Opkey, a provider of ERP test automation solutions, has released its second annual State of ERP Testing Report. Based on a comprehensive survey of 437 business and IT leaders, the report highlights the increasing demand for testing and explores the factors driving this growth. The report offers guidance to organizations seeking to navigate the increasing complexity of ERP testing.
According to the survey, 81 percent of respondents spend more on testing in 2023 compared to 2022, despite economic headwinds. This indicates a growing recognition of the critical role that ERP testing has in ensuring the effectiveness of enterprise software solutions. Opkey found that test automation is filling this need for more and better testing.
Organizations are increasingly moving their ERP systems to the Cloud, with 76 percent of respondents reporting that they’ve moved their ERP systems to the Cloud, or have plans to, within the next 12 months.
This increase in cloud migrations has led to what Opkey calls “SaaS mess,” or the state of increased SaaS complexity within ERP systems. 83 percent of Opkey’s respondents reported an increase in their use of SaaS applications compared to 2022, Opkey explains how more efficient, robust testing solutions are needed to handle this current climate.
The report also highlights a growing interest in leveraging AI-powered technologies for enhanced efficiency and performance, with 68 percent of respondents actively considering incorporating AI into their testing operations. DevOps is also top of mind as a key future direction for the leaders surveyed.
In a blog, Pankaj Goel, co-founder and CEO at Opkey, said: “It’s increasingly a Cloud-based world. The Cloud migration market grew 22 percent in 2023 and 76 percent of our respondents have already moved or started their move to Cloud-based ERP systems. Anyone who’s gone through a Cloud migration will tell you that migrations require testing. A ton of testing. More testing than you can imagine. And organizations are meeting that need by investing more in testing tools and services.
“Along with more ERP cloud migrations, our survey found organizations simply have more Cloud applications now… perhaps too many. 83 percent of our respondents say they’re using more SaaS tools than last year. We’ve termed the complexity caused by a large number of highly customized SaaS and ERP apps a ‘SaaS mess’. This ‘mess’ is increasing ERP testing demand for two reasons: one, to ensure frequent integrations continue to function properly, and two, because SaaS tools update more frequently than on-premise systems. Customers are compelled to push these updates whether they want to or not, leaving them with no alternative but to prioritize testing.”
