3 Tips for Testing Your App

Three out of four apps today are never scale tested for thousands (and more) of people using them at once, according to SOASTA CEO Tom Lounibos. And first impressions mean everything on the web.

“Consumers are always three clicks away from going to the next app or website,” says Lounibos.

SOASTA, with clients including NASA, Netflix (NASDAQ:NFLX), Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT), Gilt Groupe and Bonobos, as well as the Sochi and London Olympics, tests apps through a private cloud that simulates a barrage of users at one time. Through testing, Lounibos says companies can optimize the speed, efficiency and overall operation of their app, making sure they’re ready for launch and any sudden onslaught.

The 30-year tech veteran, who helped lead Sagent Technology to a successful IPO in 1999 and was drafted by the Minnesota Twins to play baseball, but chose a career in Silicon Valley instead, says the most important thing cloud computing does is allow companies to test and tweak their products.

“It is more about predictive analytics,” he says. “First and foremost, cloud testing allows you to dream [for scale] and then test for that environment.”

Here are Lounibos’ three tips for testing an app:

Treat testing not as an even, but as a continuing process. Before, apps were built, tested, deployed and then monitored for hiccups. Today, companies should test as they build, says Lounibos.

“Continual testing is the number one rule of thumb,” he says.

Test for scale. “No matter how high a scale you might think you’ll have, you’re now reaching a global community,” he says. “You can afford to test for ten times that; there are no more excuses for not testing.”

It’s all about the user experience; it’s not about big data analytics or cloud computing. “How you improve your consumer experiences and make [your product] more efficient,” Lounibos says, “is what service in 2014 is all about.”