Insight to Software –as-a-Service (SaaS)
Delivering business applications as a service is one of the backbones of the success of Cloud Computing. SaaS is basically a software delivery model where the software vendor hosts the software and its associated data on the cloud through a cloud service provider which can be made to be used by enterprises and they are billed based on the usage.
What is SaaS Testing?
SaaS testing comprises of validating SaaS applications with respect to business workflows, multi-tenancy, integrity, reliability, ease of deployment, scalability, availability, accuracy, ease of use, testability, portability live updating. All these applications are tested with cloud based resources and the focus will be on three key components that are performance, compatibility and security.
Why Increase in Demand For SaaS?
Worldwide Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) revenue is expected to reach USD 22.1 billion by 2015 as more companies invest in cloud technology, research firm Gartner said. This increasing demand for SaaS based applications for business is characterized primarily by the following factors:
- Improved availability
- Better reliability
- Need for Quick deployment
- Reduced internal system dependencies
- Multi-tenancy
- Pay-per-usage
- Higher system accessibility
- Resource scaling based on needs
- Flexible pricing
Why SaaS Testing Takes the Cebtre Stage?
Testing SaaS applications has got its own set of new challenges which forms the centre stage. Based on the testers’ feedback from different parts of the world few testing challenges have been identified. The first and foremost challenge is to test SaaS upgrades followed by many, like impact on multiple subscriber organizations, data integrity and privacy needs, testing of live upgrades and primarily testing for the much expected high quality and ease of deployment. These requirements take SaaS through multiple validation cycles before continuing with that. Ramco’s OnDemand ERP2.0 is one of the greatest examples of a very successful SaaS based application. Organizations can successfully make use of this for integrating the various department activities and customization is also possible based on the needs of the customers.
Core Components of SaaS Testing:
- Application
- Infra structure
- Network
SaaS Testing Challenges:
- SaaS Upgrades
- Domain and Business Knowledge
- Interface Testing
- Data Security
- Integrating Enterprise Applications
- Data Migration between SaaS Applications
Conclusion:
SaaS applications definitely help non-software organizations to concentrate on their core business areas. It eliminates the effort required to develop, maintain and support software which is not their cup of tea. SaaS makes them to use their resources in a much productive form in their core business areas. A comprehensive testing is necessary so that subscribers can make use of all the benefits offered by SaaS. Organizations must also realize the demand for End-to-End testing on these types of applications. And most importantly organizations who opt for SaaS must realize that they need a testing team which contains not only testers but domain and business experts for carrying out tests with the right strategy.
image credit: akadimix.net
