Parasoft named a Leader in The Forrester Wave™: Modern Application Functional Test Automation Tools, Q4 2016

The 11 Providers That Matter Most and How They Stack Up

There’s a reason Parasoft is more than your average functional test automation vendor. Learn why Forrester named Parasoft a leader in the market.

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Download the report for the complete overview on Parasoft’s focus on developers, API testing and how evolved analytics pays off.

The full whitepaper includes:

  • Background on report
  • Key findings
  • Why continuous delivery needs continuous testing
  • Modern application FTA tools evaluation overview
  • Vendor profiles
  • Supplemental material

Forrester Research named Parasoft a modern application functional test automation leader, giving it the highest score among all vendors in the Current Offering category, as well as the API Test Design and Automation and Automated Execution and Continuous Testing subcategories.

Forrester identified the 11 most significant functional test automation providers in their 33-criteria evaluation, including the following:

  1. Conformiq
  2. Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE)
  3. IBM
  4. LogiGear
  5. Micro Focus
  6. Microsoft
  7. Original Software
  8. Parasoft
  9. SmartBear
  10. TestPlant
  11. Tricentis

Each was researched, analyzed and scored in detail. In the report, you’ll find detailed information on how each provider stacks up to help you and your fellow application development and delivery -and- software testing professionals make the right choice for your unique needs.

  • Parasoft, IBM, Tricentis and Hewlett Packard Enterprise are in the lead.

 Forrester's research highlights a market in which the above providers are leading the way. Note that Microsoft, Micro Focus, TestPlant and SmartBear also offer competitive options. Lagging behind are Conformiq, LogiGear, and Original Software.

  • AD&D pros are aiming for complete test automation.

Increasingly, AD&D professionals are turning to test automation to address the challenges of delivering high-quality software faster. As a result, the FTA market is flourishing. AD&D pros are also adopting agile, DevOps and continuous delivery practices with increasing frequency to shorten delivery cycles. This requires teams to reduce manual testing and opt for highly automated tests instead.

  • End-to-end automation and API testing are key differentiators in the marketplace.

Legacy testing approaches that emphasize UI testing aren’t nearly as effective as they were in the past, which is why organizations are leaning toward continuous testing. Testing APIs is key to avoiding fragile test suites and increasing test coverage. AD&D can’t achieve complete automation by focusing exclusively on test execution automation. Complete automation also necessitates automating test design and process orchestration. The vendors that are most effectively delivering on these needs have taken the lead.

 

  • Businesses focused on the customer experience are under immense pressure to innovate fast, which places high demands on software delivery teams.
  • AD&D leaders are responding to demands by upgrading technology and practices and adopting agile and DevOps models to deliver software via a continuous delivery lifecycle.
  • In the modern development environment, testing also becomes continuous and pervasive throughout the CD lifecycle). According to Forrester agile adoption research, 54% of expert agile firms use continuous testing, while just 30% of agile neophytes do.
  • Functional testing is one of the most critical, time-consuming and expensive steps in continuous testing. It’s necessary to automate this testing at higher levels than most agile teams achieve today.
  • As testing processes change due to agile and DevOps adoption, the market for testing tools will not standstill. Options for open source testing tools are expanding in specific FTA use cases, and FTA vendors are opening up to new opportunities.
  • According to Forrester, Parasoft has the strongest continuous testing product offering. Extensive mature features include:
  • UI automation
  • Comprehensive functional API testing automation
  • Rich integrations with third-party CI/CD pipeline tools
  • Version control options
  • Integration with Agile PM
  • Nonfunctional test automation such as integration and security testing
  • Service virtualization tools
  • The Parasoft solution also stood out in the assessment of maintenance, reuse and reporting analytics. Forrester noted the vision for using analytics to improve testing performance.
  • Parasoft road map plans include evolving the product to shift testing both left and right and growing product API and service virtualization convergence, further enabling FTA beyond the UI.
  • Some Parasoft clients highlighted their satisfaction with not only the technical tool’s capabilities and ease of use but also outstanding support.

About Parasoft

Parasoft helps organizations continuously deliver quality software with its market-proven, integrated suite of automated software testing tools. Supporting the embedded, enterprise, and IoT markets, Parasoft’s technologies reduce the time, effort, and cost of delivering secure, reliable, and compliant software by integrating everything from deep code analysis and unit testing to web UI and API testing, plus service virtualization and complete code coverage, into the delivery pipeline. Bringing all this together, Parasoft’s award winning reporting and analytics dashboard delivers a centralized view of quality enabling organizations to deliver with confidence and succeed in today’s most strategic ecosystems and development initiatives — security, safety-critical, Agile, DevOps, and continuous testing.