Functional Testing

Mobile applications present new challenges for quality assurance (QA) teams. They must not only validate the functionality of their mobile applications but also adapt existing test processes for mobile-based execution, ensure consistent behavior across many environments and get test results faster. QA teams often find that manual testing is too cumbersome because mobile applications require tests that span multiple devices, carriers, operating systems and geographies.

Mobile applications present unique performance issues that must be tested and resolved. Applications and mobile Websites need to be optimized for the mobile experience and account for limited and variable bandwidth, as well as shared network services. Mobile users are extremely sensitive to the performance and reliability of mobile applications. Therefore, organizations must ensure optimal mobile application performance any time, any place, regardless of whether the user is on 4G or Edge, in an elevator or out in an open field.

Security of mobile devices is a major concern, especially as more and more business functions and processes are becoming mobile-enabled. If application delivery teams do not address security as part of the requirements and design phase for mobile applications, they may be exposing the organization to unplanned risks. Organizations should not overlook the risks of sensitive data being stored and shared over mobile and WiFi networks; authentication and encryption are critical dimensions of mobile security.

While IT organizations are often able to monitor and manage their traditional IT environments effectively, the solutions they are using may not be adequate for the new complexity that mobility adds. In order to offer the same or higher quality of service for mobile solutions, IT departments will need to monitor the end-to-end health of mobile business services—from applications through devices, carriers and back-end infrastructure.

If development and operations teams operate in their own traditional silos, the time lag between issue identification and ultimate resolution may exceed the tolerance of many mobile users. The speed of change in mobile applications requires IT departments to patch and update applications on a more frequent basis. To improve the overall application quality and end-user experience, mobile applications development and operations teams need to collaborate to monitor the deployed applications and consistently drive future enhancement, as well as bug fixes.