What works best – Inhouse QA or Outsourced QA

Customer experience has risen to the top of the QA priority list, according to the World Quality Report 2018-19. A decade ago, this user-centric technology movement would have been unthinkable. Customer-centric digital transformation projects, on the other hand, have revolutionized the way firms employ technology. In the last few years, the rising usage of DevOps, cloud, and agile in new tech has also transformed the way testing is done. 

According to Gartner, “Eighty-eight percent of service leaders say their current quality assurance (QA) processes are ineffective and rarely match up to the customer view of quality. With contact centers fundamentally shifting their focus from productivity to quality, organizations and reps alike are under increasing pressure to prioritize service quality, not productivity, despite budget constraints”. 

You’re probably aware that software quality assurance is one of the most neglected aspects of software development projects. Lack of specialized testing resources and the need to complete the software project quickly are two of the most common reasons for software being shipped with flaws. Outsourcing software QA could be a realistic solution, not just in terms of cost savings, but also in terms of achieving better business goals. Fixing a bug in software that has already been deployed to the client can be quite expensive. 

As a result, effective software QA testing has become mission-critical for businesses. It is imperative to complete the task with the assistance of all necessary resources. Previously, outsourcing was done simply to save money, but now it is a cost-effective strategy to create better business results. 

While corporate executives throughout the world strive to integrate new features and innovations, it is critical to ensure that the product is of world-class quality. Having a dedicated QA and software testing organization at the helm can help the software development process in a variety of ways.  

Before looking at the advantages of outsourced QA, let us understand why it is not recommended for enterprises to do QA internally or in-house. 

Why should enterprises not encourage in-house QA 

Traditionally, Quality Assurance has been handled by in-house testing teams who perform extensive manual and automated testing. This was fine when you only deployed every six months, but modern corporations like Amazon, Facebook, and Google routinely ship hundreds of times every day. With in-house QA, it’s very impossible to ship quickly and frequently while maintaining quality, and this is damaging your business. 

The main issue with in-house QA is that it can’t keep up with the deployment plan that your company needs to be competitive. 

In essence, in-house QA is a fault with the process. It’s excruciatingly slow and laborious, and it quickly becomes a bottleneck in your development process once you try to deploy frequently. As the industry rapidly embraces continuous deployment, this is becoming increasingly relevant to your organization. 

The demand for quality assurance is typically sporadic. When you release regularly, you want all of your QA to be completed in 5 minutes and then nothing for an hour until the next release. Human teams, on the other hand, struggle to cope with upsurges since they are inherently difficult to scale. 

Aside from the problem of actually employing individuals, deciding how big the team should be is challenging. It’s difficult to scale a human team with linear marginal returns since there’s always a tradeoff between overall productivity at peak demand and the number of people lying idle during inactive periods. 

From a people aspect, the best answer is to have enough QA personnel on hand to complete everything in time for the next release. This reduces downtime and increases local efficiency. However, because your releases won’t be live until the next one is ready, you won’t be able to deploy quickly. Your continuous integration efforts will be derailed because of this. 

As a result, you must pick between fast QA with significant overcapacity and long test cycles. It’s a lose-lose situation. Your developers want QA to be completed quickly. That’s something your in-house checkers won’t be able to do. 

What we need is a method of QA that isn’t reliant on set human teams. In an ideal world, this solution would be straightforward and quick to set up for anyone on the product team. 

Unfortunately, automated testing is out since writing automated tests requires programming knowledge, and most of your product stakeholders aren’t programmers. UX designers, Product Managers, Marketers, and Ops personnel are among them. Even if you have many programmers on hand, you shouldn’t waste their time writing test scripts. 

Another way to do this is by engaging a QA partner from the start to cover all the facets of testing, such as Manual, Performance, Security, and Test Automation, and shift left your growth journey.

Benefits of Outsourced QA 

The cost of defects and unsuccessful applications can be very costly to your business. Outsourcing software testing is a great way for your company to develop market-ready services and products. 

Contracting a quality assurance testing company rather than hiring your own QA manager outside of your field of expertise during the early stages of your organization might save you a lot of money. Your workforce may be specialists in particular subjects, but the expanding demands of the environment necessitate the addition of professionals from other fields. 

You can gain access to resources that you don’t have access to on your own. Many people find it difficult to balance investing time in technical tasks with other crucial tasks. So, if they could employ a skilled QA partner to do that for them, they would be able to take use of his skills and expertise (which he has accumulated over many years) rather than spending days or even months learning those abilities on their own. 

Modernizing quality assurance also holds the key to dealing with the current digital transformation initiatives. According to Gartner, “15% of all customer service interactions are being handled by AI and 85% by all other resolution channels.” 

Organizations have reimagined their business structures and consumer strategies because of the shift to digital-first. Traditional QA methods and infrastructure must be completely overhauled as part of a successful digital transformation strategy. 

Robotic Process Automation (RPA) is being used by industries such as Banking, Financial Services and Insurance (BFSI), Telecom, Manufacturing, Travel & Logistics, Healthcare, Retail & eCommerce, and others to automate business activities without disturbing existing process flows. RPA test automation services help businesses in these industries enhance transaction processing cycle times and efficiency while also enhancing AI and machine learning skills to handle high-volume, repeatable activities faster and better. 

Also, to achieve rapid and continuous development and deployment of business-critical cloud-based apps across many platforms, development, test automation, and operations teams must work together seamlessly. DevOps methodologies and technologies, such as DevTestOps, DevSecOps, AIOps, Continuous Testing, and others, connect teams to produce Quality@High-Speed, stay competent, and meet customer expectations. 

Gartner also laid emphasis on essential metrics for outsourcing testing services. While choosing your QA partner, it is vital for buyers to focus on essential metrics to reap the benefits of the outsourced services. Use Defect, Requirements and Test Case Metrics across the Development Life Cycle such as Defect Leakage to Production, Defect Leakage to Next Phase or Defects Resolved per Phase, Defect Resolution Improvement, Zero Critical Defects in Production, Defect Rejection Rate, Defect Reinjection Rate, Test Case Execution Ratio, Test Case Efficiency Improvement, Test Case Productivity Improvement, and Requirements Stability Index. 

Only around a quarter of users return to the apps a second time. With such fierce competition and a poor client retention rate, it’s critical to impress customers right away. You will not be given another opportunity to demonstrate your poorly constructed product. 

Defect or problem identification is best left to organizations who have experience in process quality improvement. Outsourcing QA resources also allows your company to concentrate completely on its development efforts. To create your business, you get to focus solely on your core competence. You can also receive specialized services here, such as non-functional testing capabilities in areas like performance, security, and accessibility that you might not have in-house. 

Conclusion 

Cigniti offers independent quality engineering and a wide range of software testing services and solutions for the next generation enterprises and ISVs across the globe. Our experienced and deep-skilled quality assurance professionals have a hands-on, end-to-end understanding of the challenges faced by enterprises while on the path of digital transformation. 

We implement the best possible software testing methodologies and applications, a Testing Center of Excellence, and world-class software testing Labs to deliver on our promise of Quality Engineering, Quality Assurance, and Digital Assurance. 

Whether you have desktop, mobile or next-gen-based applications, our software testing specialists work with a focused approach to help you get more out of your testing efforts and improve time to market, and thus, your ROI. 

Schedule a discussion with our experts to leverage Cigniti’s outsourced QA software testing services for testing your cloud, IoT and mobile-based apps, and more to achieve scalability, improve quality, & increase ROI.