Augmented Testing: 26th ATA Bengaluru Meetup at Fiserv

This blog post is about the software testing meetup which resumed after 5 years.  It is ATA's 26th Bengaluru Meetup held on 28th February 2026.  

The last meetup [25th ATA Bengaluru Meetup] was on 29th February 2020.  Do you see the date and gap?  That was pre-COVID days meetup.

It is a good feel to experience the restart and resuming!  This is living the hope.  

I tell you what it takes to run one meetup; read here.  Now, imagine running the meetups month on month as a ritual.  Do you feel it?

26th ATA Bengaluru Meetup, 28th Feb 2026 at Fiserv office in Bengaluru

26th ATA Bengaluru Meetup

In excitement I registered for this edition of ATA meetup.  I read the agenda, venue and date.  I started to feel it.  

The meetup was scheduled to start at 3 PM IST -- unusual and it helped me to travel and be on time from my distant place.  I reached by 2:24 PM IST.

1.  Meetup Updates

• Team ATA gave regular update on the meetup with all details.
• I did not have any confusion.

2.  Venue and Hospitality

• Fiserv office in Bengaluru.
• The security and admin staff of Fiserv were highly cordial and professional.
• I did not face any problem with check-in and checkout.
• The admin staff helped us with information.
• Ankur Raj, Balaji Kanamanapalli Venkata and Moulya Charegowda of Fiserv hosted and spoke to each of us.
• The seating and accessories for workshop was well arranged and organized.
• We got high snacks to beat the stomach hunger along with space to network.
• Thanks, Fiserv!  You imprinted a cherishing memory in me.
• I will attend the meetups you host.

3.  Meetup's Panel Discussion and Workshop

• 26th Meetup's theme
• Augmented Testing: How AI Is Changing Quality?
• Panel Discussion
• Discussion on the questions from community.
• Panel members
• Ajay Balamurugadas, Balaji Kanamanapalli Venkata, and Deepthi K
• Moderated by Aditya Garg
• We meetup attendees were encouraged to share our thoughts during the panel  discussion.
• This made it lively and active participation.
• Such experiences and initiation can happen only in the meetups.
• The panel is of opinion
• AI is of help and way forward.
• AI is effective when we input the effective data.
• What to consider when evaluating the AI solutions and how it is not same as we evaluate any tool or language.
• Have human in place and use the AI to the best possible level in a context.
• AI speeds the execution.
• The efficacy of outcome is dependent on input.
• How to see and use the AI solutions.
• AI, jobs and impact.
• Test Engineer now as a orchestrator of AI solutions and testing.
• Ethical AI and practice.
• Guardrails around AI.
• Hands-on Workshop
• We were given laptops by Fiserv for this workshop.
• Ankur and Moulya led the workshop.
• The workshop was around how to write better and effective prompts to LLMs.
• Copilot was prompted with hands-on exercise.
• Explained how to use the heuristics AUTOMAT and CO-STAR to build the prompt.
• This workshop was useful to me.
• I saw a couple of attendees prompting for the first time.
• It helped them!
• The purpose of workshop is served.
• Moulya and Ankur gave me space to share my thoughts to the attendees during the hands-on workshop.
• I thank them for this.
• They were in good spirit and encouraged me to share.
• I conveyed this to them and expressed my gratitude.

4.  My Experience

• Wow!
• I'm happy, I was in 26th ATA meetup.
• I'm glad to experience the Fiserv's people, hospitality and spirit.
• I shared insights on,
• SLMs and its help in specific to a context in contrast to LLMs.
• Why it is not easy to stop using the AI going forward?
• Why the compliances around AI is a challenge?
• The factor of 'interest' along with cost vs value.
• Cost vs Value vs Interest
• Interest drives further though the cost is high and value is not experienced.
• In case of AI, the interest is driving irrespective of the value and cost for now.
• This is my experience, observation and learning for today.
• How we end up writing the prompts and miss what we actually want to test?
• Why it is important to know how the system is orchestrated, communicates and functions along with domain knowledge?
• I shared an example and walked through the incidents.
• I cannot end this section without thanking Moulya and Ankur for giving me the space to express and share my thoughts.
• Moulya you are a team and person with whom I wish to work.
• I feel how considerate you are in listening and facilitating the best to come for all us in meetup.  Thanks!
• Balaji you are a team and person with whom I wish to work.
• I could see how open you were to know and listened asking my bits and experiences.  Thanks!
• I met Manoj MV of PostQode after a decade.  Wow!  I conveyed, how thankful I'm to him.
• I met Aditya Garg in person.
• I wanted to discuss with him on few topics; it did not happen this time.
• I met Ajay.
• Though we did not converse, we knew we are in touch and could feel it.
• I had a long discussion with Sushmitha and Vimala.
• I had a discussion with Ram from Capgemini on performance testing models.
• Had a quick chat with Jwala and recalled our last meetup.
• A brief talk with Arjun, Balaji and  Penchaliaha.
• I had a good networking and connecting.
  

How Fiserv is integrating AI solutions with testing and engineering -- the impact and changes.  My request to ATA and Fiserv is to host one more edition and share their exploration and solving.

I cannot end without the mention of security staff of Fiserv.  The lady was smiling, professional and helped us through check-in and checkout with information.  Fiserv, please do convey our greetings and message to her.

The other staffs who helped us in the meetup area and cafeteria were smiling.  That smile and warm welcome gesture tell a lot about the office floor.  

I'm looking forward for the 27th ATA Bengaluru Meetup.

Thank you, ATA.  Thank you, Fiserv.  Thank you, community.