Your application vendor has embraced AI. The result: more releases with more new features and more changes to your applications. It sounds like progress—until you realize that all those changes need to be reviewed and tested—with the same team, the same schedule, and the same acceptance tests you currently have at your disposal. The question now is, how are you going to manage all of this without losing control of your testing process?
Suppliers are building faster than ever
With AI-assisted coding, developers use AI instead of writing everything themselves. As a result, a vendor can deliver much more in the same amount of time. We also develop Testersuite this way. So we know what we’re talking about.
Research shows where the problems lie. According to Google’s DORA 2025 report, development teams’ productivity is increasing, but so is the instability of releases. In SmartBear’s survey of 273 decision-makers (January 2026), 60% said they had quality issues in the past year because development was outpacing testing.
Development is accelerating. Validation doesn’t happen on its own. And that validation takes place within your environment, using your processes and your integrations. That’s why we’re making three assertions.
1. The acceptance test as we know it isn't sustainable
At many organizations, the FAT (Functional Acceptance Test) and GAT (User Acceptance Test) are structured around a few major releases per year. Weeks of preparation, freeing up key users, testing, resolving issues defects , and approval. That rhythm no longer exists. Anyone who continues to test every release this way will fall behind on a structural basis. Anyone who lets go of this approach will soon find themselves not testing anything at all.
Acceptance testing needs to be smaller, more frequent, and smarter. Determine the impact of each release, maintain a fixed regression suite for your critical processes, and perform in-depth testing only where it matters.
2. Ask your supplier about its release schedule
Faster releases aren’t a gift if you’re the one footing the bill. Yet many organizations accept every release as it comes. It doesn’t have to be that way. You can expect your vendor to provide a predictable release schedule, clear release notes, and transparency about what they’ve already tested themselves. Make that a part of your supplier discussions and contracts. Quality is a shared responsibility, not something you pass off to someone else.
3. Test management is disappearing in smaller organizations
This is what we expect, and it’s not a comfortable prospect. Organizations with small teams, where one or two people “just squeeze in” testing on the side, won’t be able to keep up with this pace. The temptation is strong to just let releases go ahead anyway. After all, the vendor has tested it, hasn’t it? That’s how test management doesn’t disappear with a single decision, but quietly—release by release.
And then your accountant asks how you validated it
When assessing your IT controls, accountants and IT auditors also look at change management. Have changes been approved, tested, and implemented in a controlled manner? “We trust the vendor” is not an acceptable answer. If you eliminate test management, you can no longer demonstrate that valid testing has been performed—regardless of how large or small your organization is.
What does this mean for your role?
- Test Managers and Test Coordinators: From Organizing Tests to Making Decisions. What do you test in depth, what don't you, and why?
- Testers: Your value lies in evaluating, not in just checking things off. Does this release align with how your organization works? Does it work with your integrations?
- Functional and application administrators: change and release management is becoming an ongoing process rather than a quarterly task.
- Project Managers: The system doesn’t stop evolving after it goes live. Make sure that the testing work you do on the project can be transferred to operations.
- QA and IT managers: The question “Are we ready to go live?” comes up more often. Answer it with evidence, not just a hunch.
What does this mean for your testing approach?
- First, assess the impact; then determine the depth of testing. Adapt the release notes to your own processes. Does a change affect a critical process or an integration? Test thoroughly. Is it just a screen adjustment? Then less testing is sufficient.
- A fixed set of regression tests for each critical process. Compact, repeatable, and actively maintained.
- New and existing features are handled separately. You ensure existing functionality through regression testing, and new functionality through a targeted GAT.
- Test planning aligned with the release cycle. Fixed testing times, including for end users. This way, you don't have to figure out who will test with every new release.
- An explicit release decision. Who approves it, and based on which results and outstanding defects?
- Everything documented in one place: test cases, results, and defects for each release. That’s your proof—including for your accountant.
Control Starts with Structure
Speed should never be the goal. More releases without control over your testing process is gambling with the quality of your IT infrastructure—and it’s hard to explain to your accountant.
Testersuite is a test management solution that gives you that control, both during the project phase and the maintenance phase. It helps you bring structure to your FAT, GAT, and regression tests and keeps you on top of change and release management. This way, with every release, you know where you stand, what has been tested, and what risks remain.
Would you like to refine your testing approach on your own first? Then be sure to read “7 Lessons from Testing Professionals ” or our article on the difference between a test case, a test scenario, and a test run.
And what does your test management tool do?
A different testing process also places demands on your test management tool. A tool that only records what you enter into it won’t help you keep up with this pace. That’s why we’re evolving Testersuite from a test management tool into an AI-powered quality management tool. This means the following components are included in our development roadmap:
- Release notes as a test basis right away. You import release notes—for example, as PDF, XLSX, or XML files—and link the changes directly to your application modules and features.
- Assess the impact of each release. AI analyzes the release notes in the context of your organization: your previous test results, defects , and product risks. Functional administrators are assigned specific tasks to monitor the impact.
- Selecting the Right Regression Tests. Based on that impact analysis, AI selects the relevant test cases from your regression set and prepares a draft version of your test run.
- Keep your regression suite up to date. AI updates existing test cases based on the changes and creates new test cases where they are missing.
Next, we’ll look at, among other things, how AI can support the documentation of sound, reproducible defects, test planning, and go/no-go recommendations. We’ll also examine how to convert test evidence into a comprehensive audit trail for your accountant.
One principle is certain: people remain in control. AI does the groundwork; you monitor and make the decisions. That’s why we continue to develop our own AI solutions: so you can keep up with the pace of change.
Let's talk about it
Do you agree with us? Or do you disagree completely? We'd love to hear how you're handling this pace and what challenges you're facing. Contact us or schedule a demo.
