Take the stress out of testing with a one-stop-shop approach

In a digital world, a malfunctioning website or mobile app can spell disaster: customers give up and simply go somewhere else. But testing these websites and apps as you build them is expensive and time-consuming because you need to be sure they'll work seamlessly on any device, operating system, or browser you choose. user has - and there are multiple possible combinations. Enter TestGrid, an Atlanta-based startup that thinks it has the answer.

"More than 250,000 new websites and 2,000 apps are launched worldwide every day, and the attention to detail in maintaining them for the best user experience is getting more and more precise," says Harry Rao, founder of TestGrid. "Our goal is to increase access to varied tests, quickly and by removing the burden of capital expenditure."

To do this, TestGrid offers the infrastructure developers need to run sophisticated tests - both physical and cloud - but at a cost far below what they could afford themselves, and with additional services also available to reduce their time and expense commitments further.

To illustrate the point, Rao says the expense of testing a new mobile app could easily cost $500,000. You might just buy 20 different devices – all the most popular with your customers – to try out the app. You'll pay a test team to run the tests, plus developers to create test automation programs, so you don't have to do the work manually on every combination. Add to that the costs of delayed time-to-market, while everyone is doing the testing work, and the process quickly tears a hole in the whole project.

TestGrid's solution is a platform that aims to reduce the resources needed to provide the same level of testing. Rao claims that the cost of performing the same tests in this example via TestGrid could be as little as $20,000.

To achieve this, the platform offers an on-demand architecture that allows users to simulate tests on their websites and apps on any browser, operating system, and device. The platform is available through a public or private cloud, or businesses can install it on premises. It also comes with automation features that allow the user to set up their tests on one setup and then deploy them to multiple other setups without having to manually intervene. Importantly, this testing feature does not require the user to write their own scripts to schedule the deployment, which means no development expertise is needed.

Rao says a one-stop solution like this is long overdue, noting that testing currently requires the use of multiple tools and technologies. "We had to consolidate for decades, but it's 2022 now and it has to happen," he said. "There are so many different parts to the testing equation and we need to bring them all under one roof."

TestGrid has developed the platform with the help of early user feedback over the past few months, but has already acquired 20,000 users through the public cloud version of its tool, as well as more than 50 large enterprises that have opted for the private cloud or on-premises solution. The company operates with a software-as-a-service model, with plans starting around $49 per month.

Rao expects the number of adoptions to increase rapidly in the coming months given the demand for testing. “We're just getting started and there's so much to do,” he says. "Lack of fast enough and scalable infrastructure can slow down software development and deployment, and that's exactly where our testing solutions can help."