Top 7 reasons as to why Mobile Applications can’t do without Performance Testing

The premium placed on developing and marketing mobile applications has become real high, as all businesses depend on their seamless performance. In the Agile or DevOps environment where quality and development go hand in hand, subjecting codes, functions, procedures and the entire software to various kinds of testing, especially performance testing ensures that the application turns out to be free of glitches and high on performance.

Why performance testing

The success of any mobile application should be pegged at how the end customers receive it. The development team might be satisfied with the file transfer taking a few seconds to complete, but from the customers’ perspective, this delay might be the difference between using the application and discarding it altogether. Thus, incorporating performance engineering right from the early stages of software development life cycle can go a long way in improving the speed, responsiveness, server throughput, stability, and functioning of any mobile application. In fact, execution of performance engineering has a direct bearing on the end user experience or the lack of it. The use of performance testing solutions involves checking the performance of an application when the same is subjected to load factors such as a large number of concurrent users, sharing large number of files at a time, or poor network connectivity.

Top seven reasons why applying performance testing solutions on mobile applications cannot be skipped

1. Cost: As incorporating performance engineering in the software development life cycle can be a costly proposition, subjecting mobile applications to performance testing solutions can be thought of only after giving due considerations to their cost benefit analysis.
2. Concurrent users: If the application is to be used by a small number of users at a specific time then conducting expensive performance testing need not be necessary. However, when a large number of concurrent users, especially in financial applications, are likely to be present then testing becomes inevitable.
3. Distributed architecture: If different file systems, databases, operating systems, or servers are used for running an application, incorporating performance engineering during SDLC or conducting performance testing becomes important.
4. Latency: The response time of an application is crucial for customers’ acceptance. Thus, before releasing the product into the market its performance in terms of response time and speed should be evaluated.
5. Sudden spike days: There will be times especially for ecommerce applications when the number of users will see a spike – say during the holiday season. If mobile applications are not tested for such an eventuality, there can be performance issues like latency, downtime, or even crash when the spike reaches its breaking point. Hence, for such sites applying performance engineering during their coding stages is a must.
6. ROI: If an application doesn’t match up to the end users’ expectations, it is likely to be rejected by them. This can lead to a blow to the ROI of business.
7. Brand value: Successful performance of an application builds the brand value of a company behind it. The reverse is also always true.

In fact, beta testing too can check the performance of an application irrespective of it being tested earlier by performance testers. Importantly, even after an application is released and any new glitches are found, updates containing quick fixes can be launched and the same could be put through regression testing, again as a part of performance engineering.

Conclusion

As the performance of a mobile application becomes critical from the point of improving its user experience, it is incumbent upon businesses to evaluate its performance in terms of stability, responsiveness, and speed by putting it through the rigours of performance testing solutions.

Michael works for Cigniti Technologies, which is the world's first Independent Software Testing Company to be appraised at CMMI-SVC Level 5, and an ISO 9001:2008 & ISO 27001:2013 certified organization.