Financials often decide between licensed tooling or open source frameworks, but a third option – foundational automation – is steadily rising.
In simple terms, the foundational automation executes scripted QA activities, focusing on core repetitive processes.
Based on our ongoing conversations with software leaders at financial firms, QA Vector® Research has identified that over 70% are actively pursuing foundational automation.
But the path to value is less clear: though open source frameworks are free at the point of procurement; licensed tooling may offer better return on investment.
On the one hand, firms can procure a packaged test automation suite and, in many cases, see quick results.
Open source, on the other hand, offers financials flexibility to build bespoke solutions, provided suitable skills are available. But where these frameworks often lack is in the absence of packaged support, thereby elongating time-to-value.
“Open source tooling comes cheap,” states a Senior Product Manager at a Core Banking Systems vendor. “But we could easily lose five or six months in building what we need. With a licensed tool, we are able to show results in the first two months.”
So, embedding automation typically presents a classic but versus build scenario, yet a third, more valuable option is steadily rising. The true opportunity for financials is in automation-led quality process redesign.
According to the World Quality Report for 2019-20 (WQR) published by Capgemini, Sogeti and Micro Focus, over 60% of respondents cite a ‘lack of end-to-end automation from build to deployment.’ This is a material increase on the previous edition of the WQR.
Quality leaders in financial services illustrate this need most keenly: “tool acquisition is a catalyst for process change,” asserts the Head of QA for a Global Exchange. “Automating a poor process delivers bad results faster. Automation requires us to change the way we think about delivering testing.”
By deploying foundational automation for baseline assurance, quality leaders can refocus resources on critical applications. Leading firms often engage full-service consultants to reimagine the quality dimension as part of a DevOps transformation.
Financials may well begin with a build or buy choice for foundational automation, but ultimately, pursuing quality process redesign is likely to deliver more impact for overall software performance.
