Software testing company Tricentis has recently been chosen by SAP for a strategic partnership in the space , as Founder and Chief Strategy Officer Wolfgang Platz explains : “ This partnership goes beyond anything that SAP has previously gone for with a vendor , because it is not just about reselling or sharing products . It is also about sharing development .” SAP ’ s choice was informed by Tricentis ’ reputation in the field . “ We are viewed as the global leader in software testing , with about 2000 enterprise customers ,” says Platz . “ The who ’ s who of big industries such as insurance , financial services , banks , etcetera are with us , so there ’ s a large overlap of customers between SAP and Tricentis .”

Tricentis has been at the forefront of changing the software testing industry via automation . “ It has changed because of us ,” says Platz . “ What we have brought to the table is the opportunity to achieve new levels of automation . In former days , software test automation always required programming skills . You needed to be a developer . But we have changed this completely by evolving that process into a business discipline .”

Tricentis is continuing to innovate , adding new levels of automation by applying artificial intelligence and democratising access to testing . “ It opens up a completely new category of testers to become productive , because you don ’ t need to know anything about the technology in the background ,” he says . One way that ’ s achieved is using AI to create an automated sequence from a video of a user interacting with an application .

Such innovations are lessening the burden of software testing - especially important for frequently updated software such as SAP ’ s offering . “ People dislike upgrading because they need to test everything , so what they try to do is stay on an old version for as long as possible - one customer didn ’ t update anything for eight years !” says Platz . “ What we can do with our software is find out what the bare minimum of testing should be , so that you don ’ t face a risky go-live . Through that , we can reduce testing efforts by up to 85 %, bringing huge benefits . This is what we bring to the market . This is what SAP found particularly exciting about us . And that is why we are now shaking hands .”