Continuous Testing in DevOps - Best Practices and its Adoption in the Insurance Industry

Hyper-personalization is the future of insurance or insurtech. A 2021 survey by Capco cemented the fact when it identified several global themes such as –

1. 3/5 of the top issues flagged during the claims process touch upon elements that could be supported or enhanced by technology.
2. 37% of consumers did not feel well informed about insurance or available products.
3. 57% of respondents want a better online experience from their insurer.
4. 66% of policy-owning respondents said they would use an app that gave them better visibility into all their financial products (bank accounts, pensions, insurance policies).

With customers constantly demanding better, high-quality software for business and personal use, insurance companies are taking the DevOps route.

The DevOps market is slated to grow to USD 25.5 billion by 2028, making its adoption in the insurtech industry mission critical for several other challenges , including regulatory compliance and improving the processes.

One of the mainstays of a DevOps environment is continuous testing, which enables better, high-quality releases, and also reduces costs by integrating into the continuous delivery process. It helps assess and address the risks across various stages of the development pipeline and thereby, minimizing the business risk.

What is continuous testing in DevOps? What is its importance for insurance firms?

Continuous testing involves frequent and automated testing throughout the software development life cycle and emphasizes the need for uninterrupted testing at every stage, from development to deployment. By adopting a continuous DevOps process, insurance organizations can identify and mitigate risks early on, improving product quality.

Therefore, it ensures that the product is functional before its public release and clarifies what’s been tested and what’s next in the pipeline. It also leads to improved test coverage, allowing developers to cover even more possible scenarios.

The key principles of continuous testing include early and regular testing, testing across various environments, and test automation. Let’s understand the best practices for continuous testing for its adoption in the insurance industry.

What are the best practices for continuous testing in DevOps for the insurance industry?

• Metric tracking – To measure the success or failure of testing efforts, it is crucial to rely on quantifiable metrics. Two vital metrics to monitor during testing are –
  • The number of defects
  • The counts of pass/fail test scripts

By tracking the number of defects discovered, it’s possible to evaluate if the number increases or decreases, and strategize ways to change the development process. And keeping tabs on the number of pass/fail test scripts assists in creating a comprehensive testing strategy to improve the application’s functionality.

• Adopting containerization – Containerization refers to bundling an application’s components, including configuration files, libraries, and dependencies, within its own operating system. It simplifies continuous testing by segregating each service of the application in its own environment and allows testing of specific code as required, rather than testing the entire application at once.

Containers make it easier to keep up-to-date with the latest code changes and maintain consistency across the testing and production environments. In case of a test failure or corrupted data, containers can be easily discarded, and fresh ones set up with the necessary data.

• Multi-layer tests – To ensure comprehensive testing across the development lifecycle, adopting a multi-layered approach that covers all testing processes like – unit, integration (API), system (GUI), to database testing, through complete automation.

A multi-layered approach is crucial to prevent the complexity from overwhelming proper test execution. It provides a structured and organized approach to testing and ensures that all areas of the application are thoroughly tested.

• Integrate performance tests – Performance testing is an investigative process that observes how the system runs and identifies potential solutions to overcome performance-related issues. A crucial component of continuous testing, it needs to be integrated into the development process to ensure that the application meets the performance requirements and delivers an optimal end-user experience.
• Automate, automate, automate – Manual testing is still a component of continuous testing. But with test automation , it becomes easier for firms to cover speed and errors, leading to faster releases. As a result of the automation-first mindset, insurance firms can get a competitive advantage by launching their product on the market much faster.

• Headless execution – Headless execution saves time in running longer and more in-depth automated tests. It excludes the browser’s head or interface (GUI) and results in faster execution. There’s no need for processing unnecessary caches, cookies, and resources, which allows testing teams to focus on the essential aspect: ensuring that the application runs as expected.

The caveat – it’s essential to run a subset of tests on a real browser before releasing them to customers because end-users do not operate on headless browsers.

Closing thoughts

These leading approaches of continuous testing in DevOps give the desired head start to insurance firms, assisting in an early product release, cost cutting among other benefits. DevOps is hence a fundamental component of a successful digital transformation since it is necessary to deliver digital services quickly and with high quality.