Software development companies deal with new challenges every day and strive hard to overcome these to ensure that they stay ahead of their competition. With this amount of work, managing multiple projects can become a hassle for anyone, reducing the overall productivity of the individual as well as reducing the quality of work.
To ensure that quality projects are delivered on time without the financial burden and annoyance of maintaining an in-house testing team, software development businesses choose to outsource their company's software testing efforts.
Outsourcing your software testing efforts can provide a company with multiple benefits that include time spent on training, and costs saved on tools and technology. Even though outsourcing is the best option, sometimes it is hard to identify the best company to outsource your software testing.
This article will deep-dive into the nitty gritty’s of outsourcing software testing to present you the complete picture, enabling you to make a quick decision.
Why Do You Even Need Software Testing?
Let us first understand the importance of software testing to your company. Software testing assures that the quality of the software satisfies you as well as the end-user. It also provides you with many other benefits, such as reduced maintenance costs and improved functionality.
Software testing verifies and validates all the units after the development process, allowing you to deliver an exceptional product. Each phase of testing allows you to ascertain the performance of a software application, also ensuring that the business logic is fulfilled. The best development team is the one where developers and testers work together, to share their knowledge and skill to ensure streamlined, high-quality software production. An integrated team makes sure that all of the development and maintenance processes are running smoothly.
What Should a Business Consider Before Outsourcing Software Testing?
These are all the questions that you should ask before outsourcing the software testing efforts of your business.
Do They Have the Right Certifications?
Certifications such as ISTQB are a good parameter to understand the level of testers that a company has employed. These highly skilled individuals are capable of delivering big projects with accuracy and in a short duration. Looking at the portfolio of the company can also help to assess if they're capable of handling a project of your magnitude.
How Fast Can They Deliver?
Many companies delay the process because of limited resources, this delays the launch of your product, thus becoming a budgetary burden. The majority of the companies require a period of 3-5 weeks, whereas some can do the job in a much shorter duration at a premium cost. Outsource your business by estimating your budget and your timelines. If the cost of testing the product is too high in a short duration, then a plan should be established to launch it at the earliest within the 3–5-week period.
Do They Provide Proper Documentation of the Process?
Software testing reports usually consist of detailed information such as the number of critical bugs detected, performance issues, and security vulnerabilities. They also include the course of action required to reduce these bugs. These reports are essential for any organization that wants to deliver a streamlined product. As it allows your company to make the necessary corrections within a short timeframe. Your outsourced partner must provide you with these reports and make them convenient for you to understand by labeling them correctly. This labeling allows you to distribute the right reports to the right personnel to refine the entire process.
Do They Integrate Manual and Automated Testing?
Automated testing allows testers to streamline all the processes and improve efficiency but it's still prone to errors. Creating a blend that involves manual testing, as well as automated testing, ensures that all the irregularities are done away with. Automated testing tools allow testers to perform monotonous tasks faster and with more accuracy, allowing them to work on the other aspects of testing. Employing a company that utilizes both is the key to developing a successful software testing strategy.
Do They Offer Retest Options?
It is crucial to validate that all the bugs and issues found in the first testing have been eradicated. Make sure that your partner offers you another test after you have repaired all the chinks in your software. Many CTOs get software testing to improve the efficiency of their software, but they never substantiate whether all the flaws in the software have been repaired. Find a software testing partner that offers the option of retesting your software. This retest will confirm whether the critical flaws in your software have been successfully removed. This retest will confirm that your software can deliver exceptionally in the market.
Do They Have Liability Insurance?
Before outsourcing software testing services, ask them if they are covered by liability insurance. Liability insurance is essential as it protects you from any uncertainty during the process of software testing. Let us say, if the software testing company causes any harm to the software during the testing process, liability insurance will ensure that you remain covered.
A top-quality software testing company will always have an insurance policy that protects your company from any hazard that a strenuous testing process might involve.
Offshore vs Nearshore
Now that you know what to ask while outsourcing your business the next question is the location of your software testing partner. Offshore and nearshore are the two types of outsourcing you can perform based on the destination of your partner. Offshore, as the name suggests, means to a different shore than yours, usually a different part of the world. Nearshore, on the other hand, means the opposite of offshore i.e., a company that is located within the same country or very close to the location of the developer.
To Conclude
The benefits of outsourcing your software testing efforts are too many to be ignored by any business that wants to ensure the best product. Choosing the right partner may be difficult, but making a checklist of all your requirements keeping your budget in mind makes the process easier. There are several capabilities that you need to assess, such as skill level, size of the company, location, rates provided by them before making a decision. Hopefully, this article has made it easier for you to choose the best software testing partner for you.
