Qapitol QA

Recent Technical Glitches in Banking Highlight the Importance of Software Testing

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What Happens When Software Testing Is Neglected 

We’ve probably asked and been asked this question at least once in our lives: What would you do if you woke up the next day and were a crorepati?

An unimaginable dream indeed. But for a fleeting moment, some people from Chennai did manage to become the richest they will ever be. Before you ask, they did not invest in bitcoins at their peak, nor did they win the lottery. These people have their banks’ poor software testing to thank for.

For any software, it is crucial that before it is released, quality engineers ensure that the software is usable and reliable. After undergoing a detailed software testing process, the software is finally ready. However, when software is released into the world without being thoroughly tested, it has the potential to disrupt the entire system. In some cases customers fail to receive or pay money on their mobile apps and in some cases account holders accidentally receive crores in their bank accounts.

These inconveniences caused by poorly functioning software damage the bank’s reputation and give customers a reason to switch to a rival bank’s services. Today we will look at how essential software testing is in the banking industry by looking at some significant technical glitches that momentarily disrupted the banking process, and not in a good way.

Simple Reasons Why Software Testing Is Important

Imagine losing trillions of dollars because of the software you hoped would help your business achieve profitability. As difficult as it is to imagine this, according to the recent Consortium for Information & Software Quality (CISQ) report, America alone lost approximately $2.08 trillion in 2020 due to poor software quality.

Businesses look at emerging tech and consider leveraging it for profitability, but when they don’t ensure the software performs efficiently, they incur huge losses. 

Beyond avoiding additional costs to the business due to poor software, there are several other reasons why software testing is needed. Software testing is essential to ensure it functions smoothly across different devices and operating systems. Compatibility with all platforms is necessary to provide a superior user experience. Next, software testing improves the product’s functioning by ensuring hidden errors are exposed and fixed. Even a single bug can damage the reputation of a software developing house; it can also negatively affect a company’s customer loyalty. And it generally takes a long time to regain a customer’s confidence.

Lastly, some companies ignore the testing phase as they must release the software as soon as possible. Neglecting the testing phase for the faster release can harm the company more than benefit it, as this results in poor-quality software.

Finding bugs and errors in software is perfectly normal, which is why software testing exists. However, skipping the software testing phase, assuming it won’t affect the user experience, can be detrimental.

Understanding Technical Glitches in Banking

“Dear customer, we regret to inform you that we are facing some technical difficulties…”, customers receive this standard reply on their application whenever they face a technical glitch. The number of technical glitches in the fintech space has been increasing in the past couple of years.

In 2021, regional banks in Bihar faced significant technical glitches that resulted in massive amounts being credited to their customers’ accounts. The manager mentioned that the money displayed in the account statement was missing due to glitches in the computerised system.

Similarly, one of the world’s largest banks, Citibank, accidentally transferred $900 million to Revlon’s lenders. Instead of sending $8 million, the bank ended up sending $900 million. This received a lot of criticism from the public, and the US District Court even termed it the ‘biggest blunder in banking history‘.

In addition, many big international players in the fintech industry suffered from a cyber-attack due to a minor glitch which disrupted the service that protected them against DoS (denial-of-service attacks). Banking services of Westpac, the Commonwealth Bank, ANZ, St George and other financial institutions were shut down and took several hours to restore.

How Qapitol QA Can Save The Day

According to the Central Bank’s 2021 Ombudsman Scheme Annual Report, there were a total of 44,385 complaints related to mobile and electronic banking between April 2020 and March 2021 in India. Banks must take measures to ensure their software is reliable and user-friendly when it is released to the public. Making sure the software is bug-free is easier when banks employ intelligent testing services from Qapitol.

With the transformation the banking sector is undergoing, there are bound to be several challenges. However, it must not curb the growth of businesses and should be okay with the customers. By employing Qapitol’s intelligent software testing services, banks can overcome challenges by achieving QE excellence.

With the help of Qapitol’s comprehensive range of test automation and quality engineering tools, your scaling business can finally eliminate the many dependencies and reduce test completion time. Through developing a solid test automation framework and solutions, Qapitol delves in-depth to understand your unique needs better. We employ agile principles to facilitate quicker go-to-market and provide a seamless user experience.

Write to us today at [email protected] if you would like to strengthen their fintech’s testing capabilities using our customised test automation framework which has so far helped leading fintech unicorns and soonicorns secure their software, accelerate their releases and provide seamless user experience.

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