It’s no secret that the use of mobile apps for banking and financial services has exploded in recent years.  With more people than ever before using mobile apps to manage their money — doing everything from banking and investments to making small payments to friends — it’s more important than ever to get these financial services apps right.  This is especially true when you consider that mobile apps are fast becoming the main interface that people have with their banks and credit unions.
We know that it’s important to get these apps right, but we also know that there are several challenges to developing and testing mobile apps for financial services.  For starters, the consumer has zero tolerance for low quality.  Apps must be easy to use, efficient, and nice to look at, on top of being completely secure.  Financial institutions are under a lot of scrutiny, not only from the consumer but also from regulatory agencies.  These agencies require banks to prove that steps were taken to check their software systems for vulnerabilities, as inattention can lead to security breaches and damage to the trust in the company’s brand.  There have been several high-profile data breaches in recent years, and understandably a situation like that is every financial institution’s worst nightmare.  If something does go wrong and their data is breached, financial institutions don’t want to be found guilty of not taking the necessary steps to ensure quality.  The problem is, proving that all the necessary checks and tests have been performed is not always easy.
To combat this, financial companies must understand the importance of retaining test evidence. Â Test evidence can bail financial institutions out of situations that could otherwise deal a fatal blow to their company. Â Financial institutions should use a software quality and assurance (SQA) team, which will draft and design various artifacts to be produced as part of the SQA process. Â These artifacts may consist of a test strategy, test plan, test cases, test data requirements and test execution results.
To confirm and authenticate the actual testing effort, test documentation must be retained. Â Test documentation includes the test plan, test results and test evidence that must be recorded in a central repository system. Â Apexon provides the basis for modeling different approaches for the retention of test evidence. Â The goal is to optimize the process of retention of test evidence, while at the same time, collecting a sufficient amount of accurate information.
Financial institutions have plenty to worry about, between potential data breaches and ensuring that their mobile apps are high quality and up to the exacting standards of consumers and regulatory agencies alike. Â To alleviate their concerns, they should not only test their systems rigorously, but should also retain their test evidence and ensure that the test information they have is satisfactory.
To learn more about best practices for mobile testing and quality assurance in the financial industry, download our whitepaper: The Importance of Retaining Testing Evidence in the Financial Industry.
You can also visit us from June 8-10 at American Banker’s Digital Banking Summit in Austin, Texas — we’ll be at Booth #137.  See you there!
