As the industry witnesses constant innovation and the introduction of new solutions, Quality Assurance (QA) capabilities have become table stakes for ensuring the smooth functioning of consumer-facing and back-end technology. Whether rolling out new capabilities, maintaining existing solutions, or testing hypotheses, technological advances have introduced new channels that require rigid testing, whether mobile payments, loyalty programs, MNSPs, self-checkout devices, or walk-in/walk-out retail concepts. Energy retailers confront the added complexity of OTR and fuel alternatives.
When you combine the above considerations with the need for pre-production and production validation for live sites, as well as the industry shift toward supporting more projects with less downtime, implementing a sufficient QA program can quickly become unwieldy.
The Need for a QA Strategy
Effective QA encompasses a thoughtful, dynamic approach to testing that accounts for a full testing suite and comprehensive end-to-end test scripts that account for review and settlement. A holistic approach to QA begins with a ground-up strategy that accounts for all in-scope architectures. Addie Del Rio, QA Lead at W. Capra, elaborates, “Whether your goal is to run an L3 certification through your acquirer or you’re introducing a new mobile payment solution, your testing needs to account for everything your business does across your footprint. This means not just testing edge cases, but following through on the back end to make sure that fees are included where necessary and that reporting balances to show the site as whole at the end of the day.”
The Need for QA Experts
For many organizations, reliable resourcing poses a significant challenge to efficient and comprehensive QA. Even organizations who retain detailed knowledge in-house around critical QA initiatives such as security practice adherence, or how to operate Azure and DevOps testing tools, often struggle with resource allocation and availability.
“At our QA lab in Woodridge, IL, we work to support our clients to ensure they do not have to re-staff based on specific project or escalation needs,” says Del Rio. “Our job is to protect our clients from piecemealing the testing suite, or testing resources, by keeping our equipment and our card decks up to date and executing the full test cycle through deployment as a single, focused resource group.”
The Capra Difference
Whether holistically revamping a payment program or making small UI/UX pages to your landing page, your organization needs experts on hand. “Our longevity in the retail and petroleum space has provided us with the know-how and the relationships to escalate where needed,” concludes Del Rio. “Our state-of-the-art facilities empower us with the hardware and connections required to ensure that the technology our clients deploy to the field remains ironclad and holistically tested.”
Addie Del Rio is passionate about supporting retailers through hands-on through testing and QA initiatives. For further discussion, please contact Addie at [email protected].