Despite the benefits of test automation, particularly in terms of potential cost savings, almost 40 percent of organisations are still not utilising automation in any significant capacity. This is a surprisingly high figure considering organisations’ focus on controlling project spending.

Of those who are using test automation, over 80 percent automate their functional regression testing and 64 percent use automation in test execution.

Planit Testing Index 2012: How Test Automation is Utilised

Automation is becoming common practice in software development projects. In fact, across the region’s software development projects, a total of 17 percent of test coverage is automated.

On closer inspection, organisations that utilise automation manage to apply it to 30 percent of their testing activities.

Planit Testing Index 2012: Automation Test Coverage

Not surprisingly, the Software Development and IT industry are the most proactive users of test automation, with half being utilising automation in test execution and almost two thirds in functional regression testing. At the other end of the spectrum, 60% of Government respondents conducted no significant test automation.

The largest differential between the Software Development industry and other industries was in the utilisation of test automation in building test environments, used by a third of IT companies but only around 10% of other organisations.

Planit Testing Index 2012: Test Automation Utilisation by Industry