The utilities landscape is changing. Growing competition and cleaner energy adoption mean that service providers have a lot on their hands. And then there’s the worry of achieving digital transformation and developing, deploying and maintaining efficient software.
Software defects can cost a utility business millions of dollars, damaging the company’s reputation and denting profits.
Enter Managed Testing Services.
Managed testing services are a great way to access a full suite of quality testing services and tools to get results without spending a fortune. Better still, you’re really busy, right? Well, good news! Managed testing services take responsibility for testing activities off your plate.
This article will outline the need for managed testing services. It will also explain how these services can help utility companies.
Let’s get started.
The present state of software testing in the utilities industry
Utility providers are under huge pressure to cut costs, provide better services and become more customer centric. As the first point of contact, customer-facing apps, company websites and other digital portals are critical.
But it can be tempting for utilities to let testing the software that underpins these customer touchpoints take a back seat. This can lead to poor-performing software and frustrated and disgruntled customers.
Factors that can hamper software testing for utilities include:
- Lack of integration between customer and utility providers, 3rd party apps
- Complex multi-channel interfaces
- Lack of proper testing resources
- Budgetary constraints
- Confusing workflows from legacy systems
An in-house testing team can answer some of these issues. But this may not be enough. Customers now expect secure, dependable software and exceptional service levels from utility companies. To meet this demand, you may need to outsource your quality assurance (QA) and turn to managed testing services.
10 benefits of managed testing services for utility businesses
So, what exactly do managed testing services give a utility company?
No utility can afford to invest in the quality of its digital products without weighing up the costs, risks and benefits.
Here’s the deal.
Managed testing services expose software applications to fast, efficient and thorough independent testing cycles. This provides end-to-end, customized and flexible testing while slashing overheads. Other benefits include:
- Reducing testing complexity
Utility apps are complex, with interconnected workflows and many integrations. This requires the right level of testing expertise. Managed testing service providers have the required technical know-how to simplify such complexities.
- Saving resources
Managed testing can save utility companies a ton of time. It can also save you a pile of money by cutting the need for people, processes and equipment. Managed testing services have these resources readily available and waiting.
- Cutting risk
Managed testing can make sure that no defects make their way into production. It can also improve software performance, functionality and security. By doing exhaustive verification and validation of your apps and executing different kinds of testing you can cut risks.
- Saving time with automation
Managed testing service providers are typically experts in automation. They can optimize your testing process for automation, reducing test cycle times for utilities. They also use shift-left techniques to find defects faster and automate tests for regression cycles.
- Optimizing costs
Managed testing can help reduce software testing costs by almost 50%. It eliminates the need for a utility to build up test infrastructure, hire testers or buy expensive testing tools. Service providers deliver all these in a package at a minimal cost.
- Enhancing collaboration and communication
Managed testing services improve teamwork and communication. Dedicated project managers track progress and keep everyone, including your key stakeholders, in the loop. They also ensure you meet your deadlines and goals.
- Improving quality
Quality is synonymous with continuous improvement. Managed testing services providers take responsibility for testing activities off your hands. This frees you up to focus on delivering better features and functionalities for customers.
- Enabling on-time delivery
Complex projects can often run into bottlenecks, especially if development and QA teams are overburdened. Managed testing services help direct the process of testing from start to finish , ensuring faster time to delivery.
- Getting the right expertise
Finding the right QA talent is hard, especially in specialist sectors such as utilities. Managed testing services gives you expert QA engineers and testers with industry experience. It also eliminates the hassle of hiring and training up your own team of experts from scratch.
- Improving security
Security is paramount for digital utility applications given the vast amount of data they handle. Unauthorized access, malware, or data breaches can be disastrous. Managed testing services companies have greater experience finding security loopholes and fixing them before deployment.
Conclusion
Utility providers want to improve the way they operate. They wish to speed up their digital transformation and deliver better services for customers.
Robust, dependable and secure utilities software is the need of the hour. But, for most utility businesses, creating good-quality software in-house at speed and on-budget is hard work.
Managed testing services can help by providing utilities with the deep industry expertise they need. They can also lower costs and remove the headache of managing testing yourself.
What’s more, choose a managed testing services provider with experience of cyber security testing and you can protect your utility apps, systems and services from cyber threats.
