Why Do Testing Teams Need Software Performance Engineering?

Did you know that, on average, IT-related downtime can cause companies to lose about $5 million PER HOUR? So, suffice it to say that it is vital for companies to avoid such outages, and the key to that lies in the software that we use. Or, to be more precise, in testing the software, it relies on every day. Now, of course, the concept of performance testing already exists to tend to that particular requirement; unfortunately, experts have recently come to realize that performance testing may not be sufficient. Because of just how expensive IT failures can be, the industry has felt the need for something more robust and all-encompassing, a.k.a. Performance engineering.

Unlike what some may believe, performance engineering is NOT based on software and hardware; instead, it is mostly just strategies aimed at ensuring that the parts as mentioned above of a business’ network perform optimally. So, what performance engineering does is make sure that apps and systems are tested on a continual, and whenever required, basis to make sure that they continue to perform as they are intended to at all times. Among other things, this new testing concept also serves to set the seal on each new integration, i.e., verify its quality as well as its stability within the existing system.
Those are, by no means, the only reasons why performance engineering has become a top priority for software testing teams. So, listed below are some of the other reasons why it is so important.

1. Identify performance issues: One of the critical aspects of performance engineering is that it is a constant process; i.e., it starts right with the development process. Unlike performance testing, where test cases are used to identify potential performance issues after the development process is complete, performance engineering enables teams to identify any performance-related pitfalls right from the start.
2. Optimization: As mentioned above, performance testing is a one time job that happens at the end of development; whereas, engineering is a constant, i.e., it starts with the start of the development lifecycle. As a result, with performance engineering, one can make sure that by the time the process lifecycle arrives at the QA stage, the app or system has already been optimized.
3. High return on investment: With performance engineering, companies can substantially cut down the time, efforts, and financial resources spent on correcting problems in the app or system in the later stages of the development lifecycle. And let’s not forget that an app that is optimized for performance from the start can perform much better. As a result, the return on investment they can achieve gets a significant boost as well.

Our dependence on apps and myriad other IT tools will NOT wane any time soon. It is projected to grow at a rapid pace for the foreseeable future. So, it only makes sense to adopt application performance engineering as an integral part of the development strategy.