Quality control is one of the most critical aspects of any company that operates in the IT field. It allows you to quickly identify and solve errors before it leads to big problems. If you have a large corporation, it will be easy to hire a staff of specialists responsible for this process, but what if you have a small startup with a limited budget? It is where outsourcing comes to the rescue.
In this case, you can reduce QA costs by almost 30%, relieve the burden on your managers, and still provide quality services. Today we want to discuss what aspects need to be considered when hiring outsourced employees and how to avoid problems.
Why companies outsource software QA
Quality assurance requires time, tools, and experienced specialists. Large companies often build internal QA teams, but startups and small businesses usually work with limited budgets. Hiring, training, and maintaining testers can be expensive and slow. Outsourcing offers access to professionals who already work with modern testing tools and different types of software.
Many teams also look for flexibility. A project may need only a few testers at one stage and a larger team later. Outsourcing providers can assign specialists when testing is required. Companies also gain access to testers who have worked with many products such as mobile apps, web platforms, and SaaS services.
Scoping and planning
Before you find QA outsourcing specialists, you need to decide how much work they need to do and plan their work. You need to understand what goals and objectives you set for QA specialists and in what time frame they need to be implemented. Initially, consider consulting with QA specialists who will review and evaluate your current products and suggest the necessary further capacity of QA testers, their number, and the types of testing that will be required.
So, it would help if you determined what types of testing you are interested in, what to pay attention to, and what software test metrics are most important to you. Some of the most requested types of testing include:
- Automated and manual testing;
- Compatibility testing;
- Functional testing;
- Performance testing;
- Security testing;
- Black box testing;
- End-to-end testing and many others.
Cost and risks
Of course, no one wants to overpay, but the truth is that if you see a low price tag, you may not have an experienced team in front of you who will be unable to do the job well. As a rule, good specialists with extensive experience and knowledge know their worth and do not want to work for the minimum wage.
In addition, outsourcing companies often attract low-paid specialists, such as students, to solve some problems. Thus, it would be best if you made sure that the specialists have the necessary knowledge and skills and understand the quality assurance process.
To reduce risks, you can find out what project specialists have previously worked with, read reviews or ask your friends to recommend a good partner.
Evaluate the experience of the QA provider
Price is not the only factor when choosing a QA partner. Experience deserves close attention. Some outsourcing companies offer very low rates, but the team may include junior specialists or students who are still learning the profession. It is worth checking who will actually work on the project and what skills they bring.
Look at the provider’s previous work. Many QA companies share case studies, client feedback, or examples of completed projects. These materials show what types of software the team has tested and what industries they know. A short conversation with the provider can also reveal how well they understand testing processes and project requirements.
Basic knowledge
Even qualified professionals with extensive experience may need to gain basic knowledge of your industry. The fact is that testing is a vast industry, and each project has its characteristics. For example, if you have an OTT platform, you are unlikely to be a tester who has devoted most of his career to working with computer games. They will likely need to gain the necessary knowledge to work in your industry.
Choose an interaction model
Today there are 2 types of outsourcing - body and team leasing. In the first case, you hire one or more specialists to help your QA team. This type of cooperation is usually resorted to in cases where your specialists need more time or knowledge to complete the work on time.
In the second case, you hire the entire team. Usually, small startups resort to this method. In this case, outsourcing specialists will be fully responsible for quality control.
When you find a partner, you need to specify all the conditions for your cooperation and build a model of interaction that is understandable for both parties.
Create a Service Level Agreement
It is an agreement where both parties' rules and obligations are spelled out. So, here should be indicated:
- Workload;
- Price;
- Lead time;
- Main requirements and much more.
The more detailed the SLA, the easier it will be for you to cooperate. All agreements that you have discussed with the outsourcing team should be documented.
Take care of intellectual property protection
All information about your project should never be duplicated or provided to third parties in any way. So ensure your outsourcing partner has security testing standards to prevent misuse or unauthorized access. We do not recommend blocking their access to your data because this may adversely affect the testing quality, but you must be sure that this information will not get to competitors.
Reporting requirements and error correction speed
Please think over the reporting requirements in advance. It often depends on the specifics of your project. So, sometimes it makes sense to receive reports on the work done once a month (or more often) or at the end of the work. Besides, it would help if you established communication between testers and programmers so that they can respond to identified errors in time.
