Quality Assurance Testing – The morale in the Fintech Industry

In the last decade, technological breakthroughs have continued to surge that have democratized financial services, making them accessible to people worldwide. According to a Fintech industry report from Statistics, there will be approximately 5.48 billion users in the Digital Payments segment by 2027, marking a new era of financial service digitalization worldwide. The Fintech industry has experienced significant growth exponentially, making the demand for rigorous Quality Assurance testing to ensure the safety and dependability of these platforms set to escalate tremendously.

In today’s blog, we shall dig deeper into the significant role of software quality testing and its transformative impact on the Fintech industry to better prepare ourselves to navigate this dynamic field with confidence and expertise. Without any further ado, let’s jump right into it.

Quality assurance testing - A must in the Fintech industry

As the pandemic has receded, customer payment habits have changed. People prefer contactless and cashless payments to the traditional exchanging dollar bills method of the past. This behavior sticks and shall continue to stay for the future. These financial transactions have become a fundamental aspect of our lives daily, which also means our sensitive information, including but not limited to social security numbers, name, phone number, credit card info, etc., can be exposed if a strict security system isn’t in place. In September of 2017, the personal information of 147 million people was hacked in the Equifax Data Breach scandal, which had cost the company up to $700 million to take responsibility for the people affected by the breach, charged by the Federal Trade Commission, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), 50 states and territories in the US. This is a wake-up call to remind the critical importance of Quality Assurance testing in the Fintech industry, where security and reliability are non-negotiable.

To prevent such unfortunate history from repeating itself, financial businesses have started implementing Quality Assurance testing to ensure that every function of the Fintech platform operates as intended, strictly secured, and without failure. This includes detecting programming errors and other discrepancies in the code, making sure the platform is user-friendly, meeting all the presets quality standards, and avoiding all unforeseen risks. With thorough Quality Assurance testing, financial technology companies can mitigate potential losses and protect the trust and confidence of their users.

The appearance of quality assurance testing is necessary for every Fintech business.

The “ideal” quality assurance testing procedure in the Fintech industry

In the Fintech industry, quality assurance testing typically begins with developing a well-structured testing plan involving various testing types that identify different tests and their objectives. The testing plan and procedures should apply multiple testing types, which work together to ensure the platform is safe, reliable, and functional. A few basic procedures of quality assurance testing in the Fintech industry can be mentioned:

• Functional testing: serving the purpose of testing software application’s functionality to make sure that all functions meet the expected requirements.
• Performance testing: evaluating the application or system’s speed, responsiveness, stability, and scalability to ensure it performs optimally under various conditions.
• Security testing: this usually involves testing the software application’s security features, including authentication, access control, and data protection, to confirm whether or not the user data is secured and protected from unauthorized access or attacks.
• Integration testing: check the integration capability of a software application with other systems and software applications, such as payment processors, banks, or third-party APIs.
• Regression testing: after making any changes or updates, regression testing shall be conducted to assess the extent of changes impacting the system’s functionality or performance.
• User acceptance testing: By testing the software application with actual users involved, testing evaluates if the software meets their needs and requirements and provides an optimal user experience.
• Compliance testing: Verify whether or not the software application complies with legal, regulatory requirements, and industry standards, such as PCI-DSS, SOX, or GDPR, before launching.

Every testing methodology employed in the Fintech industry is unique and vital. Each serves to ensure that the quality of software applications meets or exceeds preset standards, surpassing all user expectations. The ultimate goal is to deliver cutting-edge financial technology software that performs optimally and sets the foundation for long-term success in the industry.

The role of Quality Assurance Testing in the Fintech industry

First, Quality Assurance testing has played a crucial role in establishing trust and a reliable reputation for the Fintech industry from the customer perspective. Knowing your financial applications or software has gone through a continuous intense testing process to eliminate faulty encryption, restricted firewalls, suspected pieces of code, and other intrusive techniques to stay far away from the cyber security attacks spectrum, including viruses, phishing, malware, and more.

Second, the Fintech industry is very, significantly, and excruciatingly sensitive, and the government regulates it as it heavily influences the financial aspect of the customers. Carrying out Quality Assurance Testing in this field mainly requires software quality tester to understand the dynamic and profound fundamentals of this industry, how it works, the knowledge nature of finance, terminology, and realistic customers practices to define the industry-standard Software Testing Life Cycle (STLC) such as activities and deliverables that applied for each project individually, documentations systems, and the efficiency metrics to serve the QA “justice.”

Last, Quality Assurance Testing relieves the Fintech industry of staying relevant with the current technology trend. Keeping the code uniform and aligned with the coding world standards can make it easier for Fintech software and applications to be universally integrated with other applications and software in the market that is not Fintech relatable. Fintech Software and apps can effortlessly be compliant with all relevant regulatory standards and laws, such as the Payment Card Industry (PCI) Security Standards Council standards, General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), Federal Financial Institutions Examination Council (FFIEC) regulations, and any other applicable standards.

The aftermath behind quality assurance testing on Fintech Companies

Investing in proper testing provides significant advantages to the Fintech industry that can be summarized in the following three:

• Cost-effectiveness: Quality assurance testing helps reduce the platform’s overall development costs by identifying errors or bugs early in the development cycle. The earlier the issues are identified, the easier and cheaper it is to fix them.
• Ensuring cybersecurity and reducing the risk of errors: Quality assurance testing helps to minimize risks and vulnerabilities in the platform, thereby reducing damages caused by cybersecurity threats. This is particularly crucial in the Fintech industry, where sensitive customer information, including financial data, is regularly processed on the platform.
• The extra boost in the customer satisfaction and user experience department: Besides risk reduction, Quality Assurance testing ensures that the platform meets the necessary quality standards, which can significantly improve customer experience, leading to return customers.

Quality assurance testing in the Fintech industry - the must-have

The irony lies within the essential existence of Quality Assurance Testing in the Fintech industry, which financial institutions and businesses have often neglected due to the paradox of expenses versus its worth. Countless “coincident” cyber attacks happened after the Fintech industry confronted itself with adopting Quality Assurance Testing as one of its core regimens to lead the market, stay ahead of its competitors, streamline its customer experiences, and build its brand reputation in the long shot.

Said is ALWAYS easier than done. Building a strong team of Quality Assurance Testing, experts can’t be accomplished in weeks or months but rather years. Only some have the luxury of waiting and the budget to lure. Making a shortcut and seeking third-party software testing consultancy Services providers, like SHIFT ASIA, is the fastest pass to get the system going.

SHIFT ASIA, with experienced experts and advancing technology, are always ready to be software quality assurance companies‘ trustworthy partner in the Fintech industry, striving to provide high-quality software through rigorous development methodologies and specialized skills. Contact SHIFT ASIA and claim your in-depth consultancy today.