Global Businesses Estimate Poor Mobile App Quality Costs Up to $2.49M in Lost Revenue

Tricentis, a global leader in continuous testing and quality engineering, today released the findings of a new global survey on the importance of mobile application quality and testing, with emphasis on the potential impact of artificial intelligence (AI), and low-code/no-code automation.

Among the key findings are:

• While the majority (87%) of senior IT professionals and application developers state that mobile application quality is critical to their business, 90% of respondents estimate that poor mobile application quality costs their business up to $2.49M in lost revenue per year
• Competing priorities (28%), lack of technology and talent (25%), time (25%), and cost (24%) are cited as key challenges in the implementation of mobile app development and testing strategies
• AI and low-code/no-code tools are viewed as potential solutions to improve mobile application quality, and global businesses expect their use to save one working week of productivity a month (40hrs) on average when compared to traditional, manual processes

Tricentis' State of Mobile Application Quality Report 2024, which surveyed the behaviors and attitudes of more than 1,000 senior IT professionals and developers in the US, Germany, Singapore, and the UK, explores the effect of poor application quality and manual testing on businesses' profitability, as well as the surge of AI adoption in mobile testing strategies.

Bad app quality and manual app testing impact businesses' profitability

Nearly all of those surveyed (86%) deem testing important to the quality and success of their organization's mobile app development, however, just over a quarter (27%) believe their organization's current mobile app development and testing strategy exceeds expectations.

This may be explained by the fact that nearly half (47%) of those surveyed also state they currently use manual testing for mobile applications. Almost 2 in 5 (38%) of senior IT professionals and application developers think they would save between half and three-quarters (51-75%) of their organization's budget per year by moving toward fully automated mobile application testing, and a further fifth (20%) expect they would save anywhere between 76-100% of their budget per year.

Respondents also expect to achieve increased revenue (31%), improved productivity (32%), increased user retention (28%), and increased compatibility across devices (28%) through improved mobile application quality and testing. These benefits may be the reason that, in the next 12 months, 32% of respondents expect their organization to invest upwards of over $1M.

"With over seven million apps available across iOS and Android platforms, organizations today need to move fast and deliver seamless, quality mobile experiences with confidence," said Mav Turner, Chief Product and Strategy Officer at Tricentis. "To keep up, mobile development teams need to test apps and features quickly. Automation, powered by AI and low-code/no-code solutions meets this challenge, so teams can create and execute tests faster, bring about better application quality and ultimately deliver better value for the companies they work for and the end-users that they serve."

Rise of AI adoption in mobile testing addresses core challenges

Almost three quarters (74%) of those surveyed say their organization's general sentiment toward AI in mobile software development testing is positive and they are recognizing its value. Nearly half (49%) state that AI is already a part of their mobile app testing strategy and another fifth (21%) plan to implement it within the next six months.

Those who are not using AI as part of their mobile testing strategy are almost twice as likely to face challenges around lack of talent and upskilling and are also more likely to cite a lack of technology resources when it comes to the implementation of their mobile app development and testing strategy.

Respondents also expect AI integration to improve mobile application quality (37%), increase productivity (36%), enhance end-user experience (34%), and to reduce the number of vulnerabilities and/or bugs (32%).

Those using AI as part of their mobile testing strategy are also much more likely to state that all services and information within their organization are mobile accessible when compared to those who are not (44% vs 8%).

"For organizations looking to implement artificial intelligence to boost their business objectives, testing is a fantastic place to start," said David Colwell, Vice President of AI and ML at Tricentis. "Mobile application testing is a great use case for AI because not only does it have multiple benefits ? including significant time and cost savings, as well as quality improvement and risk reduction ? but also its impact can be accurately measured.

"At Tricentis, we are committed to creating and embedding responsible AI into every phase of the software testing life cycle. From design, creation, execution and analysis, our AI solutions meet the security, performance and compliance standards for all applications today, in order to solve real-world business problems and improve customer experiences."

The full Tricentis State of Mobile Application Quality Report 2024 is available for download here: www.tricentis.com/resources/mobile-application-quality-report

Survey Methodology

Censuswide, a global market research consultancy firm, surveyed 1,028 senior IT leaders and application developers from small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) and enterprises, aged 18+ in the US, UK, Germany, and Singapore between December 1-20, 2023. Censuswide abides by and employs members of the Market Research Society and follows the MRS code of conduct and ESOMAR principles. Censuswide is also a member of the British Polling Council.

About Tricentis

Tricentis is a global leader in continuous testing and quality engineering. The Tricentis AI-based, continuous testing portfolio of products provide a new and fundamentally different way to perform software testing. An approach that's totally automated, fully codeless, and intelligently driven by AI. It addresses both agile development and complex enterprise apps, enabling enterprises to accelerate their digital transformation by dramatically increasing software release speed, reducing costs, and improving software quality. Widely credited for reinventing software testing for DevOps, cloud, and enterprise applications, Tricentis has been recognized as a leader by all major industry analysts, including Forrester, Gartner, and IDC. Tricentis has more than 3,000 customers, including the largest brands in the world, such as McKesson, Allianz, Telstra, Dolby, and Vodafone. To learn more, visit https://www.tricentis.com.