2021 – The year that brought the world to the Crossroads where it started with a hope, flirted with a whiplash, shuddered to a halt and moved with a jolt and hope again!
We are almost at the end of year gone by and want to recount the umteen memories that this year has added to our journey as an organization. The year 2021 sure did start with a lot of uncertainty and doubt but hope, hard work and resilience kept us going. And therefore, we have been able to silence the doubts and come out as victors and innovators in the tech space. This year has been a year of a bloom in the gloom, a year filled with challenges and opportunities at the same time.
Looking forward to the new year all we can think about is a fresh start to do things differently. Perhaps build systems that are more efficient than ever before, innovate and spell out inventions that solve the world’s biggest challenges. While we look forward to all these wonderful things that are ahead of us, we do want to look back at the year that has gone by and count our blessings. With that said, here’s our first milestone that we want to celebrate with you.
10K followers on LinkedIn
We are a proud community of over eleven thousand followers on the social networking site for the business professionals, LinkedIn. We were able to achieve this grand milestone and strike it off our bucket list in the month of August. All thanks to our supporters and well wishers who have consistently been there to back us up by sharing and liking our posts. And ofcourse our in-house marketing team that strives to consistently post content on the media platform to keep the audiences engaged. We continue to thrive on growing this community of thousands to a hundred thousand followers that are engaging with each other and sharing insights in the testing space to accelerate growth and innovation.
Key Milestones
Speaking of growth and innovation, we at pCloudy have brought in a lot of new updates with the launch of pCloudy 5.9. One of the key highlights to this update was the launch of the pCloudy Desktop Assistant (PDA). A one of a kind Desktop App that allows users to connect to the various devices on the cloud based testing platform using the tunneling feature. The PDA was designed to help users save time and test features from multiple clouds at a single place, without the hassle of logging into the different clouds separately. The much needed desktop application enables users to access the most used features of pCloudy like Wildnet, Android tunnel, and iOS connect to test and debug their apps faster.
Product Updates
We have always been on the lookout to provide the best user experience to our customers by adding new features and functionalities to our product. The much awaited “Follow Me” feature is back with an improved product design that is much more stable, efficient, functional than ever before. We have also been focused on easing the testing experience and assisting users to do more with minimal effort. Here are a few of the tweaks we have made during the course of this year to make our product more efficient and agile.
- Last year we had launched the QR Code Scanning feature for most Android devices, and this year we were able to extend this feature to the iOS devices as well. Now users can connect to both Android and iOS devices to test the functionality of the QR code scanners which is a much sought after functionality used in the Banking, Finance, and e-commerce apps.
QR code verification testing on remote devices
- Single Sign On (SSO) is another remarkable feature that many of our users got onto using as soon as it was launched. The SSO takes away the pain of remembering multiple passwords and makes the login experience a lot more smooth and efficient.
How to enable the Single Sign On feature on pCloudy?
- Another major update we brought this year was the extension of the pCloudy platform support on the open source OS Ubuntu 20. We are sure that all the users who use Linux systems will make the most of this upgrade.
- The Pinch to Zoom feature is another helpful upgrade that allows users to interact with the devices using the touch functionality. In some sense the Pinch-to-zoom feature warrants a real behaviour of interacting with the devices during the testing phase.
Apart from the various technical upgrades we have made in the past year. We have also added many new devices that are out there in the market. One of the latest additions to the device cloud is the procurement of the Apple iPhone 13 for testing. We now have the iPhone 13 series available on the cloud and along with the latest iOS version 15 that is available to test.
Plugins and Integrations
XCUIT Framework
Apart from these features within the platform, we have also been able to add some integrations that will be helpful in extending the scope of testing. Users can now automate the UI testing on iOS devices by enabling the XCUIT integration available on the platform.
pCloudy – Bitrise Plugin
The latest addition to the world of integration and plugins has been the introduction of the pCloudy-Bitrise Plugin. It acts as an interface between the pCloudy devices and the Bitirise platform to easily sync the installation files from the app building platform straight to the Testing Cloud. Users can simply use this plugin to directly enlist and install the apk or ipa files from Bitrise onto the pCloudy devices without having to spend time in uploading or downloading the apk or ipa files individually, which in turn saves a lot of time in the long run.
Bitrise Integration with pCloudy
STC 2021
We have been an organization that thrives on learning from one another and sharing insightful ideas with the world. We have had the privilege of delivering a talk at the Software Testing Conference 2021, organized by QAI. Pankaj Goel, co-founder of Opkey along with Shashank Naik from KPMG shed meaningful insights on addressing the challenges of testing packaged applications like ERP systems, CRMs, enterprise applications, etc. The virtual conference opened up our minds to new learnings and helped us network with many business leaders and industry stalwarts who share a similar vision and ideology. Conferences like these make us want to come back for more.
New Partners & Clientele
As we continue to network and build new connections in the digital world. The challenges of not being able to meet physically has surely made us think of new ways to relate with one another and meet the needs of our customers. We continue to change our strategies and add more clients and partners to the pCloudy banner. With a wide range of customers from diverse fields of Banking, Finance, Insurance, Software, etc. We have been able to add new connections and build relationships with big logos like OCBC, Manulife, Sapient, IBC, IBS, Tractor Supply Wizink, etc. We have also had the privilege of welcoming Virtusa, a company that delivers digital transformation through digital engineering and industry expertise as a partner with pCloudy.
Recognition & Awards
- Excelling at the services we provide and timely resolutions is something we at pCloudy have consistently been focusing on. This mindset has helped us to continually grow and build momentum as an organization year on year. We are proud to continue to build the momentum and win many of these G2 badges.
- Another proud moment to share with you and celebrate is that our co-founder Avinash Tiwari, has been accepted as a member of the prestigious Forbes Technology Council. This opportunity opens up an array of possibilities to interact, partner and grow with other leaders in the technology space and scale greater heights as an organization.
Celebrations
Of the many virtual celebrations that we have witnessed through the year. We have thoroughly enjoyed the company of one another, as one big pCloudy family. Recently we have had the joy of meeting one another physically for the first time after two long years. It brings us such joy and happiness to see one another along with their families chatting over the challenges of working from home, doubling up as chefs and caretakers when the duty calls. Thanks to the management team for organizing this special dinner where we could meet together as families.
Moments That Hit Us Hard
The Second Wave of Covid hit us hard as many lost their loved ones. The rising Covid numbers were no more just numbers on a screen as we started to associate names to these numbers. While many families within our organization lost their loved ones, a close work colleague and dear friend Ritesh passed away much sooner than we ever imagined. Moments like these hurt us a lot, but we strive to carry him in our memories and remember him when we look back at the year gone by. Though it may be unconventional to mention these on a blog, we choose to acknowledge these difficult times to tell a story – That it’s not just about happy times and organization updates that make the year count but it is also the difficult times and the people that make every bit of this organization.
Summing Up
This year has been a year of tough calls, challenges and many joys. Here’s what our Co-founder Avinash has to say –
“We are living in the decade of ‘software-driven business’. And by the end of 2030, almost every company in the world will either be a software services company or a hybrid company that provides physical products along with software services. Tesla being one such perfect example. The pandemic has further accelerated this digital transition. At pCloudy we are continuously striving to help companies go digital with confidence. And 2021 has been a great year for us as an organization as we have established ourselves as a preferred partner for many enterprises in their digital journey.”
We wait in anticipation for the new year to witness exponential growth in helping businesses achieve their goals. With that we sign off and wish you and your family the season’s best greetings.
Happy New Year!
