The swift growth of telecom companies, or telcos as they are more commonly known, is a phenomenon that has defined the modern developments of the 21st century. Over a 100-year period, we’ve seen the rise of this industry without ever reaching a plateau as it continues to broaden the horizon of its services with newer offerings every day.
Currently, the world telecom market is being driven by trends such as VoIP, 5G, edge computing, Wi-Fi 6 and the manifestation of smart cities using IoT. The complex nature of these futuristic technologies makes telecom software testing an absolute necessity. Moreover, Telecom is the backbone of development; therefore, without proper quality assurance of its offerings, the resultant ecosystem will be crippled.
In today’s article, we will learn about the role of software quality engineering in Telecom, the challenges that Telecom is facing in the absence of proper QE in place and the several benefits of implementing the said quality engineering using telecom software testing.
Let’s get started:
Why do we need Quality engineering in telecommunications?
According to the Global Telecom Services Market Size Report, 2021-2028, more than 20.0% of communication connections worldwide are forecasted to integrate 5G networks by 2028. This includes a strong presence in Europe and North America.
Also, a new report by Ericson, Mobile subscriptions forecast, projects the number of 5G subscriptions globally to reach 4.4 billion by 2027, including an overall increase of 600 million from 2023 to 2025 alone.
These statistics clearly point to Telecom being one of the world’s fastest-growing sectors, thus re-instating the need for quality engineering in all its spheres. However, the implementation of quality doesn’t come without a few bottlenecks.
The complicated network of legacy systems and processes siloes teams, thus leading to ineffective and inadequate communication. As a result, the existing test teams can only test functionality, not performance or end-user experience. A software quality engineering provider can step in to deal with all the challenges telcos face with quality engineering.
The most commonly encountered quality challenges that most telcos face are:
- Inefficient integration with 3rd party apps
- Increased cyber threats to customer data
- Complicated application UI
- Software malfunctions due to misconfigurations
Telecom software testing can help parse these challenges and bring about better functioning, great user experience and fix any issues that may deter seamless telecommunication services.
How does Quality engineering benefit telecom companies?
Quality engineering can help optimize digital telecom offerings, providing consumers with an innovative future-ready experience. QE is a continuous process that ensures business continuity and modernization of legacy systems. Listed down below are a few ways in which QE can prove advantageous to telecom businesses:
Increasing customer satisfaction
Good customer service is the fundamental metric for gauging the performance standards of any company. However, grabbing customers’ attention can be challenging when in a sea of competitors. For example, while one operator may offer low pricing, others may provide better connectivity and many other services.
Bringing in quality engineering can help telcos deliver satisfactory client experiences and build long-lasting customer relationships. QE testing professionals test the backend architecture to make sure it is capable enough to handle load, stress and volume.
Regular performance testing of the front-end application is necessary to evaluate usability. Also, testing IVR systems can help monitor customer grievance redressal times and guarantee that issues are solved quickly.
Achieving a greater-value outcome
As mentioned in the earlier paragraph, the increased competition makes it binding for telcos to frequently update their systems to keep up with the dynamic customer demands. This includes both operational support and business support applications.
QE helps verify that any data that migrate from legacy to modern systems carry greater value and that the transition, in itself, is seamless. Telecom software testing can help telcos with cloud migration and adopt newer technologies and innovations more quickly. QE not only tackles functional aspects of these applications but also validates the UI, security and checks for other performance snags.
Making core telecom services efficient
Services such as bill management, customer grievance redressal, signal monitoring, vendor management, outage management, sales and retailer support, CRM, etc., are the central applications of any telecom provider.
In the absence of quality software, all or some of these services can take a hit, angering customers and harming business. Take the example of operators being penalized for overbilling. It is a pretty common issue that telecom companies face. We have come across many telcos continuing to use legacy systems that fail to integrate with modern infrastructure.
Resultantly, there are issues at the customer end. QE can help bring about the necessary integration across various complex technological and application stacks by fixing integration defects before they can hamper entire processes.
Enhancing Network Security
The telecom industry must take a 2-dimensional approach where it merges the trends that come with digital transformation and at the same time, maintain legacy systems of communication. The question here is- Are telcos equipped to handle such risks? Without quality engineering, testing for security vulnerabilities that come with newer innovations is complex.
With specialized network security testing, QE brings improved security capabilities, which are required for customer trust, thus, making telecom software impregnable to cyber threats of any kind.
Conclusion
Telecom has a lot riding on its back with the rapid digital transformation of businesses worldwide. With too many players in the market, the competition is fierce and everyone is struggling to be different and better.
It goes without saying that quality is the focal point of such efforts. Quality can set you apart from competitors and show customers that you care. Quality engineering not just helps boost brand loyalty; it can also streamline your services and provide your customers with a pleasant and safe experience, all while slashing costs.
Therefore, technology-forward telecom businesses must take the aid of seasoned software quality engineering providers that understand the minute nuances of this industry and propose, implement and maintain long-term quality solutions to optimize telecom digital offerings.
