Companies that use IT investments to maintain their businesses have begun to make a turn towards cloud computing. Cloud computing in the context of software testing refers to the centralization of tasks or functionality over the Internet, such that inputs from multiple physical locations can be processed via a single online infrastructure.

Many IT departments have begun to leverage cloud computing more and more in an effort to realize efficiency improvements as well as cost savings for the business. New cloud-based testing methods are making great strides towards success. Here are some details about how you can use this platform for your business.

Testing software through cloud computing requires a basic setup; you must have a dedicated testing lab and staff, the details of which will vary depending on what you are testing and what industry you are in. It is important to note that this lab should be separate from the primary business and should utilize dedicated personnel to specifically execute the software testing activities within it. Once created, the lab can start to test things over the Internet, and in fact this is the foundation of what cloud computing is.

Eventually, once all the appropriate systems and lab environments are set up, the business will be able to process more and more activities on the cloud. This will save an enormous amount of money and resource hours, and it is an evolution that is already happening for many companies today (Twitter is one leader in this regard). The key driver of this trend is the fact that cost efficiency continues to become more and more critical thanks to global competition and economic instability, and usage of cloud computing is an excellent way to achieve this goal.

Of course, just like with anything that is new, there are some challenges involved. For instance, you have to keep a close eye on the progress of the testers themselves. If you have experienced personnel, you can rest a little easier; however do not ever make the mistake of evoking complete trust in the staff. Always follow up to make sure the software testing efforts are progressing as planned. You do not want to find some kind of error or test plan flaw late in the process, as this could lead to the worst-case scenario of the test results being declared invalid and having to start the testing all over again. Therefore, have your IT department watch this closely and set the expectations with the software testers up front that their work will be closely monitored.

In conclusion, cloud computing is the wave of the future, not only for software testing specifically but also for business in general. The ability to utilize distributed computing to leverage multiple resources globally has the potential to reduce software testing expenses and boost profits. But moving to a cloud based testing platform requires a fair amount of effort to set up the lab environment as well as train and monitor the software testers. But the resulting efficiency gains are almost always well worth the effort.

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Category: Business
Keywords: software testing