10 Points to Consider When Outsourcing Software Testing

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If your business is on the lookout to outsource software testing services for any of your automation testing or manual work, check out this blog post.

If your company develops software, you will be in definite need of software testing. Outsourcing software testing is a great way for your company to drive innovation and to focus on your primary business functions. Outsourcing can put you in touch with experts who will efficiently work on your software to ensure enhanced product quality and a better business outcome. Regardless the scope of your software testing project or the frequency of testing required, your business can save on both revenue and hassles through outsourcing.

Only outsourcing can bring in higher cost benefits, reduced in-house efforts, access to specialized skills, quick deliverables and tested final products. To start outsourcing software testing, there are some aspects that you will have to consider. Read the following points to get a better picture of what you have to consider before outsourcing software testing.

  1. Build an engagement model: Based on your business strategy and business model, you will have to select the geographic location of your outsourcing partner. Next, you have to decide if you will go with total outsourcing or incremental outsourcing. Both these models require detailed planning. The only difference being in total outsourcing, a single provider will handle all the work, while in incremental outsourcing the work can be divided and outsourced to multiple service providers.

  2. Choose the location of the outsourcing team: You will need to consider if you want to work with an offshore testing company or a company in your own country. Offshoring can offer you high quality work at a low cost, but you may face language problems, cultural differences or communication barriers. Another difficulty would be the difference in time zone. Near shoring can remove such barriers, but you may not be able to avail cost benefits.

  3. Decide on the SLAs: Clearly defining SLAs (Service Level Agreement) upfront is the best way to make sure that there is a 100% alignment of goals between your business and the service provider. Make sure the SLA is related to the type of testing you require, the engagement model and the KPIs that you have set up. Include product quality measure in your SLA for better test case efficiency; defect reporting and test plan quality.

  4. Think about mobilization: Before you commence outsourcing, make sure to develop the contract, create the SLAs and formulate the SOW (statement of work). Communicate all of these to the service provider. Make sure that the legitimate interests of your business and your client is protected.

  5. Check for scalability and flexibility: Include a degree of flexibility in your outsourcing agreement to make sure that timescale fluctuations are accommodated. Decide on the flexibility by checking for factors like modifiability, robustness, ease of exit and new capabilities.

  6. Ask for improvements in quality: One of the primary objectives of outsourcing is to see an improvement in quality. Check if the service provider will continually work on improving their process and working methods. Your target would be see an overall improvement in your end product.

  7. Decide on the change management: As the project progresses, there might be changes which could impact the testing cycle. Build and maintain a strong change management system to overcome additional effort, time and cost spent on incorporating requirement changes.

  8. Ensure the protection of intellectual property: IPR protection is an important aspect to consider during outsourcing. Ensure that the vendor protects your information and refrains from using it for any other purpose.

  9. Establish communication channels: A communication barrier can create a roadblock between your business and the service provider, so it is critical to create a proper communication channel. Ensure that work is regularly exchanged between you and the service provider.

  10. Check the abilities of the outsourced team: Check if the outsourced team of software testers, QA engineers, leads, managers and technical staff are competent enough to handle your software testing. You can even conduct an interview with the team to find out more about their skills, abilities and level of experience.

We hope these tips helped you to make a decision of whether to invest in software testing outsourcing and how to choose the right service provider for software testing services. At Outsource2india, we offer quality software testing services. We can ensure superior software quality and high performance. Whether you require Regression Testing, ETL testing, Managed Crowd Testing, Mainframe Testing or Industry-Specific Testing, we are a one-stop destination for any kind of software testing that you may require. Find out more about our software testing services.

Did you like reading this post? Would you like to know more information about software testing? Let us know your queries and comments in the box below. We, at Outsource2india love to hear from you!

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