#application compatibility testing

Software applications lie at the core of any IT infrastructure and help the latter to function as per expectations. These help organizations and enterprises to achieve their digital transformational goals including the delivery of superior customer experiences. To ensure such applications deliver value for money and do not run the risk of any failure, they are subjected to several rounds of testing. Importantly, the customers of today access applications on a plethora of device platforms, operating systems, databases, browsers, and networks, among others. They expect the applications to perform uniformly across platforms and can summarily discard them in the event of any malfunction or quality issue. Compatibility testing entails the testing of software applications across digital environments to validate their performance. It is a necessary cog in the wheel for digital transformation implementation.

Why mobile compatibility testing?

Mobile applications have become a rage among people on-the-go. They have brought the fruits of digitization to the people at large and enabled them to buy products, access information, or avail services, quickly, securely, and conveniently. However, the biggest challenge testers face in validating any software is the multiplicity of devices. For example, the number of mobile devices is projected to touch a whopping 16.8 billion in 2023 (source: Statista.) These devices are of different brands, features, hardware configuration, software and firmware requirements, screen size, and network operators, among others.

So, not only the mobile devices have issues of compatibility with their competing brands but can have differences with their brand line as well. This is where a special type of testing called mobile compatibility testing comes into play. It focuses on testing the compatibility of mobile apps across device platforms, software, firmware, operating systems, browsers, databases, and networks, among others. An application compatibility testing process ensures the seamless performance of application across these digital elements.

Types of compatibility testing

Any device compatibility testing allows developers and testers to achieve improved application performance. It consists of two types:

Forward testing: The testing validates the compatibility of an application with newer versions of operating systems.

Backward testing: Here, the testing process validates the compatibility of the application designed with the latest environment version with that of its older version. For example, if the backward testing of an application is conducted for Windows operating system, its compatibility should be tested for both the latest Windows 10 version as well as the older ones like Windows XP, Windows 7 etc.

What happens if compatibility testing of applications is skipped?

Customer experience has become the differentiator for software applications to be adopted or discarded. It is directly related to the performance of any digital company in the market. Simply put, if the customer experience offered by any product is below par, the company can lose its position in the market. And one of the prominent attributes leading to excellent customer experiences is the product’s compatibility across platforms. These platforms could be the operating systems, their newer versions, browsers, hardware configuration of devices, and mobile networks. If device compatibility testing is skipped, the results could be telling for the application and its brand:

Differences in UI: Each device has its configuration for the UI interface to run smoothly. However, it would require a particular look, feel, font size, resolution, and alignment for any application to work. In the absence of any compatibility testing exercise, this aspect of the application can remain unresolved for different devices.

Persistence of quality issues: Compatibility testing helps in identifying glitches in a software application, which otherwise can render it unsuitable to function across devices. Further, if such glitches are not fixed in time before delivery, the cost of fixing them later can be high. This can hit the profitability of any business big time.

Hits user expectations: The success of digital transformation solutions depends, to a large extent, to their compatibility across digital environments. Users are wont to expect applications that perform seamlessly on multiple platforms. If performance slackens due to issues of usability, stability, and scalability, then user expectations can take a massive hit. And in a world of tough competition where users look for fast loading, reasonably priced, feature-rich, and functional applications to meet their expectations, any lack of user experience can sound the death knell for that application.

Conclusion

In a fiercely competitive market where customers want the very best, be it the software applications, devices, or operating systems, companies have no way but to cater to their demand. In doing so, they are focused on developing software at low cost margins that functions across a wide array of digital platforms. This is evident in the way app makers are customizing their apps according to the requirements of both Android and iOS operating systems. To summarize, should a software aim at attracting the goodwill of its end customers, it must be compatible across platforms, browsers, devices, and their configurations. Since compatibility plays an important role in enhancing the user experience of a software, it should be subjected to the rigours of compatibility testing. Let us first understand this particular type of testing in some detail.

What is compatibility testing and why is it necessary?

This type of testing ensures the software developed by a company functions seamlessly across the digital environments. As a non-functional requirement, testing helps ascertain and validate if the software conforms to the expected compatibility requirements. It can consist of the following:

System compatibility

Operating system and database compatibility

Peripheral devices compatibility

Network compatibility

Browser compatibility

Device compatibility

User experience

Even though application compatibility testing plays a key role in the life of a software, it is often performed at the last stage of the SDLC. This is because the non-functional requirements of software are often not discussed alongside the functional ones. Testing teams often scramble to deliver the non-functional requirements of software close to the delivery schedule. Since these are the enablers of software, the neglect can be the difference between a software applications’ success and failure.

What are the types of software compatibility testing?

Software compatibility testing is classified into two types:

Forward: Validates the compatibility of software with newer versions.

Backward: This type of testing ensures if a software developed using the new version of the digital environment works equally fine in the older version.

Benefits of compatibility testing services

The high quality of software applications determines if they are to be lapped up by the end customers or junked in favour of their competitors. One of the key factors that defines the quality of software application is its compatibility. It goes a long way in ensuring customer satisfaction leading to brand recognition, word of mouth publicity, increased sales, and ROI. Let us understand how businesses can benefit from conducting dynamic application compatibility testing.

#1. Identifies glitches beforehand: Todays’ customers use a wide range of devices, operating systems, and networks, and any software used by them ought to conform to the respective configurations of the digital environments. A compatibility test plan should help identify the glitches present in a software (mobile or web application) so that the same could be mitigated before delivery. This reduces cost, which otherwise would have been accrued by the company for fixing glitches later. Moreover, it helps businesses to garner a positive user engagement.

#2. Impacts the SDLC process: Testing the compatibility of software checks its scalability, usability, and stability across platforms and their numerous configurations. The SDLC process should be all encompassing and help the development and testing teams to iron out glitches leading to saving time and money for the business. It goes without saying the success of a software depends on its acceptability among the end customers – a direct outcome of a robust and agile SDLC process.

#3. Meets user expectations: Digital transformation fuelled by the advent of new technologies has whetted the appetite of customers for better quality software. The usual expectations from software applications are about meeting parameters such as robustness, flexibility, customization, security, functionality, cost effectiveness, and compatibility. No wonder, the compatibility testing services help a business meet the expectations of customers.

#4. Scalability: This can be an indirect outcome of testing the compatibility of software. The testing ensures the software remains functional on a multitude of platforms, devices, and networks. And should the software undergo a surge in usage from specific platforms or devices, the testing would ensure scalability.

#5. Brand recognition: When the expectations of customers get fulfilled, the business developing that software finds more acceptance. This leads to increased sales and recognition for the brand.

Conclusion

The compatibility of software across operating environments and their configurations leads to user satisfaction. This helps the business to generate sales, achieve ROI, and stay up the competition curve.

Digital transformation has led enterprises to streamline their systems and processes to produce software products that are stable, functional, secure and competitive. To validate the quality of software products and to hasten their delivery, enterprises carry out various types of functional and non-functional testing. And among the types of non-functional testing, compatibility testing is arguably the prominent one. It assures the smooth functioning of a software product on all hardware and software configurations. This can often be a challenging proposition given the complexity and range of test parameters involved.

What is compatibility testing?

A software needs an entire digital ecosystem of hardware and software to run successfully and meet the user expectations. The digital ecosystem consists of different kinds of browsers, databases, operating systems, networks, computer and mobile devices not to speak of their versions, configurations, resolutions, screen sizes, and speed. This calls for robust compatibility testing to ensure that the software does not fail while running on any of the components of the digital ecosystem.

An application or device compatibility testing should be performed in a real environment rather than a virtual one to ensure 100% compatibility. Done manually or by using test automation tools, this particular testing is significant to achieve user satisfaction and competitiveness of the product in the market. As the testing validates the stability of a product across all operating environments and ensures that it meets all business objectives, it is an important cog in the wheel of software development, testing and delivery.

Goals of compatibility testing

If the products are not tested for their compatibility across browsers, devices, networks, and operating systems, the resident glitches can play spoilsport. Enterprises often take the approach of using less than satisfactory testing routine to accelerate the time to market. This ultimately lets the end customers use the products and find glitches to their disappointment. Not only this is a flawed approach leading to costly reworks and tarnished reputations, it is a drain on consumers’ money as well. Moreover, many bugs simply go unreported as customers do not always come forward with their complaints and rather decide on junking the product altogether. This can have a serious impact on achieving the goals envisioned in enterprise digital transformation.

When to perform testing to check the compatibility of a product?

It is generally done when the product is completed and stable enough to be tested. The common defects detected during such a testing are: different look and feel of the UI, alignment issues, change in font size, CSS style and colour, overlapping or misalignment of content, and issues with the scroll bar among others.

Ways of doing such a testing in a software environment

Testing the software product in a similar browser but with different versions

Testing the software product in different browsers with different versions

Types of testing

There are two ways to test the compatibility of a product:-

Forward: Akin to the name, the software product is tested to check its compatibility with the new versions of the operating environment.

Backward: The software product is tested to check its compatibility with the older versions of an environment.

How can this type of testing enhance the digital transformation strategy?

Quick identification of compatibility issues: If the test identifies resident glitches in the product leading to its incompatibility with the operating environment, it can save the company from blushes. This not only cuts down the cost of rework but keeps the customer support team from being overwhelmed with complaints as well.

Strengthens the development process in the SDLC: If digital transformation implementation is all about developing robust products that are scalable, stable, functional, secure and navigable then testing their compatibility across environments is a must. This is critical for the users as well as business. This helps the product to stand on its own in the competitive market.

Addressing the changing dynamics of user expectations: Digital transformation needs to deal with high user expectations that change at the drop of a hat. Device or application compatibility testing ensures a software product or device is optimized for performance on different hardware and software environments. This goes to ensure that each and every user regardless of the operating environment experiences a seamless performance.

Conclusion

In an era of technological changes and increased connectivity, digital transformation means the seamless performance of software or devices across all types of operating environments. Effective testing of such products for their compatibility goes a long way to offer customer delight and ROI for the business.

With the constant increase in the demand for quality Operating Systems and versions, companies frequently release enhanced Operating Systems and versions. The platforms with new features and improved performance always attract customers. Since most of the customers are already using mobile, the customers would want to access the preferred application in a specific platform. In order to offer a fully compatible application that fits with different platforms, compatibility testing is imperative. Developers are always skeptical about their application compatibility with new platforms, whenever any new version of the platform is available for use. Identifying which application can fit with new platforms significantly reduces the delays and user disruption Companies that relied on custom applications always look forward to simplify their operations and improve productivity.

At the same time, these companies would like to have better platforms to address their activities. Because, increased productivity and effective operation is being the main business intention, and adapting to the changing technologies is becoming very difficult. Easily adapting to changing platforms would help companies to deal with huge business demands and drive results that provide improved business value. This suggests, companies need to deeply analyze compatibility issues and make reliable decisions which helps to make necessary changes to make the application compatible with the desired platform. Companies might need to prepare an effective test strategy and gather appropriate testing tools to test the application. Companies might also need to have an experienced and technically expert testing team to rigorously test the application on different platforms to find defects. All these things might be time consuming and expensive if companies want to initiate at their places. Companies that outsource all their testing activities also should look out testing on all available platforms and versions for compatibility.