DRIVING INNOVATION FOR DIGITAL UTILITIES WITH QUALITY ASSURANCE

Introduction

Most readers do not believe that quality assurance is an essential part of the utilities sector. However, that is not the case. Quality assurance is in fact, supports a lot of digital initiatives in the utility industry. The demand for software quality assurance services in the sector increases as the industry moves towards a more digital approach.

Background- software quality assurance services and the utility sector

A known fact about the utility sector is that it is not only vulnerable to disturbances, but it also is likely to cause disruptions in events of calamities, natural disasters, or economic shifts. Consequently, any disturbance in utilities’ infrastructure brings everyday life to a halt and results in a substantial amount of chaos to spread across the economy.

Recently, the utility industry has started to focus on creating innovative solutions that allow for stronger resilience and higher reliability for its consumers. This developing focus has allowed for a move towards digital innovation, and thus quality assurance has become a widespread practice of the industry.

Three focus areas of digital utilities

Before we dive into the role of software quality assurance services in the dynamic field of utilities, quality assurance specialists, quality assurance testers, quality assurance analysts, let’s first examine the three focus areas of digital utilities.

The focus areas can be divided into three main categories: customer channels, new service delivery, and the new impact of digital business models. In all three of these focus areas or categories, data, change management, and organizational governance plays vital roles. The utility sector is leveraging numerous digital opportunities to foster growth.

They are looking to ensure unrivaled customer services by optimizing the value chain and consequently improving their product and services’ overall productivity and efficiency. A new trend of digital optimization can be observed in this sector, where optimization, spare-parts management, fuel managing, predictive maintenance, preventive maintenance, enterprise resource planning, and enhanced decision making are being combined to boost overall effectiveness.

However, the unpredictability of the utility sector is a threat to the companies and service providers that operate under this umbrella. The government policies are constantly changing, regulations are continually updating, and prices are always in flux. The significant leaders in the industry need to be prepared for almost every sort of change to ensure the safest consequence for all patrons involved.

So how do industry leaders counter this? Digital utilities companies are working towards a more proactive environment by employing digital productivity tools for their employees and automating their back-office processes. This allows them to be prepared for any risks and threats that can come their way.

An added benefit of this approach is that it also facilitates seamless service delivery to their clients. However, such drastic adoption of digital technology means that companies in the utility sector need to stay updated on technological advancements in real-time. They also need to have the resources, skills, and technology to analyze real-time data for proactive and effective decision-making.

The role of quality assurance specialists, quality assurance analysts, and quality assurance testers

Furthermore, in addition to maintaining a reliable and efficient grid infrastructure, the utility companies that digitize their operations need to invest in automation of their internal process. These may include billing management, invoice processing, service tracking, account handling, etc., for increased responsiveness and efficiency. This is where the quality assurance specialists, quality assurance analysts, and quality assurance testers come in.

Digital utility companies need a robust software quality assurance service to keep track of their large-scale activities dependent on robust applications. The need for quality assurance specialists, quality assurance analysts, and quality assurance testers comes in because these companies need software quality assurance services to check the performance of these applications under high load conditions.

Many digital utility businesses are investing in modernization as a fundamental method to serve their clients better. However, they need to back their investments with software quality assurance services to ensure that their digital efforts are successful in helping them achieve modernization. Even Though digital innovation is beginning to open new opportunities for companies on various levels, software testing is done by quality assurance specialists, quality assurance analysts, and quality assurance testers of utility applications for functioning and well-performing applications.

Ways in which QA supports the modernization of the utility industry

We have already established the growing role of modernization and IT in the utility sector. Organizations working in the utility sector know very well that IT is integral to business growth and excellence. Technical proficiency is vital to meet the new requirements of the industry and a way to stay ahead of the competition. Let’s look at the product engineering space of the utility sector- organizations need to alleviate and adjust the overall product lifecycle. This means that software quality assurance services need to be used at every production stage to ensure that the product quality is delivered as expected. From the beginning of developing and implementing new utility products or software, quality assurance is integral to the overall product lifecycle.

Software quality testing allows companies to develop architectures and start development activity. This will help companies to create performance-driven applications and software products. Additionally, this also allows companies to deal with persistent organizational challenges, as the architecture development and planning activity is essentially authenticated with regular testing and QA procedures. Furthermore, such practices also allow companies to be compliant with regulatory rules and policies.

Utilities and Testing Services

In the current global landscape, mobile applications and websites have become the norm of global opportunity for enterprises. Companies are constantly evolving to ensure that they offer unique online experiences. The idea behind this endeavor is to create a favorable brand reputation. Therefore, digital solutions have become imperative for all economic sectors, not just the utility industry.

Quality assurance services are an essential path to producing reliable software products. Without quality assurance, utility companies cannot keep customers engaged. For example, even if a utility company is not selling a product that utilizes software – such as telecommunication, they still will need to develop an application or website for consumer services since that is the norm in the industry. For that purpose, they will be engaging in constant performance testing, usability testing, responsive testing, etc.

Conclusion

In this article, we set out to discuss the increasing need for quality assurance in the sector of utilities. We investigated the digitization and modernization of the industry and how QA services can help achieve a more profitable and efficient approach to emerging market challenges and trends.

We also investigated how digital assurance and testing supports authentication of performance aspects, functionality needs, and overall quality throughout the product/application’s lifecycle. This analysis has established that quality assurance will play a vital part in the utility industry in terms of its growth for years to come.