DEVOPSdigest

Low-code and no-code solutions are becoming increasingly popular, particularly for building software. As companies look for ways to lower expenses, IT and DevOps teams are turning to these kinds of solutions to keep up with the pace of innovation while utilizing fewer resources. In fact, they're so popular for software development that Gartner predicts their use will triple by 2025.

Low-code and no-code solutions can play another integral role for DevOps teams beyond building software: improving testing by enhancing quality engineering, which is the practice of product and service quality assurance and control through the combination of testing, DevOps, and agile delivery, and provides more roles and teams with the opportunity to conceive, design, build, test, and deploy applications the way they are intended. The importance of integrating quality engineering through low-code and no-code solutions is rapidly growing as applications and processes become more complex.

What Are Low-Code and No-Code Testing Solutions?

Similar to how developers use low-code and no-code solutions to build software, DevOps teams use this technology to test their products and catch bugs without having to manually write code. This is particularly helpful since the testing process can be long and tedious.

Teams constantly run tests during the building process to ensure the software doesn't break and, once the application is ready, teams run more performance tests to make sure the application will work smoothly. AI within no-code and low-code testing solutions assumes a plethora of these tasks and helps streamline the entire process.

How Do No-Code and Low-Code Testing Solutions Help?

Low-code and no-code testing solutions help improve quality engineering in three key ways: removing human error, bringing in non-technical support, and helping streamline the update verification process.

First and foremost, quality engineering would not be true to name if it did not produce accurate results and insights. Low-code and no-code automation assumes the mundane and tedious steps that often churn out inaccuracies, like configuring tests and integrating code, helping to reduce inaccuracies and ensure reliability.

Second, low-code and no-code solutions use an intuitive interface to write tests rather than code, allowing non-technical, business experts to support testing activities. This frees up developers to focus on more advanced and high-level deliverables for each project. This not only alleviates common bottlenecks in the software development lifecycle, but also allows teams to focus on more strategic initiatives and more quickly achieve business goals.

Lastly, developers that are building on a platform rather than creating new software or a new application can leverage low-code and no-code testing solutions to spend less time on updates. For example, the platform might release updates which require the team to verify new functions, assess their utility for the organization, and — most importantly — ensure that the update did not break any of their existing customizations. Low-code and no-code solutions reduce the time spent verifying platform updates and investigating why the app no longer functions as expected.

Creating Quality With Low-Code and No-Code Solutions

While large engineering teams have historically been required to keep up with the pace of development, low-code and no-code testing solutions allow thinly stretched teams to do more with less without sacrificing quality.

Low-code and no-code solutions allow DevOps teams to integrate quality by automating and streamlining processes to ensure accuracy, expanding quality responsibility to more non-technical users, and allowing teams to rectify issues before it's too late. As companies look to deliver complex applications that work as intended, low-code and no-code solutions should be considered a must for their useful role in quality engineering.