Over the past decades, many enterprises have experienced exponential growth as they embraced digital transformation. These organizations have substituted manual and traditional business execution methods with more efficient methods, using digital technology to improve various aspects of their business.
The adoption of automation and digital transformation by organizations has enhanced efficiency in their business processes while maximizing growth. These enterprises have unlocked new levels of trust, reliability, and confidence within their customers, who have also gained more value and a better experience.
As organizations adopt the use of automation and digital transformation, a higher index of productivity is recorded as they digitize mundane and human-intensive aspects of business operations.
What is Digital Transformation?
Digital transformation occurs when a business leverages digital technology in its day-to-day operations, aiming to enhance efficiency and deliver better customer value. It represents a paradigm shift from traditional business practices to adopting digital tools for enhanced productivity and the faster achievement of business objectives.
What is Automation?
Automation is the replacement of repetitive hands-on processes with software applications. Automation’s goal is to minimize manual labor for activities that can be performed by software with little human interference. Automation utilizes digital tools to execute tasks more accurately and in a shorter time in comparison to human effort.
What are the key differences between Automation and Digital Transformation?
Although related, many people may confuse automation and digital transformation. However, they are both distinct concepts and differ in terms of goal, scope, focus, etc. This section highlights the difference between the two concepts.
1. Scope: Automation is specific in scope as it centers on the use of software or machines to perform tasks with minimal human intervention. The purpose is to make an existing task faster and more efficient while eliminating human error.
Digital transformation covers a wider scope, with automation being a part of it. It involves the use of various digital tools to improve business operations. Digital transformation impacts the overall running of an organization and often touches its various facets.
2. Goal:The goal of automation is to streamline processes to optimize efficiency. The aim is to minimize waste and errors while increasing speed and precision.
Digital transformation is geared towards generating value, driving innovation, and bringing positive change across the board. It includes revamping business processes and models, massive adoption of digital tools, and leveraging the opportunities digital technologies offer.
3. Relationship: Automation is often regarded as part of or a subset of digital transformation. Processes can be automated without a corresponding existence of digital transformation. However, digital transformation cannot exist without a certain level of process automation. Digital transformation initiates the adoption of various digital technologies and processes, not just automation.
4. Impact: The impact of digital transformation is often felt across an organization, bringing about change and widespread transformation.
Often, automation has an incremental impact, mainly because it is specific to certain routines or tasks.
5. Focus: The focus of automation revolves around processes and tasks. It is task-centric as it involves improving how tasks are done, replacing manual labor with software or machines.
Digital transformation focuses on people, customers, or workers, with the sole purpose of creating better value and experience. It empowers workers to be more productive and innovative, while customers enjoy refined services and more value for money.
Read More: The Role of QA in Digital Transformation
Key differences between automation and digital transformation are summarized in the table below:
| Key Difference | Automation | Digital Transformation |
|---|---|---|
| Scope | Narrow and task-oriented | Organization-wide scope |
| Goal | Reduce human interference or manual labour. | Drive innovation and generate more value. |
| Relationship | A subset of digital transformation | Incorporates automation |
| Impact | Incremental and localized to specific processes. | Widespread organizational change and business operation. |
| Focus | Focuses on the efficiency of processes and tasks. | Focuses on business growth, employee productivity, and better customer value and experience. |
Read More: How to set goals for Software Quality
How does Automation drive Digital Transformation?
Automation is an integral part of digital transformation, offering several benefits to businesses. Here are a few ways automation drives digital transformation:
- Cost Saving: Organizations that have automated repetitive tasks have reported saving costs on labor and operational expenses. Automation reduces manual labor costs as machines and software take over tasks once performed by multiple people.
- High Efficiency and Precision: Automating labor-intensive tasks helps organizations achieve higher levels of work efficiency. Replacing human labor with machines ensures better precision and minimizes human errors.
- Better Customer Experience: Customers have a better experience interacting with organisations that automate key aspects of their business operations. For example, an organization that automates bill payment gives customers convenience while serving more customers and increasing its revenue.
- Data-based Decision: Automation provides organizations with real-time data to make better decisions based on insights derived. Opportunities are harnessed for more profit, while issues such as wastage and redundancy are minimized when identified.
- Accelerated Growth and Scalability: When processes are streamlined, human errors are minimized, and higher efficiency levels are achieved, businesses can witness growth. Key aspects of the business that are automated are scalable, as more work is done or more customers are serviced in a shorter time.
Ways to implement Automation in Digital Transformation?
It is common knowledge that automation is integral to digital transformation, and this section explores how it can be implemented in the following steps:
- Define clear objectives: Before automating certain processes, it is important to state the intended goal and how it fits into the overall digital transformation agenda of your organization. A company might want to reduce the wait time for customers, hence the need to automate the booking and payment procedure and make it as contactless as possible.
- Make innovation your organization’s culture: Creating a mindset of innovation within an organization means that the workforce adapts well to change with digital technological advancement. This means that everyone is open to the use of technology to automate and speed up workflows and routine tasks.
- Upskill employees: Ensure that training and upskilling opportunities are offered to members of staff to fill noticeable skills gaps. When employees upskill and acquire digital skills, they can use automation tools with ease and speed up their workflow.
- Automate repetitive tasks and workflows: Adopt the use of business processes and robotic process automation for repetitive tasks across your organization. Tasks like data entry, invoicing, employee onboarding, etc., can be made efficient and less error-prone by using automation technologies.
- IT and infrastructure automation: One critical area where automation can be implemented is by speeding up IT operations and making them more reliable. A couple of ways to do this are by using CI/CD pipelines for code deployment, autoscaling servers, and the use of load balancers, automated backups, and monitoring.
- Deploy AI and Machine Learning for certain tasks: The use of AI and LLMs is on a steady rise, and there are several use cases today for businesses. They can be used to personalize customer interaction and experience through special algorithms. AI-powered chatbots can resolve customer queries without human assistance, and many other examples.
Types of Software Testing Automation that drive Digital Transformation
Software automation not only drives digital transformation, but it is critical for scaling business operations, enhancing customer experience, speed, and reliability, etc. Here are several types of software automation deployed by businesses and organizations:
1. Web Application Test Automation
Web application test automation is the process of using software tools or scripts to automatically test websites and web apps’ functionality, specification, responsiveness, etc.
This allows for a repeatable process of verifying that users can interact with the site or app with ease and also offers a means to gauge user experience across different browsers and devices.
2. Mobile Application Test Automation
Mobile app test automation involves testing mobile applications across different devices and operating systems using software tools and automation scripts to ascertain their robustness, reliability, and behavior.
The aim here is to validate the application’s consistency across different devices and operating systems. This process aids bug detection, user flow, and the overall app experience.
3. API Testing Automation
API testing automation involves testing APIs to validate their function and behavior programmatically via test scripts and automation tools.
This is important because it gives an organization an idea of the reliability and responsiveness of its API service. It ensures that APIs are well integrated and return the expected response when called, promoting stable digital services.
4. Continuous Integration and Continuous Testing
Continuous integration and continuous testing refer to the cycle of automatically executing software tests after new code has been integrated into the central repository.
The impact of this process is that there is an early detection of bugs and anomalies in software before it’s released.
This shortens the feedback loop, promotes agile software development, and speeds up the release of software/features.
5. Performance and Load Testing Automation
Performance and load testing automation involves the automatic testing of a system under various workloads and conditions to validate its behavior, responsiveness, stability, and reliability through automation tools and software.
This checks to ensure that applications/systems can handle and scale under various workloads and conditions in production. Bottlenecks are quickly identified during these test automation and fixed to ensure reliable services.
6. Security Testing Automation (DevSecOps)
Security testing automation is the use of specialized tools to test networks, systems and applications for security vulnerabilities and loopholes. This is necessary for identifying inherent or potential security flaws within a system.
Read More: DevOps vs DevSecOps
The process guarantees that a security assessment is made to ensure compliance and non-exposure of business or user data.
7. Regression Testing Automation
Regression testing is the use of scripts and automation tools to check that new code changes made to a software application do not break previously working functionality or features.
A stable software is guaranteed despite frequent deployments and releases.
8. UI/UX Testing with Automation Tools
This implies the use of test scripts and browser or app automation frameworks or libraries to test an application’s user interface and functionality.
The goal of this type of automated test is to verify that an application’s user interface is laid out according to design. It also ensures easy navigation and a good user experience.
Read More: UI Testing: A Detailed Guide
9. Cross-Browser and Cross-Device Automation
Cross-browser testing and cross-device automation testing involves the use of software tools to perform quality assurance tests on websites and web apps to validate that they function consistently across multiple browsers, devices, and operating systems.
The goal here is to give users a stable and consistent digital experience regardless of their operating system or device.
10. Low-Code/No-Code Test Automation Platforms
Low-code/no-code test automation platforms are essential because they allow non-technical people to plan, create, execute, and manage automated test cases.
This means that non-technical people in an organization can run quality assurance tests without writing code.
This creates equal opportunity for technical and non-technical team members to collaborate during software development and testing cycles.
11. AI-powered Testing
AI-powered testing involves using artificial intelligence to automate, enhance, and accelerate the software testing process. The AI is used to simplify the planning, creation, optimization, and execution of test cases.
This promotes greater precision, efficiency, and smarter digital innovations.
Why test Website and Mobile Automation on Real Devices?
There are merits to testing websites and mobile apps automation on real devices over the use of emulators and simulators. This section will pinpoint why it is important to test website and mobile automation on real devices.
- Real-world user condition: One advantage of conducting tests on real devices is that it gives the actual user conditions, such as network conditions, operating system, battery health, and sensors etc., which influence the test results.
- Validation of device compatibility: Users will always access websites or apps with various devices; hence, testing on real devices ensures compatibility of the application on those user devices.
- Network Variations: Real devices offer an opportunity to conduct tests across different variations of user networks, which include 2G, 3G, 4G, and WiFi. This will highlight how the application performs under these varying network conditions.
- Test Results Accuracy: Results derived from testing on real devices are more accurate because they present the user’s reality as against idealized states of emulators and simulators.
- Discover device-specific bugs: When real devices are deployed for testing, QA teams can discover bugs and bottlenecks associated with a specific device. This situation can be remedied before an official update is released to customers.
- Faster test execution: Tests performed on real devices are shorter when compared to those executed on emulators. This ensures faster iterations and software release to users.
Access to a wide range of real devices is crucial for effective QA, but maintaining an in-house device lab is costly and complex. BrowserStack solves this by offering instant access to hundreds of real devices on the cloud, enabling teams to test across platforms without infrastructure overhead.
With BrowserStack Automate and App Automate, QA teams can run scalable web and mobile automation tests in real-world conditions. The platform supports parallel test execution, delivers high accuracy, and integrates seamlessly with CI/CD pipelines, making it a perfect fit for fast, reliable, and continuous testing across the development lifecycle.
Conclusion
The push for digital transformation in various industries is growing stronger by the day. Businesses are adopting new digital technologies to automate their operations and drive digital transformation across the board.
To remain efficient, precise, and less prone to errors, organizations are adopting software automation to scale business operations, drive high profits, offer a better customer experience, and maintain reliability.
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