QASource Blog

Going to market with a perfectly functioning product is a great way to attract customers and cement relationships with them. And for many software product or service companies, that’s their goal. But many others are resistant to the idea of allocating budget toward the thorough QA testing required to achieve that goal. Their reasons range from “Our developers are smart, they can test their own code” to “We don’t know if QA will provide good ROI.” But, as the recent spike in data breaches and hacking has shown, an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.

Today, it seems like we don't go a week without hearing about a high-profile hack or breach of customer data. As customers, we spread our information across a huge variety of applications, and we trust that no ill will come of it. The truth is, however, that we’re more vulnerable than ever, and the risk of a hack is made clearer to us everyday. We rationalize the situation, thinking, “Well, they must have people safeguarding my information, right?” Right — for the most part.

What happens when you can’t accurately measure the cost, effectiveness, and progress of a software testing project? A lot of less-than-ideal things. Projects can balloon in cost, creep in scope, fall in quality, or run on for what seems like forever. Without defined metrics attached to each QA project, they can get out of control -- and this scenario is a nightmare for both the product company and their team and the testing provider and their engineers.

One of the key challenges of working with an outsourced QA partner is aligning a new, offshore team with your product, procedures, and larger business objectives. Without the proper transfer of knowledge from the customer to the offshore team, engineers will be testing blindly. This leads to process slow-downs, inflated project budgets, and even lost contracts.

Product companies who balked at QA outsourcing in the past are now running to it with open arms. Rapid release schedules along with high overhead costs have QA Managers and CTOs searching for a solution that is affordable, not cheap. Enter outsourcing! Opening up your product to a skilled, dedicated offshore team comes with too many advantages to list here, but rest assured -- there are many. But the one aspect of outsourcing that many still worry about is communication. How can you be sure that your QA partner will communicate with you promptly, clearly and without any technical hang-ups?

Effective QA is not made or broken by any one thing. Rather, it’s a combination of all the right stuff: knowledge transfer, skilled engineers, great team culture, and the appropriate testing methodologies. When all of the checkboxes are marked, the result is a successful project and a stronger product that’s ready for market.

There’s a lot of talk on the streets about automation. But trust us when we say it’s more than just a hot buzzword. In fact, test automation is one of the most effective solutions you can adopt as a growing product company. Speeding up slow, time-consuming manual testing is one of the biggest value propositions for automation -- but what are some of the other reasons why so many of your colleagues (and competitors) are buying into it?

Why do most product companies hire a QA partner? The details vary, but the main reason is this: it’s a great insurance policy. Testing ensures that your product meets your quality standards and is ready for use in the market. This protects your customer from a poor user experience and you from bad PR and revenue loss.

When it comes to selecting a dedicated QA partner the choices are plentiful. But selecting the partner that will be a perfect fit for your company, product and existing team takes research and deliberation. The right partner is responsible for much more than providing high-quality testing -- they create a sustainable testing infrastructure, learn the product as well (or better!) than the developers and serve as a true extension of your onsite team.