Software Testing Outsourcing: Is this what your enterprise needs?

The cost of high-level software testing services has risen in tandem with the rising strategic relevance of QA. This encourages managers and business stakeholders to seek cost-cutting measures that do not jeopardize the Software’s performance or the quality of distributed services. Outsourcing quality assurance helps achieve the same. 

According to Statista, the global market value of outsourcing in 2019 was $92,5 billion. There’s consistency in how much a business outsources its operations. For example, 68% of consumer products manufacturers in the United States regularly outsource some aspect of their manufacturing. Accounting services are closely followed by the IT industry, which accounts for 60% of all outsourced employment globally. 

This piece will examine why many businesses rely on IT outsourcing.

What is Software Testing?

One of the steps of software development is software testing (or quality assurance testing), which checks if the result meets the intended product criteria. It guarantees that software is useable and free of bugs and defects.

Different Types of Software Testing

Several software testing forms match a distinct need that a development team should acknowledge. Most software testing is divided into:

• Functional testing verifies that software meets applicable criteria.
• Non-functional testing consists of usability, performance, and reliability. 

Maintenance is the testing of installed software.

How is Software Testing a Fundamental Process?

 QA and testing are an integral part of product development. Bugs and faults can be found early in the testing step and addressed before the product is delivered. As a result, following testing, the program is frequently returned to the development stage for rewriting some of its components.

Quality assurance testing is also an economical and secure option. It strives towards a product’s long-term viability. There will be no need for rollbacks or file losses due to a critical data leak problem or a bothersome malfunctioning UI feature.

There are several approaches to software testing. After careful consideration, some businesses prefer hiring local expertise, while others determine employing offshore engineers to do Quality Assurance. This post will concentrate on helping to know how to hire the best team of QA outsourcing engineers. 

Outsourcing is becoming the new normal.

Outsourcing is the new normal, defined by the role of the global pandemic. With several businesses forced to shift to physical workplaces, decline innovative projects and re-shape their strategies, the only survival option is outsourcing.  

In the US, there were about 16.8 million remote workers before the pandemic. Upwork Economist Report: Future Workforce reports that in 2020, 56.8% of Americans worked at least partially remotely. 

In recent years, remote work has gained a lot of acceptance globally while creating a surge for online technologies situated virtually anywhere. The rise of digital transformation has enabled more digital work than ever before that have got accepted at the government level. 

What are the Benefits of Outsourcing Software Testing and QA?

Outsourcing QA testing helps businesses save few bucks

Even though software owners should always prioritize quality, we all recognize that business resources are limited. As a result, they must be appropriately utilized. This is precisely what an outsourcing strategy aims to achieve: cost reduction and modest savings.

Let’s look at the salaries of software testing engineers in different areas. 

“The average 12-month pay of a quality assurance engineer in the United States is $72,000, ranging from $59,000 to $87,000 based on the state/city and years of experience”- Zipia.

Persons in the same positions and with the same degree of competence may earn vastly different amounts of money. This is well explained by each country’s economic status, currency rate comparisons, and other macroeconomic and microeconomic considerations. Businesses can benefit from software testing and QA outsourcing without jeopardizing legal aspects.

Outsourcing testing can help you fit even small-term projects

As you can see, persons in the same positions and with the same degree of competence may earn vastly different amounts of money. This is explained by each country’s economic status, currency rate comparisons, and other macroeconomic and microeconomic considerations. Businesses can benefit from software testing outsourcing without jeopardizing offshore collaboration’s legal or ethical aspects.

Even if there is no need for a minimum contract term in the United States or Europe, it is evident that you won’t be able to find a tester who would take a week-long assignment. However, outsourcing QA firms would be delighted to do so! Regarding project time, quality assurance outsourcing is a reasonably flexible alternative. Of course, even the most straightforward projects include planning, legal preparations, and lessening the job scope, the faster you’ll receive the testing data.

Outsourcing QA & testing helps you free up your team’s workload.

Testing is a critical component of every software project, but developing a successful application requires much more than just a clean code base. Non-technical project requirements include business analysis, market fit, advertising and marketing strategies, and funding. 

What makes them even more unique is the responsibilities, that are almost hard to assign to third-party sources.

Big firms generally have sufficient resources to equally spread the technical and non-technical burden among diverse divisions. When attempting to launch a digital product with a few other enthusiasts or even on your own, things may rapidly get overwhelming. Before this occurs, it is advisable to locate someone to assign some of your responsibilities.

Offshore QA aids in avoiding cognitive bias.

We are far more likely to seek flaws in the work done by others than in our own. This is due to a phenomenon known as cognitive bias, which is a systematic inaccuracy in information interpretation that impacts people’s judgments and and decisions. This bias can be caused by various factors, including cultural codes, personal recollections, and professional practices.

In the testing process, the team active in early ideation, digital conception, and market fitting would mistakenly laud the program to which they contributed. And this has nothing to do with a specific tester’s or QA team’s expertise or experience. 

How does QA outsourcing SLAs work in favor of your enterprise?

SLA refers to a document governing the professional relationships between the provider and the client. The paper outlines the intended outcomes, obligations of both parties, success measures, timetable, amount of services, fees, and penalties if the desired goal is not attained. Along with the non-disclosure agreement (NDA) signed with offshore software QA providers, this agreement provides legal protection for the program’s owner under testing.

Because an SLA is a commercial contract, it should be drafted by a competent lawyer. Knowing the fundamental sorts of such papers and their constituent elements will be necessary, even if you’re not about to sign one. Service level agreements are classified into three types:

Customer-based focuses on the collaboration between a specific customer and a provider who may supply this client with various services.

Service-based means that a particular service is defined and supplied similarly to all the provider’s clients.

A multi-level or hybrid SLA is developed to meet the demands of all parties engaged in the collaboration.

SLA is an essential component of every outsourced software testing project. Thus we strongly advise taking your time to get it right. Its purpose is to avoid misunderstandings between the working parties and to ensure that all signers use the same language and ideas. While an NDA protects the customer from information leaking, an SLA ensures that the testing provider is legally bound to offer adequate services. SLA compliance is more accessible than a slew of individual employment contracts, typically based on more speculative clauses and lacking time limitations.

Choosing the right outsourcing company

The outsourcing industry is very fragmented. Because of the great demand, there are several small and large players to pick from, each suited to distinct company sizes, product specialties, and customer demands. In terms of speeds and procedures, many are also highly comparable. Choosing may be difficult. Try communicating or working with a few firms for a limited time. 

Choose those that appear to be the most excellent fit for your QA requirements and work your way up to the best potential match.

Are you looking forward to hiring the best QA team? We have got you covered!

Hire Netsmartz to build the best team on your terms.