Software Test Services and Transformation Services

 

Software Quality is a formidable differentiator in today’s economy driven by technology. In order to succeed, an organization requires to address their Software Testing requirements ranging from Manual Testing to Automated Testing. Ensuring quality is the most practical way of ensuring business effectiveness. 

Test Advisory and Transformation Services are designed to leverage technology in order to improve business outcomes. It ensures flawless IT operations with the right test infrastructure, tools and skills for Software Testing requirements.

Test Advisory and Transformation Services work towards improving test outcomes, better return on investment and a quicker time-to-market. It helps to assess and re-engineer the QA processes. Test Advisory Services provides consulting expertise along with the best testing practices across typical Functional, Non-Functional, Continuous Testing, Defect Management and Test Automation in an organization. 

It explains to them their main problem areas by analyzing the risks and miss outs in their processes and practices. Test Advisory Consultants follow the process of test assessment, audit of test assets, test process advisory and QA tools advisory. This major approach includes developing a testing strategy and planning with assistance and assessment. Here, all the factors of people, process, technology, and risk is taken into account.

The key benefits of Test Advisory Services can be listed as follows:

-      It helps design a transformational journey

-      It helps make business improvements and roadmap for investments

-      It enables industry benchmarking

-      It helps identify single point failures

-      It rovides a holistic approach to assess the testing partner

 

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IoT as an enabler to create a smart city

A smart city is conceived as a huge ecosystem of interconnected organs of a city brought about by embedded electronics, softwares, sensors, and actuators using wireless or other networks working in a seamless way to provide better services to the citizens. The organs can include services like fire, police stations and hospitals, power generation and distribution centres, residential buildings, businesses, courts, municipalities, libraries, schools, colleges, administrative units, transportation system, traffic management, and many others. In a smart city good use of computer based networks can be used to bring about the following:

·         Prompt response in cases of emergencies like fire, natural disasters, rioting, accidents, etc.

·         Betterment of services like health, education, etc.

·         Better waste management by municipalities

·         Better traffic management through suitable signalling and parking arrangements

·         Ensure proper distribution of power and reduce leakages

·         Better coordination amongst a multitude of transport services

·         Better management of schools, colleges, libraries, etc.

·         Better monitoring of air quality and optimal use of natural resources like water

Smart cities are the need of the hour; as urban population density is expected to grow exponentially in the coming years. As population increases the pressure on limited resources is bound to grow leading to conflicts. Smart cities would ensure equitable distribution of resources in the most efficient way. As there will be less wastage or leakages in the services offered the citizens will be better served leading to a better quality of life. To bring the concept of smart cities into reality Internet of Things or IoT will play an all encompassing role. 

IoT enables physical infrastructure like buildings, vehicles and all other objects to communicate and exchange data with each other. They can do so with the help of embedded softwares, actuators, sensors, thermostats and other gadgets through wireless network protocols like LAN, WAN, PAN. As the proper functioning of IoT becomes a prerequisite for different organs of a smart city to function in a seamless manner, the testing of IoT ecosystem becomes inevitable. 

IoT testing services can include the following:

Functional testing: Here individual components like applications, sensors, actuators, etc. are tested for efficient outcomes. It also tests if the communication bandwidth is adequate for faster transmission of data signals.

Interoperability of systems test: It covers testing of various devices and software systems to ensure they operate across different platforms with compatible versions.

Security testing: Checks if gadgets and services follow security protocols, and adhere to privacy norms.

Usability testing: Checks systems and processes from the users’ perspective to ensure they meet user requirements and lead to a better user experience.

Conclusion:

As IoT ecosystem is part of the basic architecture of smart cities, its proper functioning needs to be ensured. Hence, IoT testing is an absolute must to usher in a throbbing smart city.

Michael works for Cigniti Technologies, which is the world's first Independent Software Testing Services Company to be appraised at CMMI-SVC Level 5, and an ISO 9001:2008 & ISO 27001:2013 certified organization.
 

Can Security Testing address the rising Cyber Security concerns?

The digital revolution has transformed the world with its focus on time, speed, reach and quality. As its broad sweep continues to touch almost every aspect of our lives, cyber criminals have found its all encompassing ecosystem too lucrative to wreak havoc. Hence, the challenge before everyone connected to the digital world, with its vast repositories of sensitive government, business and personal customer information, is to remain ever vigilant with new safeguards put in place. The threat of data breach can not only impact the lives of end customers but can also ruin the brand equity of companies and institutions. Given the enormity of the threat of cyber crime, security testing experts often find themselves at their wits’ end while strengthening data security measures. As customers’ lives begin to be increasingly governed by software applications, the need for companies to make software security testing an important part of the overall SDLC, has become the sine-qua-non to fight the menace of cyber crime.

The digital platform has opened new vistas that till a few years back were considered part of science fiction. Today, there is hardly any activity that has not been touched by the digital revolution, more so after the advent of smartphones. Of late, we have become so dependent on software applications that willy-nilly we have become party to share sensitive personal information with app developers. Although increased digitization has made our lives easier, it has spawned a new threat of cyber crime that many of us have fallen victims to at some point of time or the other. The threat is not confined to common customers alone but applies to businesses, institutions and governments as well. 

There have been many instances of data breach or breach of data security measures in banking institutions leading to a loss of people’s confidence in the system. It appears a constant game of cat and mouse is being played between security testing experts and cyber criminals with hurrahs and sighs drawn from each of the sides. Given below is a list of methods that are employed by cyber criminals to gain access into secured systems: 

Phishing: Here, emails are sent to customers tricking them into revealing sensitive information. A typical example is the ‘lottery win emails from Nigeria,’ wherein bank details are sought from customers to receive the ‘jackpot money.’

Spam: Unsolicited mails containing malware or links to fraud websites, which mimic the designs of familiar websites are sent to customers. These emails trick customers into using these fraud links to share information.

Denial of Service: Also known as Distributed Denial of Service or DDOS, it includes sending a barrage of multiple service requests from a number of IP addresses to a site, preferably a financial one, causing it to crash. 

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