Editor’s Note: Welcome to our weekly Reality Check column. We’ve gathered a group of visionaries and veterans in the mobile industry to give their insights into the marketplace.
Capgemini and HP recently published their fourth annual World Quality Report that provides a “comprehensive assessment of the current state of enterprise application quality and testing practices available from around the world.” The reason I bring it up in this context is that one of the report’s major headings is “Mobile Testing: Behind the Curve,” which includes the fact that only 31% of the respondents (1,550 CFOs, CIOs, IT directors, and quality assurance directors) test their mobile applications.
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There seem to be a couple of viewpoints as to how we ended up here—testing-wise. Some see it as a direct result of the bring your own device (BYOD) phenomenon and the corresponding inability, or unwillingness, of corporate IT departments to handle its unique challenges. Others see a shift from traditional testing where flawless functionality was the goal to one where contemporary mobile users will tolerate a glitch or two as long as the app performs well and is user friendly. Performance far outranks functionality on survey respondents’ priority list.
There’s no denying that some aspects of mobile testing are distinctly more challenging than those encountered in other IT testing areas. Device complexity is a good example. To support the majority of users in a given target market may require providing support for hundreds of different types of smartphones and tablets, running on several different operating system versions, not to mention the necessary accommodations for different screen sizes, touch functionality, orientation and built-in cameras.
But companies need to accept the challenges inherent in mobile testing as part of the new “normal” and strive to keep the pace of testing development in line with that of mobile development.
Behind the curve won’t cut it for long.
Fernando Alvarez leads Capgemini’s recently launched Mobile Solutions Global Service Line.
