Non-Functional Testing: Building Resilience for the Future

The recent CrowdStrike?incident is another reminder that our global systems are always under threat – and the urgency to protect organizational platforms against such vulnerabilities has never been more critical.

With incidents like these happening more often, many businesses are working to adopt new approaches to IT, ranging from innovative work models to the integration of DevSecOps and Artificial Intelligence. However, the importance of resilience is often being overlooked or, in some cases, completely neglected.

Problems with the Shift-Left Approach

The adoption of new methodologies like DevSecOps has driven many organizations to embrace a shift-left approach. However, numerous IT teams are finding that this strategy often falls short in identifying vulnerabilities early, creating a misleading sense of security.

While there are benefits to this approach, it can create a fragmented testing process that prioritizes individual components over the entire system, posing significant risks to end-to-end integration and overall system reliability. Critics of the shift-left methodology contend that it overlooks the complexities of modern IT environments, where interdependencies among components can lead to unforeseen issues, as evidenced by the CrowdStrike incident.

Organizations that concentrate solely on early-stage testing may inadvertently neglect thorough system validation, ultimately increasing the risk of failures in production environments.

Implementing Non-Functional Fundamentals

A common issue we see with various clients is a weak foundation in Non-Functional basics like performance, scalability, and security, which are essential for resilience. These key areas are often neglected, yet they are critical to the success of advanced initiatives like DevSecOps, automation, and AI Ops.

Non-Functional fundamentals help ensure that systems can meet real-world demands and provide a strong framework for advanced technologies. Without them, businesses risk implementing solutions that are inefficient, unreliable, and prone to failure. Effective Non-Functional Testing can help you avoid costly downtimes, improve user satisfaction, and ensure regulatory compliance.

To address this, your teams should take a comprehensive approach to defining and following both Functional and Non-Functional requirements. Whether it’s through end-to-end validation, smooth DevSecOps delivery, or using AI for operations, these requirements are critical for ensuring reliability. Once established, these fundamentals will encourage further investment in strategic tools like automated testing, observability, and operational process automation.

Empowering Automation for Extra Resilience

Automation plays a pivotal role in either the shift left/right or end-to-end validation, ensuring quality, consistency and efficiency across processes.? Automated testing and deployment can streamline both development and operations, reduce human error, and accelerate time-to-market or return to service.

However, for automation to be truly effective, it must be supported by robust Functional and Non-Functional fundamentals. These principles are essential not only for effective automation but also for the successful implementation of advanced objectives.

Success Story: Transformation at a Major Financial Institution

One of our recent notable successes involved partnering with a major financial institution that was facing system downtimes and performance issues during their transition to the New Ways of Working.

To help the client overcome these challenges, we focused on Non-Functional fundamentals. Our team revamped their testing strategies, integrated end-to-end automated performance testing, and established continuous monitoring protocols.

As a result, the institution saw a significant reduction in system downtimes and an overall improvement in performance. This transformation not only enhanced their operations but also delivered increased value across the business, highlighting not only the tangible benefits of prioritizing Non-Functional fundamentals, but also CPT's expertise in this area.

Conclusion

Organizations must prioritize the strong foundations of Non-Functional fundamentals to achieve true resilience, especially as threats become more frequent and complex. These days, building resilient systems is not just a necessity but a strategic imperative.

If you're looking to enhance your system's resilience, CPT Global is here to support you on that journey. Whether it's advancing through DevSecOps, harnessing AI for operations, or exploring new technological frontiers, we are dedicated to helping you establish a robust and resilient foundation for all your technological initiatives.