As a result, the stability of operations increases, and so does customer satisfaction. An improved CX also leads to reduced churn.
Automated testing for the telecommunications industry helps in instantly tracking defects. Testing also ensures a steady rate of evolution across different platforms, such as devices, applications, reliability, billing systems, durability, revenue assurance, and interoperability.
Consistent testing for telecom through Telco testing solutions minimizes bugs, uncovers other flaws with constant evaluation, modernizes the user experience, augments customer retention, improves testing speed, and accelerates innovation.
Uncovering Telecom Testing Challenges
As the world prepared to adjust to its new normal, it became more dependent on the telecom industry. But the data traffic rise and skyrocketing load presented its own set of challenges. Here they are.
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Cyber Crime
Telecom organizations handle a lot of personal data, corporate data, and sensitive information. Moreover, this information goes to and fro in the form of messages and transactions, which makes it prone to different cyber threats. Some of them include SIP attacks, DNS attacks, and so on.
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Quality
All it takes is a sudden crash to tarnish customer interest. Not to mention, security and privacy issues can further scare customers off. The lack of sophistication in intrusion detection and imperfect data encryption can lead to low-quality services.
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Heavy Load
Excessive loads can cause anything to break down. The same goes for telecom. As traffic suddenly increased in the telecommunications industry in the past two years, they had to face a lot of discrepancies.
Test Automation In Telco Testing
Test automation in telecom is hands down a game changer. The scope of the telecom business is relatively extensive. At the same time, the infrastructure is overly complex, due to which manual testing can become unmanageable. But when you automate software testing for the telecommunications industry, the ability increases, and so does test coverage and efficiency. As a result, the digital ecosystems, quality enhances, the test cycle length decreases, and the time to market becomes faster.
Automation in the telecommunication industry allows faster detection and fixing of bugs, reducing customer churn. However, most automation tools out there are code based. While they are solution-oriented, this poses a further problem. Only a particular set of IT professionals can use them. Therefore, you should always opt for a software testing tool everyone can use.
As long as you use the appropriate test automation tool, it can help you enhance 5G user experience and messaging services, validate compatibility with different devices, and facilitate software deployment at the edge. Ideally, it should support network throttling using automation API monitor, inbound and outbound roaming performance, testing for local cellular or Wi-Fi experience, and so on. Evaluation is a crucial part of automation testing for the telecom industry that ensures optimal app performance.
Taking Telco Testing To The Next Level
You can take telecom testing to the next level by performing baseline test analytics and implementing a test automation pyramid. This pyramid layers different kinds of automated tests depending on their impact on the product and speed.
The unit tests lie at the bottom since they don’t interfere with existing functionalities. The next level comprises integration tests followed by end-to-end tests where testers determine the competence of the product in real-world scenarios. To further enhance telecom testing, you should also employ principles based on smart test automation. In other words, create purpose-built and self-contained test cases.
It goes without saying, you should choose a test automation solution that offers a comprehensive list of features and functionalities under one umbrella. Besides that, onboard qualities comprise domain expertise. These professionals should be able to decode the logic of telecommunication products, their networking requirements, and related system integrations. Also, appoint a test manager to handle design and other Quality Assurance activities such as implementing and executing.
Conclusion
Automation has turned out to be the oxygen for efficient testing of any software product. The same applies to the telecommunications industry. In the current day and age, telecommunication companies have to mandatorily offer high-quality solutions and a seamless interface more than ever.
We can all agree that the infrastructure of telecom is complex. The load on telecommunication products is high, along with security stakes. By implementing automated testing, telecommunication firms can aim for a better customer experience, high customer loyalty, improved retention rates, smooth internal processes, and consistent innovation.
If you have any doubts regarding automation in the telco space, sound off in the comments section below. Or if you think you would like to add something to this subject, we’re open to your thoughts. Sound off in the comments section below.
