Post titleNew IDC Study Reviews Vendor Offerings, Investments, and Opportunities in Mobility Testing Services

New International Data Corporation (IDC) research profiling vendors in the mobility testing services market shows that as service providers move forward they will need to address a blended set of enterprise testing requirements including application testing (e.g. function and usability testing), performance testing (e.g. device / network), security testing, and complex validation of mobile integration to back-end systems. For OEMs and MNOs, opportunities exist among third parties to accelerate the automation of test scripts, establish consistency in benchmarking devices against each other, and improve test requirement change control and overall test coverage.

In this research, profiles of seventeen mobile testing service vendors are presented along with aggregate summary findings. Vendors profiled include Accenture, AppLabs, AT&T, Cognizant, CSC, CSS Corp., Endeavour Software Technologies, HCL Technologies, HP Enterprise Services, IBM, iGATE Patni, Mahindra IT and Business Services, MindTree, Polaris Software Lab Ltd., Sasken, Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), and Wipro Technologies.

Key study findings include:

·         Usability testing emerges as leading focus: Many testing groups are working closely with user experience (UX) teams to improve validity and consistency of user experience across multiple platforms and devices. Best practices are emerging in how providers approach the speed, efficiency, and quality of highly iterative mobile agile development/test lifecycles.

·         Talent recruitment and training activities demand strategic attention: Mobile domain expertise, knowledge in mobile test tools/strategies (e.g. simulators, local and remote devices), mobile technology expertise (e.g. 3G, HSAP, LTE), and platform/OS testing experience (e.g. Android, iOS, Windows, etc.) are sought after capabilities.

·         Compliance validation is increasing: Third parties are expanding their mobile testing services to include compliance to platform guidelines (e.g. Android, iOS), app store guidelines (e.g. Apple, Google), vertical specific certifications (e.g. HIPAA, SOX), and enterprise specific policies (e.g. enterprise app store).

·         Partnership approaches heat up in testing service ecosystem: Testing providers are extending their lab investments by partnering with ASQ vendors, cloud-based device stores (e.g. Perfecto Mobile, Device Anywhere), and establishing joint test labs and COEs to support research, test, and incubation of innovative solutions and services to meet horizontal and vertical specific market demands.

·         Mobile testing service activity extends from B2C to B2B and B2E focus: Initial investment in testing services for B2C mobile applications that enable banking, social media interaction, communication, and mobile commerce activities are shifting to include validation for sales force automation, mobile enablement of ERP, and executive mobile dashboards, among other applications, with Retail, BFSI and M&E verticals leading in mobile vertical test activity.

According to Rona Shuchat, director, Application Development, Testing and Management Services, "As clients push for efficient and innovative use cases for mobile applications, there is greater focus by service providers on providing a mix of user-experience testing, cross-platform testing, performance and load testing, and critical validation of mobile integration to back-end systems. There will be increased value for customers to leverage mobile application development/test factories, equipped with live and simulated test scenario capabilities, to minimize customer investment and mitigate risk as activity increases in use of vertical and horizontal mobile app solutions."