Big Company vs. Small Company App Testing

What is the difference between a big company testing mobile apps, and a small company testing apps? We know that mobile app testing is complex for both large and small companies alike. With the variance in mobile devices, ever-increasing app complexity, and many other factors to consider, organizations of all sizes have a lot to think about when it comes to app testing. They must also deal with compressed development and release cycles needed to achieve faster go-to-market, as well as manual testing processes that are tedious, error-prone and time-consuming. In addition, there are very few easy tools available to simulate real world conditions for apps. While many organizations face these similar issues, how do different company sizes factor in with their approach to mobile app testing?

Very small companies have a tendency to be more chaotic and less organized than their larger counterparts. They might make the mistake of leaving mobile app testing to the very end — almost as an afterthought or a tacked-on, last-minute exercise. Because testing can be so time consuming, and small companies are busy with many other projects, they might make the testing process very lightweight, without covering enough use cases. The result of this can be disastrous — leading to faulty apps, user complaints, bad reviews on the app store, the app actually being pulled from the app store, and the resulting loss in revenue. Small companies can combat this by getting all of their employees to test the app on their devices, and by bringing forward a beta test to get real-world users testing the app. They can also put the high priority testing tasks first and then work their way down the list, to make sure that the most important issues are addressed immediately. Smaller companies need to fight against the fact that they don’t have as many resources as large companies by coming up with smart and inventive solutions to their testing problems.

As a company grows somewhat bigger, it begins to formalize its testing strategy. Oftentimes, the company creates a dedicated QA position, and this QA person handles everything needed for testing and quality assurance. For a small company, keeping up with all devices and OS versions is expensive and inefficient — so in many cases, the company depends mostly on simulators or emulators for testing coverage. However, using simulators and emulators is not enough. You have to be able to test on real devices so you can see how your apps will perform in real-world situations.

Once a company grows to be very big, one of the main issues it faces is increased fragmentation. Because the organization is larger, its app will likely have a wider reach. This means that the app is expected to run on a wide variety of different devices, and run a number of different OS versions. On top of that, with Android you also have to factor in individual manufacturer UIs — so the number of possible permutations can be daunting.

Big companies also have to deal with a higher number of users, which on the surface is a good thing — until you consider that it means a lot more app reviews, and a higher chance of a bad app review coming in. This underscores the importance of testing the app from the very beginning of the development cycle so that no bugs or issues crop up, enabling you to keep your customers happy and maintain a high app store rating.

Whether your company is large, small, or somewhere in between, there is no question that testing your mobile app the right way is extremely important. Customers will take note of any problems and bugs in your app, no matter how big (or small) your company may be.

To learn about how Apexon works with both large and small companies on their mobile app development and testing, click here.

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