Can Automated Testing replace Manual Testing?

It is a fact that the Software Testing is integral to development and success of any product in the IT industry. Now what testing strategy they must use? Should they hire more manual tester or automated testing can serve them better? This debate for Manual Testing vs Automated Testing is raging from quite some time. 

Before we judge one of them, let's briefly enumerate the pros and cons for both.

Manual Testing

Manual testing as just the name itself suggests, testing done by humans without any automated tool. Let's take a look at some of the advantages and disadvantages of this approach.

Pros:

• For companies which can't afford customized auto tools for testing, the lead programmers double up as testers
• Flexibility: Manual testing is flexible as compared to automation testing in that, it doesn't take enough time to set up test cases and start with them, and the ideas can be verified there and then itself
• The testers can act as end users and perform all the blind functionality use of the application

Cons:

• Error prone: Due to its repetitive nature, Manual test can be a very monotonous exercise. If you are not engaged to the task a strict 100 percent, then the likelihood of missing out on some bugs is pretty high.
• Re-usability is pain: Unlike the case with Auto testing where you can have a re run in a matter of seconds, manual testing can be a pain, if the lead developer incorporates last minute changes into the software. The situation would require a tedious re-test of the entire exercise from the scratch.

Automated Testing

Test automation uses specialized software tools which runs a set of repetitive tests with a predefined set of instructions, to compare a program's expected and actual responses. If no differences are found between both the responses then the product is considered to be bug free. If not, then the de-bugging is needed and re-running the tests until all the defects are rectified. 

Like manual testing, automated testing has its own share of merits and demerits.

Pros:

• Runs quickly: The most attractive thing about Automation Testing over Manual Testing is THE SPEED. And second most demanded thing is the re-usability of the tests, which is a blessing for those who run regression testing more often
• Benefits even if it is a large project
• Versatility: Automation testing can be done on different machines and operating system platforms on a concurrent basis

Cons:

• Automation testing lags back for UI testing
• Automation tools costs high initially
• When it comes to considerations requiring a human touch such as image contrast or text font size, automated testing cannot be trusted with the most accurate of solutions

Conclusion:

After following all the above points, one can say that we cannot have a 'one size fits all' approach towards selection of testing strategy. Where the scale of the project is large and the environment is diverse with innumerable platforms to work on, it makes sense to employ Automated testing. 

However, it doesn't mean that Manual testing is now a relic of the stone age. Speed and Precision are of course desirable attributes, but no amount of Sophistication in testing tool technology can make up for the limitations in testing without an end user perception.