Uncertainty and innovation at speed in banking

The banking and financial landscape is undergoing a huge transformation to support the continually changing customer behavior, which is determined by the changing uncertainty. Uncertain situations, like the COVID-19 pandemic, have driven banks and financial companies to innovate in order to succeed. Organizations are leveraging the power of technology to cope up with these times of changing uncertainty. 

The rapidly increasing COVID-19 situation has led the banking and financial sector to strengthen its digital transformation journey. Companies are redefining their operating models with more agile and practical systems to support the complex digital workflows and offer a smooth user experience. They are utilizing an innovative approach to establish new business models, which will, in turn, require advanced test automation practices to identify any associated discrepancies or risks. Test automation is an integral part of any innovation; it is much more than a mere QA check, it offers huge scope to improve the product quality and establish a unique brand. 

How uncertainty encourages banks/financial companies to innovate 

Like the 2008 financial crisis or the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, uncertain situations have always had an immense impact on the banking and the financial sector. Being the core part of the global economic growth, the BFSI sector should strengthen and prepare itself for any kind of market, economic, natural, or political uncertainties. Only organizations that thrive in these situations and offer an unparalleled user experience even under the worst scenario can succeed, while others lose their existence. 

Innovation is the only key to sustain and succeed through uncertainty. It allows organizations to come up with new techniques, tools, and models that will be most appropriate to the new scenario. For example, the COVID-19 pandemic had restricted people visiting banks, which led banks/financial institutions to be a part of the digital revolution. Organizations started innovating their systems/processes to make it digitally available for their customers. This trend of digital innovation in the banking sector created an array of opportunities to improve all their systems. Hence, any uncertain situation can be easily converted to a favourable one by utilizing the power of innovation. 

Innovation and test automation: How are they connected?  

Innovation comes to the rescue during uncertain situations, but the question is how reliable the innovative approach is? The reliability of any innovation lies in the quality of the end-product/service. The only way to make any innovation work both for the banks and customers is to ensure the quality is exceptional. Performing test automation of the new banking/financial process will identify any errors and allow the developer to fix them before its launch. If innovation is inevitable to succeed during uncertainty, test automation is the key to make innovation successful. 

The technological innovations in banks and financial institutions are revolutionizing the entire banking/financial system. However, they are mostly associated with operational and infrastructural flaws. A good test automation strategy can help organizations to identify any errors offering a flawlessly working system to their customers. This process of performing testing improves the user experience, creates brand credibility, and increases business revenue.  

The current challenges faced by the global software testing fraternity 

The current market scenario, which is rapidly changing, demands organizations to incorporate QA processes that can support the high market volatility. Though organizations are already on the path to develop intelligent test automation solutions (some of them are already made available), there are many challenges that are being worked on. Some of the major test automation challenges faced by banks and financial companies are: 

Test case generation issues 

Banks and financial institutions offer a wide range of complex, financial services such as money transfer, savings management, loan origination and completion, credit card management, real-time updates etc. These are highly complex processes involving sensitive financial data, hence, there is no scope of error offered to the organizations. Further, the organizations are required to ensure complete privacy and security to avoid any kind of violation. With so many critical parameters involved, the organization should have ample data to generate a good test case repository and help save time, cost, and effort. Creating the right test cases will help banks and financial companies to improve their QA process considerably, whereas a set of poorly written test cases still remains a major challenge for a company’s growth.  

Performance failure scenarios 

Banks and financial institutions have thousands of customers accessing the organization’s system, all at one time. Any failure in the performance can even cause financial losses and destroy the brand completely. It is important for organizations to monitor their system performance to ensure a seamless user experience. Though banks and financial companies are investing in improving the stability and scalability under high traffic, unexpected performance failures remain a matter of concern, even today. 

Longer time to perform test execution 

Automated testing system performs regression testing every day at a particular time to ensure there is no discrepancy. Undoubtedly, test automation has reduced manual effort considerably by automating the entire process, however, the run time is still high and one of the challenges the banks are facing today. Reducing the test execution time will be a major milestone that is being solved with intelligent automation. 

Regulatory and security concerns 

The increasing scenario of cyber threats has led to strict regulatory laws, it is important to integrate a test automation solution to comply with the financial regulations. Test automation helps in a thorough audit to reduce/eliminate the chances of increasing fraudulent. Excellence in test automation is important to succeed while ensuring there are no significant breaches. 

The changing trends of test automation in banking/financial sector 

Gone are the days when people had to visit the bank for even simple money withdrawal, digitization has changed the way banks operate. The entire banking/financial process can be completed with a few clicks, at the comfort of home. No longer queues or no more taking a personal day off to complete a transaction, banks are coming up with innovative and practical solutions to ease the complex financial processes. 

Test automation has redefined the modern QA system, emerging as a key facilitator for the success of any organization. The testing framework has evolved over time to ensure that quality remains the prime interest. Organizations are now preferring agile test execution methods to support the advanced continuous integration and continuous delivery pipelines. The improving emphasize on quality can help organizations to brace themselves and face unexpected scenarios. 

The emerging trends in test automation that can help organizations emerge as future-proof and offer great business solutions are: 

  • Codeless test automation: Automating the test without the need for extensive coding. 
  • Shift left testing: Incorporating testing at the early stage of the software development lifecycle. 
  • Cloud-based testing: Testing software using Cloud-computing services. 
  • AI-powered test automation: Leveraging the power of Artificial Intelligence to perform testing. 
  • Mobile test automation: Automation testing for native and hybrid mobile apps. 

With the growing technological advancement in the banking and financial sector, it can be concluded that the need for test automation will remain the priority. Testing teams in collaboration with the development teams are planning well-established, well-aligned, agile, and practical solutions that will redefine the concept of test automation for the better. 

The future test automation models: Innovation is the key 

Uncertainty in the market scenario has redefined the banking experience. Banks and financial institutions are strengthening their market presence with agile solutions to support future models. Major emphasize is being laid on the test automation solution to improve the customer experience which will, in turn, increase the business revenue tremendously. This new trend of improved QA has made way for efficient business models, which is possible only by an innovative approach. 

Innovation in software testing allowed the evolution of tedious manual testing to easy and much efficient test automation solutions. Innovation is the key to reimagine the test automation models for advanced and intelligent solutions. AI and ML integrated models are already making their way into the market to create future-proof technology, more future solutions are in the pipeline. 

Outsourcing During Covid

Ever since the WHO announced COVID-19 as a pandemic in March 2020, there has been strict regional lockdowns, social distancing norms, and restriction of movement across national and international boundaries. This scenario has changed the way businesses operate by emphasizing on virtual models rather than direct interaction between the company officials. The ‘new reality’ offers tremendous opportunities for organizations to reconsider their current operational arrangement and adapt to outsourcing. As the ‘new normal’ focuses on remote working, outsourcing can ensure business continuity, disaster recovery, reduced cost, regulatory compliance, and a lot more.

With the current situation of economic uncertainty, damage recovery, and increasing fear of second and third COVID wave, establishments across the world are considering outsourcing to regain momentum and increase business resilience. Outsourcing is gaining popularity amidst COVID-19 as it helps in reducing cost, increase work efficiency, focus on core business areas, access to skilled workforce, and so on. With the increasing focus on the outsourcing industry, it is expected to bloom significantly in the post-COVID era.

Why to outsource during COVID-19?

As the effect of the virus is taking the world by its side, companies are striving hard to recover from the economic damage they have experienced. In this scenario, companies are moving towards ‘outsourcing’ approach to leverage their niche skills, incorporate new ideas, and cut operational and infrastructural cost. Outsourcing helps companies adapt to the highly dynamic market, especially during the unpredictable scenarios after the onset of COVID-19 pandemic.

Outsourcing has been around for many decades, but it had not witnessed a significant growth as it did after the beginning of the pandemic. Outsourcing has become the main strategy for many companies to mitigate disaster and reduce the long-term impact of the virus on the business operations.

Reasons for companies to choose outsourcing services during pandemic:

Reduced cost: The COVID-19 has already put business in a tough place of financial strain, it might take even a couple of years for the companies to overcome the financial loss and operate as usual. Outsourcing is a feasible option to save money as it is most affordable than hiring an in-house resource.

Focus on core business activities: The pandemic has already put companies in stringent use of finances and manpower to keep up and running. This situation has put the organizations in strain, creating scenarios that can move the focus away from the core business. By outsourcing, the regular business will move forward as expected without any hitches, while giving enough time and energy to focus on the core business and re-strategize the operations.

Skilled resources: By creating a partnership with the outsourcing firms, businesses get access to their niche skills, which can, in turn, help the organizations with better quality service.

Eliminating the hassle of onboarding process: Finding and onboarding a new resource can be a tedious task during the pandemic situation. Though digital onboarding processes are available, it is difficult to find the suitable resource with the required skillset. Hence, outsourcing your services is the best possible alternative.

Customer satisfaction: When an organization outsources its services, it can be sure of receiving a higher quality outcome within the estimated time, thereby, delivering uninterrupted services to its own customers. This whole scenario will lead to happy end-users as they are receiving continual services even during the lockdown period.

Therefore, it is a wise move by companies to adapt to the outsourcing strategy to maintain service quality and business continuity. This will help the organizations to fill in the operational and infrastructural gaps and continue to serve their customers with good quality work.

Top outsourced jobs during COVID include:

  • IT services
  • Software testing/ test outsourcing
  • Banking outsourcing/ Banking BPO
  • Call center
  • Social media management
  • Website management
  • Copywriting
  • Payroll
  • Data conversion
  • Transcription
  • Inventory management
  • Accounting and bookkeeping

How to evaluate outsourcing partner during COVID-19?

Though ‘outsourcing’ is a buzzword across all industries with many companies preferring outsourcing services for improved quality and reduced cost, the trend is changing in the post COVID era. The traditional outsourcing models have faded, and companies are creating new strategies to establish collaboration for outsourcing. Here are some of the plans that companies should consider for making an outsourcing collaboration during COVID-19 or even during normal scenario:

Look for reputed companies with good reviews: When backed by a team from the most reputed company, the organization can be sure to have business continuity even during unexpected events.

Good communication and workflow systems: Good communication can avoid any kind of misunderstanding that can give wrong outputs, saving money, time, and energy. The same is true in case of the workflow systems too; a well-designed and self-explanatory workflow systems can prevent any confusion between both the parties.

Cybersecurity is the priority: In the COVID-19 pandemic situation where businesses are moving to digital platforms, cybersecurity is of utmost importance. Choose the partner who has a modern and completely secured system that offers detailed protocols for keeping all data and software products safe.

Experience: Experience of the outsourcing company is a requirement for creating reliability. More the experience, better they can handle different scenarios, thereby, helping you achieve your goal.

A complete range of services: It is always recommended to opt for a service provider who can offer a complete range of services you are looking for. In this way, the complete work is handled by one party rather than having multiple partners. This will reduce hassle, time, and confusion.

Yethi, your outsourcing partner for test automation solution

Yethi is your go-to partner helping you with testing automation solution for banking and financial software. We understand the challenges that lay ahead of testing in the banking/financial software, therefore, offering a perfectly designed QA solution. Yethi’s Tenjin is a revolutionary test automation platform that is diminishing operational, financial, and reputational hazards with end-to-end business process authentication. It focuses on increasing the agility, consistency, and accuracy of the organization’s core software system.  COVID-19 hit globally when already Yethi had bagged a couple of projects worldwide. With the pandemic came restrictions in travel; the major challenge during this phase was to execute, manage and monitor the testing projects remotely. Our team consisting of 300+ QA specialists put together with their experience and expertise an exemplary task of carrying out the entire project remotely without having to travel to the onsite location. Our solution and services involved test execution, test management, and defect management at various stages to ensure accurate test results with great performance. Not just we have delivered the project on time, our support team made sure that our clients do not face any technical glitches at their end. Our deployed product at the front end continued to produce most accurate and consistent results.