ENTERPRISE TEST AUTOMATION: BUILDING A SCALABLE, CUSTOM FRAMEWORK THAT WORKS

Enterprise test automation isn’t new, but the way it’s being used usually doesn’t live up to best practices. Too many insurance companies are stuck with rigid tools, manual workarounds, and testing strategies that can’t scale. In modern ecosystems with interconnected systems, evolving regulations, and siloed teams, it is essential that automation does more than validate code. It needs to act as a catalyst to accelerate delivery, build confidence, and become a core part of how high-performing organizations operate. 

For insurance, where systems are fragmented, teams are siloed, and regulatory needs are evolving, customized enterprise test automation is essential. If you’re not using one now, you should be. If you’re using an off-the-shelf option, there are better options, some you can have for free.  

Let’s break down the advantages of a custom solution, focusing on communication, the role of manual testing, and determining organization readiness.  

Generic Has Got to Go. The Custom Framework Argument. 

In testing, “one size fits all” doesn’t.  

With test automation being a must-have in insurance environments, asking if you require a customized framework is a logical question. But it’s an easy one to answer. If your enterprise supports multiple product lines, technologies, and internal teams, then a generic toolset will quickly hit its ceiling. 

Readily available, built for speed, and easily implemented, most off-the-shelf automation tools sound great … until you try to scale them across five systems, ten pods, and three vendor platforms. They’re a risky bet for the complex needs of the insurance ecosystem where systems are interconnected, data volumes are massive, and regulatory expectations are constant.  

Generic tools lack the key components of a custom framework such as:

• Robust UI and API support 

• The ability to integrate project and defect tracking systems 

• Both internal workflows and external integrations 

• Consistent version-resilient test execution.  

Beyond the bullet points above, a custom framework is designed to adapt to your infrastructure, domain, or team structure while flexing with your business over time.

The Custom ESSSentials: Scale, Speed, and Stability

A purpose-built custom framework enhances the inherent advantages of an automated testing system, saving even more time and building in more precision. 

Scale: Modular test components support smoke, regression, performance, and integration testing, allowing full life cycle coverage without duplication. 

Speed: Tag-based execution and parallel testing reduce run times and improve continuous integration feedback loops to deliver information faster, so fixes happen sooner. 

Stability: Systems that integrate with CI/CD tools (like Jenkins and AWS CodeBuild/CodePipeline) ensure reliable execution. Containerization via Docker or Selenium Grid brings flexibility and consistency even in cloud-agnostic environments. 

Real-Time Savings.  Let’s quantify one example. 

• Manually, depending on the scale and complexity of the application being tested, one smoke test takes three to four hours to conduct. 
  
• Factor in QA + staging with up to six runs per day = roughly 18 to 24 hours of manual effort.
  
• With automation, it’s within MINUTES.  
• Multiply that over weeks, and you save hundreds of hours per month. Plus, you can run a re-test whenever you want and easily compile a report for executives.  

Watch Your Language: How Custom Closes the Communication Gap in Test Reporting

“Communication breakdown; it’s always the same.”  

With apologies to Led Zeppelin, communication gaps come from just about anywhere, and results get lost in translation. Here’s why, and here’s how to prevent them.   

While results from enterprise test automation are more consistent, valid, and efficient, it’s challenging to share results in ways stakeholders understand that are relevant to them. Results can be too technical for product teams, too vague for executives, or just lost in communication limbo. Without reporting that works for everyone, stakeholders only get a portion of what’s relevant.  

A reporting engine needs to be built with inclusivity in mind. We know that executives don’t need logs, they need trendlines. Product owners need plain language, not platform jargon. We recognize that a quality partner must be able to translate test data into decision-making tools. 

While all situations are different, here are best practices we recommend:  

Channel Alignment: Consider stakeholder-preferred channels such as Slack, Teams, or email, and pick one for consistency that supports the rhythm of cross-functional teams. 

Reporting and Relevance: Align takeaways to the same cross-functional teams in ways that are relevant to them. Consider: 

• Summary dashboards showing readiness, defect trends, and progress for executives. 

• More detailed trace logs, screenshots, and test run history for QA and developers. 

• Story-based reports synced with systems like Jira and Rally for product and business teams/owners.  

The result? Everyone’s in the loop and on the same page even if their pages look a little different. 

Where Human Intuition Still Wins. Manual Testing's Place Within Automation.

While automation testing is essential, that doesn’t mean it has to be everywhere. Automation doesn’t replace good judgement. It enhances it. Manual testing done right––and at the right time––complements enterprise test automation.  

We’ve seen too many teams waste time automating what changes every sprint or in UI-heavy flows that change weekly (unless the ROI is clear). That’s not strategy. That’s added overhead. And that’s why manual testing still plays a key role, especially in areas like exploratory testing, features that change frequently, and high-stakes production validation systems where human intuition outpaces script logic. 

Reserve automation for what’s stable, repetitive, and critical. Apply “The 10X Rule.” If you run a test ten times or more, it’s a good candidate for automation.

How to Know if You're Ready for Test Automation (and Where to Start).

We’ve established that custom test automation is essential. But it’s not a plug and play right off the bat. You earn the best results by preparing for it.  

From our experience, we advise starting with the basics, with a solid review of your current QA state. What’s already automated? What’s working? Where are the gaps? If you’re not sure, tap into a partner to help assess and provide an outside and experienced perspective.  

Prioritize your most frequent and critical tests. Run them across QA and staging multiple times per day to validate consistency and efficiency; then it is time to scale. This process will show how much time enterprise test automation is saving you. 

In fact, ROI insights should show that custom enterprise test automation not only saves hundreds of hours by automating repetitive tasks, but should enable faster, more consistent feedback in development cycles and provide immediate access to test results across the organization.  

At every step, a reliable partner can guide the assessment, readiness, implementation, and ongoing testing. It would be even better if that partner developed an open-source framework. 

The best-planned frameworks can go sideways with a slight deviation or miss in the approach. Here’s some of what to watch out for.  

• Don’t get locked into one stack. A customized framework should remain agnostic and adaptable to your requirements, both current and anticipated.  

• Avoid “flaky” test pipelines. Build resilience in test execution, which will neutralize ChromeDriver issues with a centralized, auto-managed driver logic.  
• Tear down team silos. Integrate communication across platforms and within team workflows so quality assurance is part of the daily routine and not an afterthought. 

As the cliché goes, this is easier said than done. Your chosen partner needs to know what to look for and how to build a better framework. 

You're Building a System, Not a Tool.

A tool has a focused purpose but is limiting. Custom enterprise test automation does more to reduce bottlenecks, scale confidence and improve collaboration across teams.  

A partner like INFORCE understands what to look for and what to avoid. We bring a mindset and a method that ensure a framework provides value long after the first sprint is done.  

And we bring a fully customized testing system to go with our hands-on expertise, one that’s free for INFORCE clients, in which carriers only need to pay for resources that support the framework. It can be adapted and expanded across multiple software vendors and multiple platforms. And because it’s automated testing, whenever you want to run a re-test, it’s easy to do at any time. 

Plus, with the right partner like INFORCE to implement and manage the framework, a platform becomes easier to select, faster to scale, and stronger in design. Communications improve. Results are easier to understand. And manual testing complements a process rather than slows you down. 

Success isn’t just about picking the right tool—it’s about building the right system. One that delivers value from day one and continues to scale with your organization over time. With the right approach, you’ll not only gain efficiency and quality, but also measurable ROI. 

Learn More About This and IQA, the Smartest Way to Test.

This discussion is just the beginning. Let the innovators of our IQA practice assess your current QA state, and show exactly what INFORCE’s automation framework can save you in time, resources, and rework.  

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