Software testing solutions provider LogiGear released the results of their third test automation industry survey today, focused on the skills, tools, benefits and difficulties of test automation.

According to LogiGear’s findings, the biggest issue that developers face when dealing with test automation software is management’s lack of understanding what is required to have an effective automation program.

The survey’s main query was “What would prevent you from automating more tests?” to which LogiGear says they received a range of responses, providing valuable insight.

“When the responses are viewed as a whole — the tool cost, maintenance cost, and management not understanding what it takes—this becomes a serious factor that could make or break successful test automation implementation,” LogiGear co-founder and survey moderator Michael Hackett said in the announcement.

“In an earlier job, decisions about what automation tools were to be used were made by management, leading to a churn of new tools about every two years,” LogiGear quoted a respondent as saying. “When the automation engineers (my team) were finally allowed input, the selected tool was successful and was in place for at least 10 years, long after I had left the company. Lesson: Let the people using the tool choose the tool.”

The survey additionally found that nearly 40 percent of respondents had tried test automation, even though they failed with their first implementation and that 20 percent of respondents needed to run automation tests across mobile, browser, desktop and server software.

This is the third of four surveys being conducted by LogiGear this year. The fourth, focused on distributed test team related issues, is open for contribution at their website.