In simple terms, market research is used to figure out what people want, and user research is used to figure out why they want what they want.  For user research, it is specific. It helps to find out how and why people use certain products so that you can focus on ones that more people will enjoy.  

However, with market research, you get information about a market and in turn figure out what people want and how to give it to them.  

The Big Question – User research or Market research ?  

The most important difference between market research and user research has to do with the results. If you only focus on what people want and need, you might miss important information that could have helped you meet a need that wasn’t being met and grow your business. In the same way, if you only watch how people interact with and use your products, you won’t be able to predict market demand or figure out how your competitors measure up.  

Based on this information, we can see that market research and user research will happen at different points in the development of a product or service.   

Market researchers are involved in the early stages of a product’s development. They look for ways to make money and give businesses information about the market’s needs, size, competition, and pricing. They use methods that focus on numbers. They look at large groups of samples to find out the average age of potential users, how much money they make, and other general facts.  

Also Read : Five Ways Market Research Can Improve Your Business

User researchers, on the other hand, work with the product teams to make features for a specific person. Often, qualitative research on users is done. They focus on a small group of people to find out more about them and what they want. With this information, the product team can fashion products and services that are just right for their users. They find out what each person thinks about a product that already exists and how it could be made better.  

When done right, market research and user research are used to reduce business risks and give stakeholders a clear plan for making successful products and services.  

Not to be a party pooper, but if you were looking forward to seeing a winner, there is none. Both types of research should be conducted by all businesses, even B2B businesses. This doesn’t mean you should start engaging in all kinds of research.   

Your goals will help you decide between market research and user research. But if you want to create a new product/service or make an existing one work better, you need to figure out what the market wants and make sure the right product is made for the right people in the right way. So, it’s likely that if you do both types of research, your results will be better. At Prunedge, our research teams have a lot of experience figuring out what questions to ask to get the information that your business needs.    

Read Here : Prunedge wins BIG at the BoICT 2022 Awards Night

Our strategy and research experts at Prunedge will help you use insights from market and user research in the various stages of product development and marketing. We study your customer’s behavior and identify their needs, from figuring out what your target audience needs and why they need them, to developing the product, to pre-sale, point-of-sale, and after-sale. Utilising that data to advise what features to create for your product to solve your customer’s pain points. 

Click on the “get in touch” button for a free 30-minute consultation to find out how we can help provide your business with a comprehensive study that guarantees you the best results. 

The Beacon of ICT (BoICT) Awards is Nigeria’s topmost Technology/ICT awards and lecture event held yearly to appraise the Nigerian Information and Communication Technology space, as well as reward outstanding contributions to the growth of the sector. This year, the theme for the BoICT Lecture is “Impact of Blockchain Technology in a Digitalized Nigeria”.  

The award win is in recognition of Prunedge’s immense contributions to the development of the Information Communications and Technology sector. Prunedge’s Chief Executive Officer, Joel Ogunsola, also made the honorable list of 2022 winners as he was named the ICT Entrepreneur of the Year.   

Joel, who has a strong passion for sustainable development, is focused on helping emerging underserved communities have access to technology. By founding Prunedge, – an enterprise technology solutions company focused on delivering software, Data, Artificial Intelligence, Cybersecurity, Blockchain, Mixed Reality, and IoT solutions for enterprise organizations across Africa. Prunedge is renowned for innovating and creating affordable technological solutions that solve day-to-day human problems by increasing the efficiency of systems and processes within the social, commercial, and public sector space.  

He has demonstrated that his extensive contributions as a technology enthusiast drives sustainable development. With the extensive technical knowledge and subject expertise of his team at Prunedge, he has assisted in the development of future-proof solutions to aid businesses in achieving their strategic objectives.

Upon receipt of the awards, Lanre Akomolafe, Prunedge’s Chief Product and Innovation Officer said ‘Prunedge’s recognition is largely attributable to the team’s persistence, dedication, and hard work.’   

In his words, ‘’Our work is based on real-world experience, lessons learned, and best practices in the industry empowered by key players in the technological space. Prunedge strives to set the benchmark for developing solutions to the world’s biggest problems.  Regardless of the nature of the problem or the area of concentration, our solutions are evaluated based on their impact, sustainability, and effectiveness. These awards are also a reflection of our clients’ support and trust, urging us to continue with our strong service–oriented culture around our solutions and services.’’ 

Prunedgers are excellent, mission-driven professionals with an innate mission to do meaningful work and utilize technology to make a difference in the world. Founded in 2015, Prunedge provides several organizations and businesses across various industries with innovative, effective, and sustainable technology solutions to enhance operations in order to deliver better service optimsation and delivery.  

For more information, kindly contact  

Andrew Lala; Andrew.lala@pruendge.com  

Why Market Research?  

Many business owners and entrepreneurs conduct research on the target market to figure out if a new business idea will make money. High-skilled and efficient analysts here at Prunedge do in-depth market research. They collect data, analyse it and turn it into actionable insights using innovative and ground-breaking software and technology like artificial intelligence (AI).    

With market research, you find out about a market’s size, type, and customers in order to make better decisions for your new or existing businesses. Market research methods include customer surveys, testing products, focus groups, and desk research. There are now more data sources than ever that companies can use to learn about the market.  

Any business owner who invests in the services of a professional market researcher is making a good business decision. Here are five ways market research can improve your business; 

1. It speaks to current problems. 

Sometimes, you might have difficulties in your business, such as, lack of brand awareness, new or unknown competitors, and many more. With market research, you are able to figure out what is happening, the cause, and how you can rectify it. 

Here at Prunedge, we create a strategic research approach and plan to learn what will impact successful leads and conversions. 

We create features for your product to solve your customer’s pain points. We also uncover new and actionable insights that will allow us to craft a long-term strategy for your business. 

Also Read: Mobile Security Testing: Why is it Important for Retail and Enterprise Businesses

2. It helps to know your market value 

Market research helps you to see how your target audience uses your services and those of your competitors. It can also help you show how your products can be better than those of your competitors. These details can help you find competitors who are doing better than you and ones you didn’t even know about. Thorough research can help you find the weaknesses in their strategies and campaigns. This will give you insight as to how to better position your business. 

3. It helps with foresight for business growth  

As a result of market research, you can make well-informed decisions about how you want your business to grow. This can include expanding into new marketing channels, changing the prices of your products or services, and adding or taking-away services to better suit your target audience.  

Sometimes, it may seem counter-productive, but reducing and focusing on a smaller set of specialised services may increase brand awareness in the long run. This is because you have more resources to put into a single, well-thought-out strategy. If there is room for growth, you will need the data from market research to figure out when and how to best start your new venture so that it makes the intended impression on your customers. 

4. It helps set achievable goals. 

Setting goals is very important for your business. Effective market research will help you figure out what goals are attainable for long-term growth. Market research will help you foresee when your business can achieve these goals and spot common mistakes that could cause a setback to your organisation. With proper market research, you can plan the best ways to achieve your goals without wasting time or money. 

By conducting good research, business owners can create an open line of communication with their customers. Once you know what your customers want, you’ll be able to tailor your business to meet their needs. 

Read This: E-procurement 101: Why you need an E-procurement tool in 2022

5. It helps you to understand your customers.  

Data analytics can provide transactional information, but it cannot tell you why people buy, why they choose you, or why they like your products. Learning how your target audience uses your product or services gives you insights into why they like your products and services, why they prefer you to your competitors, what made them decide to choose you and more.  

When you really understand your current target audience, you can expand and improve on the qualities that helped them choose you in the first place.   

You can ensure a reduction in the overall risks for your business by conducting market research, which will also make it possible for you to devise the most efficient and cost-effective approach feasible. There are no limits when it comes to doing market research.   

At Prunedge, we help you use the insights obtained from market research, as well as the public relations and marketing initiatives to implement strategies that are more effective and impactful.   

Click on the ‘Get in Touch’ box at the top right and we’ll let you know how you can get proper market research in a free 30-minute consultation. 

These apps have access to a lot of information about their users, some of which are sensitive and should not be shared with an untrusted source. Application security is important because businesses would do better if they know their apps are safe and cyber attackers can’t take advantage of bugs in the software they use.

Mobile application security testing can be seen as a pre-production check to make sure that an app’s security controls work as expected to prevent implementation mistakes. It helps the development team find edge cases that lead to security bugs that they might not have covered. The testing process looks at both code and configuration issues in an environment that is similar to production to make sure that any problems are found before going live.

Also Read: Why You Should Adopt IoT Into Your Business in 2022

Mobile application security looks at the software security of mobile apps on different platforms like Android, iOS, and Windows Phone. It involves evaluating applications for security issues in the context of the platforms they are meant to run on, the frameworks they are built with, and the users they are meant for. Mobile apps are an important part of a business’s online presence, and many businesses majorly use mobile apps to connect with customers all over the world.

KEY BENEFITS OF MOBILE SECURITY TESTING

Application security enhances the level of trust that exists between a company and its customers by improving the effectiveness of business processes, fulfilling compliance requirements, and reducing risks. Business owners are less inclined to use a company’s services if there has been a data breach that has been made public or if there has been a violation of the company’s policies. It’s a smart move to put money into application security that does its job.

Gaining the Trust of Customers

As a result of weak app security, you risk losing the trust of your customers. When a customer leaves a business because of a security breach, the company suffers because it is very difficult to convince that same person to come back and do business with you. This in turn influences the image of the brand and has a major negative impact on the confidence the customer has in the brand.

Information is Protected

If hackers are able to get their hands on important client information such as login passwords or account information, your company stands to lose clients and could even go out of business as a result of the breach. On the other hand, if you test your mobile app properly, you can be assured that your data will remain safe and secure.

Saves Cost

When there is no proper form of protection for your mobile app, it is easy for hackers to take possession of your card details and create transactions. If you run a financial or banking corporation, your company data could either be wiped out by one of these attacks or a ransom request could be made to restore data.
These flaws can also be exploited by attackers so that they can have access to premium services without really paying for them. By using the services of our cyber security experts at Prunedge, you can be sure that the right precautions will be taken and that your company’s data will be safe.

Read this: A Quality Assurance Guide on Test Reporting

At Prunedge, we find flaws in mobile apps by using our static and dynamic analysis tools that were made for the mobile environment, along with manual verification and analysis. These tools are constantly updated and checked against the latest versions of the underlying mobile platforms. This helps us find problems that could be caused by a combination of the code in the app and the version of the platform.
Our penetration methods of testing doesn’t just look for flaws in the app itself; we also look for problems in the back-end services that the app uses. By paying attention to both the app and its back-end services, we make sure that all parts of the app are tested.
Click on the ‘Get in Touch’ box at the top right and we’ll let you know how to guard your data in a free 30-minute consultation.

Finding the Issues

In this field, I have realized that while testing, it is important to focus on the test at hand, this will ensure that when reporting, you will be reporting facts rather than assumptions. If you are not sure of the output or result of a test case, it is better to mark that test as “Retest”. Assumptions will not help the developers, rather they might affect the testing time which in turn affects the product delivery if that issue does not actually exist.

Another issue that may affect your test reporting is unstable internet. If the internet is unstable, it is better and advisable to pause your test until you have a better network connection. Not only does this affect the testing time, because it might take forever for a page to load but a test case may fail only because the internet is unstable.

Looking at some products that I have been opportune to work on, I have realized that understanding requirements is also critical. Reviewing the requirements not only for the purpose of writing out test cases but also to understand what needs to be done. Ask for clarifications if needed. You may not exhaust all the questions at the beginning stage, but continue asking as the software is being developed or when a modification is required. This will ensure that the test cases are clear and concise — hence it will give you full knowledge of what you are looking for when testing.

Check Out: Why You Should Adopt IoT Into Your Business in 2022 

Now let us take a moment away from the issues that need to be fixed or the ones that require improvements. Let us talk about communicating the results to the necessary stakeholders and team members. Finding out that a software has defects is not enough, fixing those defects is what will make the software quality. In between finding out the issues and fixing them, there’s a gap, and that is communication. If the product managers and developers do not understand the issues, finding out the issues alone cannot fix them.

Giving Feedback

Now that we have found the issues, how do we communicate them to the necessary stakeholders? Whether the communication will be done via report summary, standup meeting, or all-hands, one fact remains, a quality assurance analyst or engineer should be professional, proficient in communication, and be able to stick to only facts. During test reporting, the tester should be objective and diplomatic. The goal of the communication is to enhance product quality and optimize the development process. Aggressions should not be passed or transferred. That a Software is buggy should not affect the tone of communication. You will be communicating with a plethora of people — Product Managers, Developers, members of the projects, Top Management, or Users. The communication should be relevant to all of them.

For effective communication, it is important to determine the level of details that is required depending on whom you are communicating with. Communication can either be inward or outward. The top management may only be interested in the defect trends, how the issues have been resolved over time, the current status of the project, how many percentages passed, and how many failed. This outward communication needs to be brief and straight to the point but when communicating with the development team or product manager, the inward communication should include every detail, severity, number of bugs found, description of the issues, and areas that are constantly regressing, i.e., prone to defects.

Whatever type of communication will be used, it is important to consider it as an occasion to encourage quality and so it must be effective and easy to understand.

Also Read : Stay hungry, Stay Foolish

Cost of Quality

The cost of quality includes the cost of hiring developers to write clean and maintainable code, the cost of writing test cases, managing the test cases and detecting defects, the cost of retaining the developers to continue building and fixing the defects, and the cost implication on the organization when poor quality software is delivered — external failure cost.

The cost of quality is already high, effective communication will help to enhance the reputation for product and process quality and thereby provide business value.

Article Submitted by Charity Odoh

The post A Quality Assurance Guide on Test Reporting appeared first on Prunedge Development Technologies.]]> https://prunedge.com/a-quality-assurance-guide-on-test-reporting/feed/ 0 https://prunedge.com/a-business-owners-guide-to-quality-assurance/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=a-business-owners-guide-to-quality-assurance https://prunedge.com/a-business-owners-guide-to-quality-assurance/#respond Fri, 22 Apr 2022 14:24:48 +0000 https://prunedge.com/?p=6096 Take a moment to imagine a world where manufacturers don’t test their products to perform as intended. When no tests are run, apps and systems will fail, and their functionality will be impaired. While this is far from being a dystopian nightmare, it’s not ideal. We wouldn’t ride a bike, take the escalator, or even […]