Mobile technology has advanced leaps and bounds since its inception. I got my first mobile phone at the age of 16 and its app abilities were limited to an alarm clock and the ever-popular snake game. I spent hours playing that game! Now app stores are overflowing with applications to boost productivity, keep you socially connected, and give you games to soak up any spare time.

While many of the apps on my phone are for personal use, I have a basic expectation from companies that provide professional services. I’ll think twice before creating an account at a bank that hasn’t gone mobile yet. If I want to monitor the success of a marketing campaign or post a blog, I want to be able to do all of this from my mobile phone while I’m running to a meeting. What’s my point with all this? Basically, it’s that I’m not alone. If businesses want to keep up with their clients, they must go mobile!

So now that you’ve opted to go mobile, you need to decide if you’ll develop the app in-house or outsource. To help you make that decision, I’ve highlighted the pros and cons of each option with the help of the folks over at appschopper.com and DMI.

Advantages of in-house app development

• Transparent control over the development process
• Choice of developers that know what you want at an agreeable cost
• Full control over the project
• Options over technologies used

Disadvantages of in-house app development

• High starting costs to establish infrastructure
• Excessive fees in order to obtain all necessary licenses and certificates for software, tools, and code
• Additional cost of bringing in external consultants if developers get stuck

Advantages of Outsourcing

• Reduced time-to-market as resources can start instantly
• Fixed cost for specific scope and delivery reduces risk
• Specialized mobile developers leverage experience and resources
• Frees company to focus on core business objectives

Disadvantages of Outsourcing

• Loss of control and intellectual capital over services
• Dependency on another company for something that could be core to your business
• Small changes become more expensive and complicated
• Increase in cost per hour

While only you can decide what is best for your organization, I hope that this article helped shed some light on how to make this important decision.

• Two-thirds of companies are inadequately testing mobile applications
• Only 31% of respondents currently test mobile applications
• 65% of respondents conveyed that they don’t have right tools to test mobile apps.
• 52% do not have access to required devices.
• 34% of organizations lack the testing methodologies and processes
• 29% of organization lacks specialist expertise  necessary to effectively certify mobile application
• Performance of the mobile app has emerged to be primary focus for most of the organizations( 64%)
• 37%  are Testing Mobile App in Manufacturing domain followed by Energy& Utilities and Healthcare(Each 35%)

Picture speaks louder than words so here are some quick trends that came out of this report.

Quality assurance (QA) is an essential part of creating and maintaining reliable mobile apps that function as planned – and the need for these apps in the enterprise is increasing exponentially. Businesses of all sizes, enterprise-sized companies in particular, are developing new mobile apps as well as converting business critical Web and desktop apps into mobile apps to improve employee efficiency and productivity and provide more responsive customer service.

Coinciding with this increase in need is an even faster evolution of operating systems on computers and especially mobile devices. This presents testers of all types – including those testing native and mobile web apps – with the challenge of delivering apps that function well on multiple platforms, devices and form factors.

While the need for mobile app QA is significant, there are also many common problems that QA teams encounter that can disrupt and limit the efficient testing of enterprise apps. Here are three common problems that enterprise testers may encounter.

Problem #1: Mobile App Testing is Not Thorough – or Not Completed at All

QA has become an increasingly important part of software development. However, a recent survey conducted by Cap Gemini, Sogeti and HP shows that QA for mobile apps is not enjoying the same prominence. In fact, the survey shows that only 31 percent of organizations today currently test their mobile applications. This means that many enterprises are risking the release of apps that don’t function properly, are unreliable, unstable and potentially damaging to their business functions and their brand’s reputation.

Companies all over the world are trying to save time, increase profits and decrease risk. The process of testing native and mobile web apps may decrease risk, but it also takes time to complete – time that many companies are not willing to spend if it means extending app deployment deadlines. It’s a delicate balance that too often ends up with mobile app testing being pushed to the side as apps are rushed to be released.

Problem #2 – Lags in Development Can Lead to Shorter Testing Time

QA is one of the final steps in the development process before an app is released. Before an app makes it to QA for functional and regression testing – not to mention usability, performance and security testing – there are several steps that must first take place, including all phases of development, such as technical design, wireframe development and mobile app development for each mobile platform. As such, if there are lags in the development of an app, testers will have to deal with a shorter than average test time, often resulting in rushed functional testing and running out of time to regression test.

The testing cycle for mobile apps normally takes three-to-six weeks depending on the size and complexity of the application. Due to expedited enterprise app rollouts, this is now being condensed to just one-to-two days, which hardly leaves time for proper testing.

Problem #3 – Lack of Requirements Can Inhibit QA Capabilities

Good requirements from the beginning – even before development starts – can help with the development and subsequent testing processes. Unfortunately, in many cases, mobile app testers aren’t receiving these requirements. This is a critical misstep since providing testers with the requirements can help them effectively define what they should test and how they should develop the testing framework. Without the requirements, it’s like testing in the dark. The key to efficient and accurate test results is to enable testers to plan and test better – and they need requirements to do so.

Visibility to app requirements can also help testers determine whether parts of the testing process can be automated. When automation makes sense, testing cycles can be significantly reduced, freeing up testers to focus on more complicated test cases that either cannot be automated or require more detailed scripting at the outset. Enterprise QA processes are undergoing a major re-evaluation and re-invention thanks to the mobile revolution. By planning ahead, using a mobile app test automation tool and emphasizing the importance of QA to the overall effectiveness of an app, QA teams can avoid these problems and improve overall app quality and reliability.

This article, Three Common Problems in the Mobile App QA Process, was based on an article on MobileLabs