How to Get The Best ROI in Test Automation

Amy Walters

Introduction

Before getting deep into the topic of ROI for test automation, we ought to understand the concept of quality first. Let’s discuss how poor quality can impact business. This impact can be high, severe, and far-reaching. It can lead to reputation damage, or the company’s expenses can significantly increase and lead to a severe loss of business and revenue. Studies have shown that the end cost of high quality software is 22 ~ 50 times lower than the cost of poor quality software, and this is a comparative figure that is derived from real-life examples. High-quality, performance-oriented, and fast-paced deliverables are the need of the hour. Test automation is the key to achieving these needs and having the ability to return multiples of the amount of time, effort, and money invested. In the following section, let’s examine the reasons for poor software quality.

Testing-related factors that lead to poor software quality:

• Improper test planning or an overall approach to testing
• Lack of skills or sound technical knowledge
• Ineffective automation feasibility study
• Absence of a robust and effective test automation framework
• Tight deadlines coupled with the effort focused on manual testing only
• End-to-end testing scenarios not covered
• Selection of incorrect test automation tool
• Poorly maintainable code and complex framework
• Inaccurate analysis of test failures and reporting

What is ROI?

ROI stands for Return on Investment. It is a financial metric that measures the efficiency of an investment. It is usually expressed as a percentage, and it is calculated by taking the net benefit of the investment (profit) and dividing it by the cost of the investment. The result is expressed as a percentage or a ratio. In general, the higher the ROI, the more efficient the investment.

To calculate the ROI of test automation, you need to determine the costs of test automation, including the cost of the tools, the cost of setting up and maintaining the test automation environment, the cost of training and hiring staff, and any other costs associated.

You also need to determine the benefits of test automation, including the time and money saved by automating manual testing, the reduction in the number of defects found in production, the increased speed and coverage of testing, and any other benefits.

To calculate the ROI, you can use the following formula:

ROI = (Gain from investment – Cost of investment)/Cost of investment x 100

or

ROI = Savings/Investment

• Speed -> How faster the STLC becomes
• Quality -> Improved product quality
• Cost saving -> How much costs are saved after implementing test automation

Cost savings are significantly reduced compared to manual testing efforts since the regression is driven by automation.

For example, if the cost of test automation is $100,000 and the benefits are $250,000, the ROI would be:

ROI = ($250,000 – $100,000) / $100,000 = 1.5 or 150%

This means that for every dollar invested in test automation, the return on investment is 1 dollar and 50 cents.

It’s important to note that ROI calculation is a simplified representation of investment and benefits, it is important to consider other factors such as the impact of automation on customer satisfaction, the quality of the product, and the ability to release the product faster.

Test phases with strong influence on the ROI:

• Test Case Development
• Test Execution
• Maintenance

Due to consecutive development cycles, more and more features get added, and test effort is increased significantly. With agile methodology, the number of iterations is high, and test automation becomes the only option to handle the already existing test suite from a maintenance perspective and the addition of new features into the existing test suite from an enhancement perspective.

Factors to be considered for successful test automation:

• Selection of an automation tool: ease of tool implementation and usage, amount of test maintenance required, supported built-in features, compatibility with other tools
• Efficient test automation strategy
• Setting test automation priorities from the get-go
• Scalability
• Minimal human intervention during test execution
• Test data handling protocols and standards
• Supported robust features for CI/CD pipelines
• High-quality and self-explanatory test execution reports
• Enabling collaboration among all project stakeholders
• Good documentation support
• Ease of debugging and failure analysis

Why traditional open-source test automation tools won’t yield a great ROI

1. Speed of framework setup and writing tests: initial setup is complex, tests are hard to write the right way and therefore end up being extremely costly once you factor in engineer salaries.
2. High maintenance costs: a lot of maintenance and upkeep are needed, which can be time-consuming and costly. The scripts need to be updated and maintained regularly to keep up with changes in the application under test.
3. Difficulty in scaling: scripts are often difficult to scale and can become unwieldy as the number of test cases increases. This can lead to increased costs and longer test execution times.
4. Limited test coverage: scripts may not be able to cover all aspects of the application under test, which can lead to incomplete testing and potential bugs being missed.
5. High-level of technical expertise required: A high level of technical expertise to be able to set up, write, and maintain test scripts. This can make it difficult for non-technical team members to get involved in the test automation process and can increase the cost of test automation.

Overall, legacy test automation tools like Selenium can be a great tool for automating basic test cases, but they are not always the best fit for more complex test cases and they may not be able to provide the same level of ROI as more advanced test automation tools that have been designed specifically to address these issues.

How testRigor helps in achieving the best ROI

All the test automation success factors discussed in the above section are supported by testRigor.

1. The initial setup is effortless and only takes a few minutes.
2. The speed of creating automated tests is greatly increased compared to other tools, allowing you to quickly expand your testing coverage.
3. Since tests are in plain English and look like typical manual test cases, the entire team can participate and collaborate.
4. Tests are very robust, and test maintenance barely takes any time (95% less than with Selenium, as measured with our customers).
5. You can easily integrate with tools such as Jira, TestRail, Azure, most CI/CD tools, etc., allowing for a smooth process.

testRigor’s approach to building an end-to-end test automation suite is unique. The tool uses AI in element detection and test case execution. The reporting is self-explanatory and comprehensive, with screenshots for each step.

testRigor is like a one-stop solution for carrying out end-to-end testing activities, building robust regression end-to-end test suites, and delivering high quality to end users.

One thing we’ve heard multiple times from our clients is this: “When we shop for a new software tool, a lot of companies have great presentations – but don’t deliver post-sales. With testRigor, we feel that we’re getting the best value for the money daily.” You might be curious to check out some of our case studies here.

Key takeaways

Measuring the ROI of test automation is important because it allows organizations to determine the value and effectiveness of their test automation efforts. By measuring the ROI of test automation, organizations can identify areas where they are seeing a positive return on their investment and areas where they may need to make adjustments. This information can help organizations make informed decisions about how to allocate resources, prioritize testing efforts, and improve overall testing efficiency. Additionally, measuring test automation ROI can help companies justify the associated costs to stakeholders and decision-makers. Ultimately, measuring test automation ROI allows organizations to ensure that their test automation efforts are providing the desired benefits and achieving their intended goals.