Many software quality engineers (SQE) give a little shudder when they hear the term ‘AI’, associating it with potential job loss. Today’s testing and software quality assurance (SQA) industry relies on a human workforce to manage tasks such as manually-driven exploratory testing and to create automated functional tests. The promise and potential of AI, namely its ability to overhaul manual tasks with greater speed and efficiency, is why so many SQEs give it a wide berth. While nobody wants to be replaced by a bot, avoiding AI is not going to help ensure job security. In fact, SQEs who take the opposite approach and investigate how AI can turn them into super-SQEs, are giving themselves a solid competitive edge.

Nadine du Toit, Chief Services & Innovation Officer at Inspired Testing, says that advances in the application of AI in software testing simply can’t be ignored.

“AI helps to reshape the future world that we know and work within today,” says Nadine. “AI-enabled software can superpower your real-world business by enabling intelligent automation to oversee repetitive tasks and optimise processes. This enables your human workforce to focus on customer relationships, solve complex problems, make fast, smart decisions and deliver exceptional work. AI put to good use really does give a business a solid competitive advantage.” 

Inspired Testing invites you to learn from its journey into AI

At this year’s AI Expo Africa, Sastri Munsamy from the Technology and Innovation team at Inspired Testing will present a sneak peek into findings from the global software testing company’s research and development department.

In his talk, Sastri will cover some of the current common challenges in the SQA industry such as script maintenance, test results analysis, defect classification and automated exploratory testing -  and discuss how AI can help resolve them.

“Today’s leading software testing and SQA tools like Selenium and ReportPortal have started integrating elements of AI technology with exciting results,” says Sastri. “At Inspired Testing, we’ve had a lot of fun testing and trialling these tools, among others, and have found a number of important benefits – not to mention learnt a lot of valuable lessons – that could be of great interest to our peers.”

Sastri’s advocacy for AI in SQA is underpinned by his extensive experience of real-world testing and automation projects. His expertise and enthusiasm on the subject of integrating elements of Robotic Process Automation (RPA) with artificial intelligence and machine learning to create AI empowered testing tools that will help supercharge the SQA industry is well worth hearing.

“At Inspired Testing, we have a very clear vision for the future of SQA,” says Sastri. “We see an AI empowered human workforce that is able to deliver results faster and more efficiently. Imagine SQEs able to test at the speed of DevOps with little reliance on technical skills because they have a bot assistant doing all the grunt work. We’ve still got some way to go before realising this vision but we are making enormous headway in unlocking the benefits of meaningful AI driven automation in software testing.”

AI Expo Africa is a three day live online event that runs from the 7-9 September 2021. Sastri Munsamy will present his talk: Behind the scenes of Inspired Testing’s journey into AI on Wednesday 8 September at 11:30am.

As support gathers for Africa’s first Artificial Intelligence Expo, top names in the AI field have signed up for the event that will allow C-Suite Executives from across all industries to understand, embrace and implement AI in their businesses.

AI ExpoAfrica will take place on 9 – 11 September 2018 at the Century City Conference Centre in Cape Town, South Africa. It is focused on real-world applications and trends driving the Artificial Intelligence economy in Africa and seeking to build an AI Business-focused community across the continent.

AI ExpoAfrica 2018 is aimed at the C-Suite and Enterprise decision-makers who are grappling to understand how AI applications can add value or impact their business today. With emerging technology breakthroughs in AI now going mainstream, understanding the business opportunity from both a supplier and client perspective has never been more paramount.

In attendance at the event will be 400 delegates, 27 speakers with 5 keynote addresses, as well as more than 28 AI exhibitors. There will also be Innovation Café housing more than 20 AI startups.

Companies and organisations at the forefront of research, investment and implementation in Artificial Intelligence across Africa such as SAP Africa, TransUnion Africa, Data Prophet, LARC AI, Siatik, MIIA (Machine Intelligence Institute of Africa), Clevva, Knife Capital, Startupbootcamp Africa, Cortex Logic, Sw7, Silicon Cape, Mint and Amani Business to name a few have already signed up or endorsed the event:

Lee Naik, CEO TransUnion Africa & Digital Transformation Expert stated: “Technology will always be one of the biggest disruptors in our industries. As a business leader myself, I have seen first-hand how the power of disruption can either cause chaos for a business or provide it with an opportunity to innovate and differentiate itself in new and exciting ways. This is why platforms like AI ExpoAfrica are so valuable: it brings CxOs, investors and innovators together to engage in real-world discussions around technologies disrupting enterprises, markets and clients. Together with my fellow speakers I look forward to sharing my perspective and some insights around what these disruptors mean for our industries.”

Frans Cronjé, MD of DataProphet said: “We are really excited to be part of AI ExpoAfrica - to showcase some of the great results of AI we have implemented in the manufacturing environment and share our experiences in seeing AI integrated into business processes, both in the local and international market. AI often goes unmentioned in Industry 4.0 conversations - but is a critical component in giving a factory its own ability to learn from its mistakes.

Keith Jones, Sw7 Co-Founder, who will be leading the Plenary and case study track as moderator at AI ExpoAfrica said: "As we see the effect of connected markets, digitisation, mobility, IoT, interoperability and big data drive access to, and increase the quality of, data business will increasingly be driven by machine-assisted decisions. The ability to leverage the available data assets to make informed decisions quickly will be what drives strategic advantage in the future. This will affect all market sectors, not just the digitised markets. AI ExpoAfrica is creating a platform to connect businesses with the community that is driving this exciting sector. The goal is to educate delegates about what is possible and connect them with people in the sector. The real-world aspect of this event will have great appeal to any business leader seeking to explore and acquire both innovative and proven AI-based solutions.”

Dr Jacques Ludik, Founder & President of MIIA & Cortex Logic CEO, will be serving as Track Moderator at the event and stated, “It’s great to see AI ExpoAfrica focusing on the real-world applications of AI. Their novel approach to include large enterprise platform and service vendors, alongside AI startup innovators coupled to a CxO audience containing decision-makers and investors makes for a perfect mix. It’s a great opportunity to see how AI is now impacting many aspects of Commerce and Enterprise in Africa, and delegates will gain great value from attending.”

The event will showcase AI Cloud platform providers, Tier 1 and 2 deployment and service providers, AI startups, investors, educators, government and AI ecosystem community builders. The event will give those attending a real feel for what’s available now or in the near future.

With six themes and three tracks, the event is focused on real Enterprise AI case studies and the application of AI in Business, AI deployment challenges, ethics and skills plus the business innovation driving current deployment trends across all industry sectors.If you would like to join the event as a delegate or if you’d like to be an exhibitor, join the Innovation Café or apply for a speaking opportunity, please visit our website: www.aiexpoafrica.com.  

ENDS 

Notes for Editors:

For more information on this press release or AI ExpoAfrica 2018, please contact:

Mika Stanvliet | 081 534 6237 | This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.