Test automation is one of the most important techniques of software testing. Through this testing technique, businesses, testers, and developers can streamline the software validation process and increase their test coverage.

That notwithstanding, there are different challenges that testers have to overcome for them to implement successful software testing techniques.

If these challenges are not eliminated, the testing teams are likely going to have a very difficult time when testing their software products.

There are even chances that the automated testing techniques will not meet their expectations, or rather they will fail. In this article, we are going to discuss some of the most common and biggest challenges in automation testing and how to overcome them.

Selecting the Right Software Testing Tool

Due to advancements in technology, businesses can choose a software testing tool from a variety of tools that we have today. These tools support different technologies and testing types with each one of them performing well in different situations.

Some of the companies developing these tools tend to exaggerate the features that come with the tools, something that can end up creating a lot of confusion when choosing the right testing tool to work with.

Choosing the wrong software testing tool can lead to a lot of problems, with the major one being failed tests or tests that do not meet expectations.

Therefore, testers need to make sure that they have done enough research before settling on any software testing tool to make sure that the one they choose meets all their expectations.

Ineffective Collaboration and Communication Among Team Members

This is a challenge that faces both manual and automated software testing teams. However, it gets more complicated in automated testing since this type of software testing requires more collaboration and communication compared to manual testing.

With ineffective collaboration and communication, chances of finding the team members on different pages are very high. You might even find a team member working on something that has already been worked on, delaying the project and affecting its delivery timelines.

However, this can be avoided by making sure that the testing team members discuss what they are going to work on and come up with solutions together.

They also need to discuss the timeframe, scope, and the plan of their tests with project managers, business analysts, and developers to ensure that everybody involved in the project knows what is happening.

High Implementation Cost

Automation testing is far much better compared to manual testing in many ways especially when it comes to its effectiveness and the elimination of human errors. However, the cost of implementation is quite high, especially when doing it for the first time.

This has led to many testers opting to use manual testing when testing their applications. Even though there are free open source testing tools, most of them are not as efficient and might not be effective in making sure that a software application is thoroughly tested.

However, testers can appreciate automated testing and reap its benefits with time. This happens if they analyze and build a testing framework with reusable functions and libraries.

With that, they can reuse their test cases even with other projects, something that makes automation testing cheaper in the long run.

Poor Testing Approach

Investing in and being successful in automated software testing does not mean that you just have to choose the right testing tool. You also need to come up with the right testing approach.

This means that testers should evaluate different testing approaches and come up with the one that best suits the requirements of the software product they are testing. The right approach should be easy to implement and maintain, it should use test suites that are reusable, and should generate metrics and reports for evaluation.

In addition, they should look for a testing approach that adapts to any changes on the software product they are testing and protects their businesses and products from fraud.

This means that they would not have to start writing the test cases again in case of changes to the product. The right testing approach plays a crucial role in the success of the tests conducted on a software product.

Conclusion

Automation testing is becoming more popular in recent years. The more popular it gets, the more challenges that face it. However, testing teams can come up with the right solutions to the challenges that they face to ensure the success of their test cases.

Avoiding the challenges discussed above is very important in making sure that a software application is tested well.