Blog

Watch out for 6 telecom trends and QA tips to implement them

In our article, we unleash the upcoming telecom trends and reveal how to be certain in introducing them correctly by applying QA practices.
12 April 2021
Agile
Test automation
The article by a1qa
a1qa

By making literally everyone shift to online ecosystems and reimage IT strategies, 2020 has turned the tide in the telecommunications industry. What to expect in 2021 and how to get prepared for it?

The answer lies in keeping with times and implementing tech trends that help sustain and strengthen competitive advantage.

Welcome to our overview of 6 emerging trends in telecom and how to introduce them with ease and confidence through QA and software testing best practices.

By easing people’s lives and shifting operations to a virtual space, customers’ habits have changed and made their behavior more meticulous.

The telecom industry is no exception, as today, stable network connectivity is an inevitable part of any IT product. To delight end users, companies implement novel opportunities by turning to tech trends. Let’s have a closer look at the top 6 trends of 2021 in the industry that may help win the competition.

Trend 1. Applying total digitalization

Due to digital transformation happening globally, telecom companies benefit from modifying traditional services. For instance, having entered the media and entertainment industry, telecom-based OTT (over the top) media has become more common than traditional TV packages.

Moving to online ecosystems has also triggered enabling cloud possibilities that help keep up with the swift alterations in the IT market.

Trend 2. Implementing hyperautomation

Since 2019, the global automation market has grown by $28.3, and companies are embarking on digital operational excellence to a greater extent. This is where hyperautomation comes into play while covering entire business ecosystems as well as creating fully automated value chains.

Once having optimized the documents, functional tasks, work in production, etc., businesses become ensured of both the total digitalization and operational resiliency of an organization.

Trend 3. Spreading 5G network

Quarantine and lockdown measures have drastically restrained ubiquitous 5G usage. However, 2021 will be the year of this technology’s prosperity. Thanks to its low latency and strengthened throughput, this tech trend may cover 45% of the world by 2025 encompassing more than 1.7 billion devices (according to PwC report on the Global Entertainment & Media Outlook).

With such potential, 5G can turn into a classic means of connectivity. Once having implemented 5G, some telecom services vendors are already working their way into 6G technology.

Trend 4. Distributing edge computing

Applying innovative 5G networks, cloud storage, and numerous smart devices attribute to rapid data growth. The volume of data is increasing, and central processing servers can no longer cope with that.

Thus, telecom companies are drawing more attention to distributed computing with local assets allowing optimizing throughput and reducing response time.

According to IDC’s predictions for the worldwide IT industry in 2021, organizations will direct 80% of their capital to the advanced capabilities at the edge of the network in 2021. Despite 2020 having already become the year of the edge computing breakthrough, the future of innovation has no limits.

Trend 5. Supporting a new era of IoT

Global telecommunications coverage makes the concept of IoT more accessible. According to Statista, the worldwide IoT market size is expected to grow by over $1,500 bln in 2025. By uniting gadgets into a common network, they provide users with the next generation of services — combined communication networks.

Market size of IoT solutions

Source: Statista 

In 2020, Gartner’s analysts coined the term “Internet of Behaviors” (IoB) in their report of Top Strategic Technology Trends for 2021. It is related to continuously connecting people to virtual ecosystems.

In the past few years, creating a smart network was simply a feature of gadgets, but today, it is available for real users. This global communication format requires an advanced and secure technological base owing to its complexity.

Trend 6. Discovering benefits of total experience

Total experience combines traditionally disparate disciplines like multi-experience (MX), customer experience (CX), employee experience (EX), and user experience (UX) as well as links them to create a better overall experience for all parties.

Previously, companies were developing business tasks based on individual user experience. Now, the practice of general experience allows for developing more flexible interactions between consumers and businesses. Due to this unification, one may reduce the long-term costs of project development and maintenance.

Providing a high level of software quality is another cornerstone of enabling business success. As the rigorous race in the market, time and budget limits have become common issues on telecommunications projects, companies need to include QA to a much higher extent.

We’ve prepared a one-stop playbook of QA hints that may address the challenges and contribute to business growth.

Hint 1. Strengthen QA practices

By being strongly focused on satisfying end users’ needs, telecom companies strive to enable flawless customer experience and secure data flow. To provide impeccable quality of IT solutions with complex business logic and infrastructure, organizations should introduce smarter and more automated QA and software testing practices.

More noteworthy is the ability to maintain and empower the QA culture. By realizing the necessity to enhance QA activities at both company and team levels, one can reach desired outcomes at short notice.

Thus, more than 80% of the World Quality Report (WQR) 2020-2021 respondents are careful with the necessity to improve QA teams and take a more responsible attitude to the software quality.

Hint 2. Apply Agile

Suitable methodology meeting all modern market requirements are amid the core principles of performing software testing successfully. Flexible methods are especially beneficial for telecom companies having solutions dealing with complicated business logic.

According to the WQR, telecom players choose DevOps and shift-left methods for their effectiveness and ability to rapidly adapt to the changing market and timely manage priorities.

Hint 3. Automate wisely

Companies still face multiple difficulties in selecting the necessary test automation tools as well as search for specialists with a suitable skillset: only a third of WQR telecom representatives get ROI by automating checks.

If you are expecting your test automation to optimize test coverage, build a robust QA strategy and identify what test cases need to be automated before executing it. This helps provide better control and transparency of testing processes, reduce human errors, and others.

With that, automate-first approaches may be of help by identifying the features likely to change in several weeks and being checked frequently while planning their further automation without manual testing efforts.

In addition to automated testing, it is essential to pay attention to security testing as well as functional and regression checks after introducing any new functionality.

Hint 4. Introduce next-gen QA

AI and ML. They help with balancing out QA activities, predict test quality, prioritize test cases, classify defects, verify voice messaging and data entry, and many more. These advantages of smart systems are becoming especially important in unstable conditions.

AI- and ML-based testing can be handy to be one step ahead and keep the lead in the market in unstable conditions by contributing to improving overall efficiency on the project, reducing risks, and increasing team flexibility.

Summing up

Bearing in mind further computerization and ever-growing optimization of user experiences, relevant telecom trends for 2021 would be 5G networks, edge computing, hyperautomation as well as applying total experience and “Internet of Behaviors.”

However, implementing tech trends falls short to reach planned business outcomes. To deliver top-tier telecom software and win the race, open-minded companies should also consider improving QA practices, applying wise test automation, introducing next-gen QA, and building a strong QA strategy.

Need QA support to enhance your IT solution quality? Get hold of a1qa’s specialists.

More Posts

debated technologies
30 May 2023,
by a1qa
3 min read
a1qa tech voice: Managing director at a1qa, North America, discusses pros and cons of much-debated technologies
Nadya Knysh, Managing director at a1qa, North America, puts a spotlight on 6 current technologies, discussing their positives and negatives.
General
Interviews
Test automation
why-do-bugs-get-missed
17 April 2023,
by a1qa
4 min read
Why do bugs get missed? Learn the problems and tips to avoid them
Still, finding overlooked bugs after the app goes live? Let’s find out why this happens and how to fix it.
Quality assurance
Test automation
Mobile app testing
15 February 2023,
by a1qa
4 min read
Mobile app testing guide: win the race with five-star software
Which aspects of mobile apps to test first to produce a really high-quality product? Find the answer to this and other questions related to mobile app testing in the article.
Cybersecurity testing
Functional testing
Mobile app testing
Performance testing
Test automation
Usability testing
a1qa-articles
31 January 2023,
by a1qa
5 min read
Best of 2022 by executives: 8 most visited a1qa blog posts
Let’s look back and revisit the most visited a1qa articles of 2022!
Quality assurance
Test automation
qa-trends
12 January 2023,
by a1qa
4 min read
The future of software testing: top 4 impactful trends that will dominate in 2023
Consider the major industry trends for the upcoming year to know how to improve current QA strategies and stay ahead of the curve.
QA trends
Quality assurance
Test automation
test-automation
7 December 2022,
by Dileep Marway
3 min read
Release at pace with test automation: What, why, and how to measure success?
An automation-first approach is key to enhancing testing capabilities and increasing overall operational efficiency. However, I would suggest justifying its implementation, so that it can deliver the promised value.
Quality assurance
Test automation
agile-qa
30 November 2022,
by Dileep Marway
3 min read
Agile QA – what is needed for greater flexibility and speed?
What should your QA team focus on to become truly agile, enable quality at speed, and contribute to lasting performance improvement? In addition to introducing test automation, I suggest considering shared responsibility for software soundness.
Agile
Quality assurance
interview-with-dileep
28 November 2022,
by a1qa
9 min read
Interview with Dileep Marway on a series of articles “Agility and speed: Supercharging your business strategies with QA”
We cooperated with the VP of Engineering and Quality at SHL to present you with a series of his blog posts on: culture of happiness, test automation, and Agile-driven QA. Happy reading!
Agile
Quality assurance
Software lifecycle QA
Test automation
qa-trends-in-telecom
30 September 2022,
by a1qa
5 min read
4 telecom trends for 2023 and how to painlessly implement them with QA
It’s time to explore the telecom trends for the upcoming year. Let’s look at them together and also see the value that QA brings for their smooth deployment.
Cybersecurity testing
Migration testing
QA trends
Quality assurance
Test automation

Get in touch

Please fill in the required field.
Email address seems invalid.
Please fill in the required field.
We use cookies on our website to improve its functionality and to enhance your user experience. We also use cookies for analytics. If you continue to browse this website, we will assume you agree that we can place cookies on your device. For more details, please read our Privacy and Cookies Policy.