banking domain testing

Why Software Testing is critical for Banking Applications?

developer — Tue, 05 Nov 2019 14:05:23 +0000

The financial services domain is undergoing tremendous change due to technological advancements and digitalization. The banking domain has a significant dependence on technology-enabled products with an essential need to have stable and well-performing products to ensure a great customer experience. Moreover, it is also vital that all activities performed by banking software should run smoothly and be error-free to deliver safe and secure transactions.

Contents 1. Why software testing for banking apps? 2. Regulation & Compliance 3. Digital Convergence 4. Enhanced User Experience 5. Stable Transactions with Payment Integrations 6. What are the Steps Involved in Banking App Testing? 7. What are the challenges faced while testing banking applications? 8. Conclusion 9. Why you should partner with TestingXperts?

Evidently, all customer-facing channels such as Banking and FinTech continue to undergo rapid changes due to digitization, and the need for effective testing has increased manifold to enable stable products. Especially for banking applications, it is critical to have high-performing apps, as they tend to serve millions of transactions. Importantly, there are certain characteristics with respect to banking applications that require deep analysis to enable stable and high-performing apps.

Banking applications should be able to deliver safe and secure transactions, for which effective end-to-end software testing of their systems is required. It should be taken up using various types of software testing methods to ensure defect-free applications. Moreover, as the banking software applications are complicated with many dependencies, thus the testing process requires more time and a complete understanding of the scope.

What are the essential features of a banking application?

• The apps should perform multi-tier functionalities, i.e. it has to support numerous concurrent user sessions

• The apps should have the ability to perform large-scale integrations with several other applications

• The apps must produce secure transactions with data protection

• The apps should have a secured storage system to store every user’s confidential information of the user

• The banking apps should be able to support and function even with complex business workflows

• The applications should be able to provide real-time services without any delays while transacting

• The applications must be able to perform a number of transactions at lesser time

• The apps should be able to track every transaction detail and report them to the user

• The banking apps must be strong to troubleshoot every issue raised by the user

• The apps must have the disaster or recovery management system to protect the users from critical scenarios

Why software testing for banking apps?

1. Regulation & Compliance:

There is an increased focus on business transparency globally and there is a strong need to abide by certain regulatory compliance terms. Hence, efficient software testing is required to suffice various open banking API terms and conditions.

2. Digital Convergence:

Digitalization has brought in a paradigm shift in the banking services domain with the emergence of smartphones, tablets, and IoT based devices. The digital payments have eased the transactions to paperless currency for which end-to-end testing is utmost required.

3. Enhanced User Experience:

Today, users are tech-savvy with ever-changing customer expectations. The customer experience(CX) is at the heart of any business. There is more emphasis laid on application aspects such as usability, great user interface (UI) and stable performance at peak loads. In order to achieve all these intricate features, effective usability testing along with end-to-end performance testing is required to deliver great user experience (UX) and flawless performance.

4. Stable Transactions with Payment Integrations:

Banking apps require a stable payment gateway integrations to ensure effective transactions to customers. To achieve this, effective software testing is necessary.

5. Security and Privacy:

For all banking applications, the topmost priority is to safeguard the customer’s critical data and ensure safe transactions. With the cyber-attacks being rampant, it is important for banking applications to undergo vigorous security testing to protect and deliver a secure environment for customer transactions.

6. Emergence of New Technologies:

In order to reach more customers quickly, mobile banking has evolved in a large way with voice recognition apps and browser service applications. These apps should be thoroughly tested before going live to the market to ensure a flawless experience.

What are the Steps Involved in Banking App Testing?

Segregation of Data: The initial step in banking app testing is to perform research by gaining domain knowledge and understanding the expected industry standards.

Identification of the required tests: Based on the research performed, test requirements are implemented to meet the functional and business goals.

Creation of banking app test cases: An online banking application test suite is created based on the aspects of application’s performance, user experience, functionality, and security aspects.

Implementation of Functional testing: Testing activities such as test case review, test case execution, and test case preparation are run to validate and check whether the required functionalities are met as expected or not as outlined in the requirements document.

Validation of Database Structure: Data should be stored in an easy and structured format and follow the mechanism of data restoration.

Data Encryption and Authentication: User Authentication and data encryption are assessed to ensure no data breach is reported in the banking app. In order to achieve this, banks are required to implement a multi-layer validation process, such as OTP or One Time Password. Automation tools like HPWebInspect and IBM App Scan can be used to perform security testing; and for manual testing tools like HTTP watch, Proxy Sniffer, Paros Proxy, etc. can be used.

Examination of App Usability: In order to ensure the app usability for all, tests are performed to examine how easy is the app usage across its system

Validation of App Performance: The banking apps are monitored to check the app performance and the speed for loading the page across various browsers.

Confirmation of User-Acceptance: With a constant testing practice, the performance of the banking application is monitored to confirm the app is error-free and meets the required user-acceptance. Also, it is the last stage of testing performed by the end-users by considering the real-world scenarios.

What are the challenges faced while testing banking applications?

• Challenge to maintain consistency across devices and systems:

The banking applications are critical to users, hence the developer has to ensure that the app functions effectively for the user. The app needs to work consistently across various operating systems and different browsers. The user should be able to use the app on the latest and older version of iOS and Android devices.

• Challenge while Data transfer during system migration:

This is one of the biggest challenges while testing banking app as during system migration, i.e. migration from the older system to the new system, end-to-end testing of all procedures, and routines should be taken up. So, the team has to consider these requirements and as well make sure that the data is identified before transferring and uploading to the new system.

• Challenges dealing with real-time updates:

The teams need to verify the mobile banking apps stability to deal and provide real-time updates for the app users. This is really a big challenge while performing the integration testing as it has to deal with various real-time issues

• Challenge while meeting consumer requirements:

It is a challenge for the teams to develop banking applications that meet user’s expectations and should get the complete requirements to deliver the best to the user

• Challenge to meet the changing market trends:

As the market is constantly changing its trend, the consumers are also in demand to experience the latest features and wish to have them. It is essential to keep track of market trends and develop apps to enchant users

Conclusion:

Banking applications are critical as they are directly linked to customers and involves millions of transactions. Hence, testing these applications is critical and various methods of software testing such as load/performance testing, security testing, usability testing and functional testing should be taken up to ensure bug-free, fully functional and high-performing applications. Partnering with Next-gen QA experts will help you to leverage the complete advantage of testing banking applications.

Why you should partner with TestingXperts?

TestingXperts (Tx) has been serving Banking and Financial services domain clients for years and has delivered effective business benefits to them. Tx with its pool of banking domain testing experts, devised an exhaustive test strategy that covered functional and non-functional testing. This was achieved by using various in-house automation frameworks and accelerators, which helped to deliver a well-defined road map for DevOps implementation for many global clients.

Tx has created frameworks (API automation, web & mobile automation, performance testing, and security testing automation) that resulted into proven success by reducing QA cycle times up to 80% and lowering the overall QA costs up to 60% with its Next-Gen Testing Solutions.

Related Queries on Banking application

Q1. What is banking application?

Ans: Banking software applications are complicated with many dependencies, thus banking applications require effective end-to-end software testing of their systems.

Q2: How do you write a test case for a bank application?

Ans: You need to verify that user is able to perform basic financial transactions.

The post Why Software Testing is critical for Banking Applications? first appeared on TestingXperts.

6 Incredible Ways Technology Has Transformed the Banking Sector

admin — Tue, 31 Oct 2017 13:02:34 +0000

There was a time when the banking sector was less involved and open to technological innovations, primarily due to compliance and security concerns. However, technology has infused our lives so much that even the banking sector could not refrain from embracing it. Since then, the world of banking has seen incredible changes; one of the changes is ‘Digital Transformation’.

Traditional banking has evolved into digital banking; it is an important change as to how banks have started interacting with customers and satisfying all their business needs remotely. In this infographic, we will discuss the 6 incredible ways that technology has evolved in the banking sector.

Ways Technology Has Transformed the Banking Sector

The post 6 Incredible Ways Technology Has Transformed the Banking Sector first appeared on TestingXperts.

3 Major Trends Driving Change in the Banking Sector

admin — Mon, 30 Oct 2017 08:29:16 +0000

Banks and other financial institutions have been facing deep disruption in the form of new regulatory pressures and evolving market demands. They are reconsidering their established processes, priorities, and products, in order to lay the foundations for future success.

Contents 1. Major Trends Driving Change in the Banking Sector 2. The significance of Software Testing in Banking 3. Conclusion

As digital transformation is in full swing, software is regarded as the key to success. Most of the banks have started to hire a fully-fledged team of software developers. The challenge lies in creating high-quality and innovative customer experiences at the speed with which the market is moving, while remaining submissive with shifting market guidelines.

Major Trends Driving Change in the Banking Sector

The banking industry has changed tremendously in recent years, and there are three major trends that have acted as a facilitator.

1. Growing Customer Expectations

The explosion of digitalization and connected devices has made it obvious for customers to expect easy and anytime/anywhere services from financial institutions. In the economic world, this translate into global expectations for fast and hassle-free transactions, whether they are making payments or looking for statements.

2. Digital Disruption

To meet customer expectations, organizations are finding new ways to offer digital services to customers and to provide greater value. Banks have come up with new technologies such as digital wallets, 100% connectivity with wearables for fraud alerts, and much more. Also, new advancements such as blockchains and distributed databases have started to impact on the way banks and financial institutions are doing business these days.

3. Increasing Competition

Today’s market is full of competitors and potential partners hoping to get into the digital wave in the form of new products or brand-new startups that are building modern financial services. Some are directly competitive, while others might be imminent in only a specific part of the institution’s capabilities.

The significance of Software Testing in Banking

A newly set-up digital bank has its own share of technological / business challenges to handle. Software testing has been contributing to digital banking immensely. Some of the advantages are listed below.

User Experience

A digital bank needs to offer an online interface and interaction that can imitate and enhance the interaction of a conversation with a person. The objective should be to push the whole interaction out to the customer and to put them in control. Through a complete workflow / UI testing, one can ensure that the functional navigation is instinctive and simple to use.

Application Performance

Days such as Black Friday and Cyber Monday create a spike in online traffic; more so across the payment gateways. Websites can have performance failures due to heavy traffic and can have a serious effect on the customers. It has become essential that the banking applications are able to handle peak volumes of the payment transaction, etc., in high traffic as well. Application performance testing can, therefore, help in checking the estimated load that the application can withstand.

Transactional Security

Banking portals, by their very nature, are the main targets for fraudulent activities such as hacking. Penetration testing and vulnerability scanners can expose significant system vulnerabilities. It also helps in making the application compliant to international security standards, such as PCI DSS.

Multiple Interfaces

The external feed possesses the main challenge, for which it has to be tested thoroughly. Imitating real-time environment and testing in such conditions can really be a daunting task. To solve some of the challenges in interface testing, choosing the right emulators to replicate a real-time testing environment is really necessary.

Failover and Recovery

The ruggedness of the Failover and Recovery systems do not help in gaining the confidence of the customers or encourage them to transact online. Losing out on an alluring deal or money getting stuck in transit is a major put off and can lead to customer alienation. Testing for accessibility and business continuity is imperative.

Conclusion

The team at TestingXperts specializes in providing testing solutions to the banking and financial services industry. TestingXperts has been working with the largest banks and various other financial organizations, across geographies, to help them embark on their digital journey.

Our intelligent platform ‘Tx-Automate’ augments our independent testing services and addresses gaps in commercial tools to improve test authoring and execution productivity by 25% and early defect detection by 40%.

The post 3 Major Trends Driving Change in the Banking Sector first appeared on TestingXperts.

Testing Strategies to Overcome Digital Disruption in the Banking Sector

admin — Mon, 17 Jul 2017 09:23:54 +0000

Digital disruption has been occurring at every level in the banking sector lately. From newer technology to high competition to intensified customer expectations, the banking industry has become increasingly vulnerable. Digital technology, despite its omnipresence, is beginning to penetrate industries.

Contents 1. Digital Disruption and Banking Sector 2. Testing Strategies to Overcome Digital Disruption in the Banking Sector 2.1. Omni-Channel Testing 2.2 Continuous Testing 2.3 Customer Experience Testing 2.4 Security Testing 2.5 Big Data Testing 3. Conclusion

Digital Disruption and Banking Sector

Banks are finding innovative ways to evade the impending risks associated with digital banking. The efficient way to understand and successfully bring the organization from traditional banking to digital banking is by adopting an Omni-Channel approach. Omni-channel is an approach to customer service where all the channels are closely integrated, keeping the customer as the priority.

As customers continue to modify their channel usage patterns, banks need to emphasize on delivering a flawless customer experience across various touch points. More than just a saying, Omni-channel banking is an outlook to take end product on an advanced note by gaining insights from consumers’ behavior, channels, and preferences.

These days customers are more advanced and tech-savvy, and to cater to their explicit needs, offering a unique banking experience is essential. Banks need to understand their unstated needs as well as the likes of clients. From exploring new services, checking balance, opening an account, conducting transactions, loans, credits, wealth management, customer support, delivering an Omni-channel experience has become the key to success in this competitive world.

So how does a banking organization survive in the face of digital disruption? Though there are no secret sauces or magic wands, there are just simple testing strategies that can help banking organizations prepare for the unavoidable change on the horizon. Some of the testing strategies are given below:

Testing Strategies to Overcome Digital Disruption in the Banking Sector

Omni-Channel Testing

If a service offering has to be made available to any client anytime, anyplace in the banking sector, it should be available using multiple devices with a single procedure across multiple devices. Omni-Channel testing helps to ensure performance across all channels.

Continuous Testing

Continuous testing in the banking sector speeds up the process of continuous integration and delivery. It enables the teams to test early with greater coverage, with removing bottlenecks involved with traditional testing. Continuous testing also promotes continuous monitoring of the development and IT operations team, while achieving the continuous success of Agile teams using DevOps practices.

Customer Experience Testing

Customer experience is the key factor that defines recognition of a product or service as it goes live. It is essential to test a product or service from the customer’s perspective. Unlike traditional testing, customer experience testing can vary from expectations of a product’s success. The success of a product or a service is based on customer expectations and the physical performance and processes.

Security Testing

Technology trends have been playing a huge role in improving digital transformation process in the banking sector; they have also been introducing an environment of threat to the organizations. Due to the increasing number of payment methods using digital technologies, banks have been exposed further to new frauds and cyber-attacks. Security testing is therefore crucial and has great significance banks hold huge volumes of sensitive customer’s data for which they are daily targeted.

Big Data Testing

The ever rising demands related to the cost of delivery, speed, and ease of online transactions is fascinating. Banking applications fascinate customers 24/7 across the globe. This makes it essential to test the huge amount of data for a better ROI, site performance, and conversions.

Conclusion

Becoming a digital bank is not an option these days. In order to effectively respond to the digital consumer, and to be on their mobile device’s ‘front screen’, it necessitates the offering of value-added digital services with a simple user interface.

Banks need to rethink their business processes to realize the real benefits of Digital transformation and should effectively include the above mentioned QA strategies that will help them ensure security, quality and integrity of their products and services. TestingXperts, a renowned independent software testing Services Company, is working with world’s largest banks to help them succeed in their digital initiatives.

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