Accessing the full potential of nearshore healthcare app testing requires the right guide. Producing software for the healthcare industry is complex enough on its own, but once you outsource your QA process beyond the U.S., you face a different set of potential pitfalls.
The key to success is experience. A QA provider with a solid history of accessing the resource and production benefits of nearshore healthcare app testing can help you leverage the advantages and avoid the potential disadvantages.
The advantages of experience include:
- Complying with healthcare industry regulations
- Maximizing shared time zones for Agile teams
- Using the right tools and technologies
- Leveraging cost savings
- Deciding between offshore and nearshore destinations
There are unique potential pitfalls to outsourcing your healthcare app to a nearshore location. The best way to avoid them is to deploy a QA partner that has done it before.
Compliance with Healthcare Regulations
Anytime you outsource your healthcare app testing, you must ensure your QA partner has solid experience in the field. The healthcare industry is heavily regulated to protect the privacy and security of the public. These standards are enforced by HIPAA, the Federal Act that safeguards the sensitive, confidential data of all patients. Your app must fully comply, and your QA partner must be able to guide you through the complex testing requirements that involve data access control and sanitization, encryption, and maintaining a robust audit trail.
Apps developed in a nearshore facility must still meet these criteria. Choose a QA partner that has healthcare domain knowledge and experience to ensure compliance regardless of where you outsource your healthcare app testing.
A Synchronized Time Zone
Years ago, healthcare app developers who wanted to escape the high costs of outsourcing domestically had no choice but to send their product halfway around the world—and there are advantages to doing so, as we’ll discuss later. Now that nearshore QA markets in Central and South America have matured, developers have the option of keeping things closer to home and within a comfortable time zone. Facilities in Mexico, for example, offer state-of-the-art tools and technologies while sharing working hours with the U.S. Central Daylight time zone.
A common clock allows for instant video and audio conferencing between internal and external engineers and promotes an Agile testing environment that has proven efficiencies. Being within comfortable flying distance of the QA testing facility also makes it easier to meet in person and get firsthand experience of your partner’s premises.
Instant Domain Expertise
Of course, the major advantage of outsourcing your QA process is the ability to instantly add domain expertise to your team. Rather than carry a year-round resource burden of QA skills, outsourcing lets you ramp up production in tune with your release cycle.
The maturation of nearshore markets, such as Mexico, means you can add that expertise without having to compete for overvalued domestic services. Your nearshore QA partner will be trained within the healthcare field and have an intimate knowledge of the best tools and technologies, frameworks, and languages for your application. In fact, an experienced tester will have access to dozens of options that otherwise lie beyond your reach.
Maximize Your Resources
If you can properly navigate outsourcing your QA testing to a nearshore market, you will unlock substantial savings. For example, it is far less expensive to hire, train, and retain engineering resources in Mexico than in the U.S. And there is no need to lower your quality expectations. Nearshore destinations have invested in software outsourcing as a sustainable industry and are home to facilities, graduates, and QA programs competitive to any you can find domestically.
How Far Should You Go?
Some QA testers have embraced the best of both nearshore and offshore healthcare app testing and offer both options. In fact, combined with a QA partner’s healthcare domain expertise, this offshore-nearshore complement may be the ideal solution to avoiding app testing pitfalls.
The development of nearshore alternatives has generated a genuine debate between the merits of each outsourcing service, though as a general rule, offshore testing in established markets such as India will offer greater resource savings. In fact, outsourcing to India can reduce your QA budget by half.
Outsourcing further abroad may remove the advantages of a common clock and cultural familiarities, but there are advantages to be had there too—the 12-hour time difference between the U.S. and India means you can establish a 24-hour testing environment with QA processes run overnight and results provided to engineers in the morning.
The maturation of the nearshore markets has given healthcare app developers more choices where previously there were few. This includes the choice to pair the advantages of offshore with the advantages of nearshore for an especially robust QA strategy.
How to Maximize Outsourced Solutions with Nearshore Healthcare App Testing
Nearshore healthcare app testing offers developers a new range of resource savings and workflow processes—but it takes a QA expert to make the most of this local potential.
Under the guidance of an experienced QA partner in the healthcare domain, you can create the right outsourcing environment, leveraging the advantages of both nearshore and offshore solutions. In this way, you maintain close links between your core team and your temporary external team while taking advantage of greater expertise and resource savings overall.
QASource is uniquely positioned to offer you the best of both nearshore and offshore healthcare app testing. Our experienced engineers are healthcare domain experts with access to leading-edge facilities in Mexico and India, both headed by dedicated teams in the San Francisco Bay Area.Contact us today for a free quote, or call +1.925.271.5555 to get started.
