A Tricentis study in 2022 showed the critical role of AI in enhancing DevOps practices, particularly within the realm of testing. The survey revealed that a majority of organizations — nearly 70% — perceived AI-augmented testing as extremely or very valuable.
AI-augmented testing offers numerous advantages, including improved efficiency, accuracy and coverage. By automating repetitive tasks and utilizing advanced analytics, AI helps organizations identify and address defects earlier in the development lifecycle, reducing the risk of costly errors and delays. AI also assists in generating more comprehensive test cases. This means that a wider range of scenarios are covered.
Well, the 2022 report foreshadowed on what’s to come. The most recent report found out that DevOps practitioners ranked AI-augmented testing as the most valuable – specifically, 60% aligned with this.
The research reveals that teams use AI to augment a variety of tasks, including test planning, test case generation and test result analysis. AI assists in identifying critical areas to test, generating comprehensive test cases and analyzing test results to uncover potential defects.
“AI in testing helps to detect, auto-heal and predict defects during development, as well as identify which tests need to be run based on high risk,” said Mav Turner, Chief Product and Strategy Officer, Tricentis. “When coupled with low-code/no-code technology, this means that, regardless of a team’s technical expertise, AI can significantly contribute to overall software quality. As DevOps teams continue to mature, testing will be pivotal to realizing their investment in AI-augmented DevOps tools and practices.”
But that’s not all AI can bring to DevOps teams. Let’s take a look:
According to the report, mature DevOps teams that embraced AI are more likely to rate their teams as highly effective. A key focus area for AI adoption among DevOps teams is addressing challenges related to developer efficiency, reducing the skills gap, cost reduction and software quality. By automating repetitive tasks, analyzing vast amounts of data and providing intelligent insights, AI helps teams streamline their processes, bridge skill gaps and optimize resource allocation.
The study also shows the time savings that AI-augmented DevOps tools bring to teams. Nearly one-third of respondents estimate that these tools will save their teams over 40 hours per month, equivalent to an entire workweek. This reduction in workload frees up valuable time for teams to focus on higher-value activities and accelerate the development process.
The study further indicates that nearly half of respondents anticipate AI playing a vital role in performing risk analysis of code changes. By identifying code areas with the greatest risk of errors, QA teams can prioritize their testing efforts and ensure that critical quality issues are addressed effectively.
“AI is an exciting technology and growing at a pace unlike anything we’ve seen in our industry,” said Turner. “As AI technology is further developed, however, training software development and quality engineering teams with the necessary skills to effectively work with AI will be absolutely critical.”
The report surveyed DevOps practitioners, managers and executives from small, mid-size and enterprise organizations across the globe and in several industries, including financial services, healthcare and manufacturing. The goal was to understand to what extent the anticipated benefits of AI in DevOps have been realized today, and how a lack of trust, skills or other challenges could affect its adoption.
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Edited by
Alex Passett
