Book Launch: Testing in the Digital Age

Vianen - June 1^st - Sogeti, a leading provider of technology and engineering services and a subsidiary of the Capgemini Group, announces the launch of ‘Testing in the digital age: AI makes the difference’, a fascinating book giving insight into all aspects of testing digital products.

Written by three of Sogeti’s leading digital testing experts, the book reflects the very different world in which testing professionals now work. It is a world in which the physical and cyber have converged, where the use of artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning is becoming standard, and cooperation between robots and humans will increase in the coming years.

The book identifies new quality attributes that the tester must now include in the end-to-end testing process and offers practical guidelines for daily test practices. The authors argue that this new approach is needed in today’s digital age to manage the increasing product complexity and huge volumes of data, and to meet the demand to bring new products to the market continually and faster. This expands the globally standardized TMap test management method of smarter rather than intensive testing into the digital domain.

Further, testing new technology, such as robots, chatbots or a blockchain solution requires very different skills. For example, test professionals must be able to translate human behavior into the functions of a robot.

New technology and new roles in the digital age

'Testing in the digital age: AI makes the difference' asserts that the only way to test products faster and more accurately is to use artificial intelligence. Self-learning technology will shift the test process to a ‘zero-touch’ approach where human intervention is no longer necessary. This changes the role of the software tester who, in the future, will use smart data to predict how a product will function in different scenarios, becoming involved in the product lifecycle far earlier than today.

Co-author of ‘Testing in the digital age’ Tom van de Ven comments: “It is only a matter of time before any form of testing without AI can no longer be accepted in the development of new digital products. We are on a journey from where we were (reactive testing) to now (test monitoring) and moving rapidly to an AI-led future (test forecasting).”

With the introduction of three new quality characteristics – Intelligent behavior, Morality, and Personality – and Embodiment as a subset to the existing Usability characteristic, the book’s authors have added to the ISO25010 product quality standards traditionally used by testers. They also describe five ‘hops’ – or stages – on the journey to creating a ‘robust and long-term strategy’. The book closes with the most complete glossary of terms that now exists in the digital testing market.

The book’s authors are: Tom van de Ven, Rik Marselis and Humayun Shaukat. 'Testing in the digital age: AI makes the difference' is printed in English and is available via ICT Books.