A Complete Guide to Outsourcing Software Testing Services

Software testing has evolved over the decades from a manual task to the use of automated tools. It can be done by an in-house team of experts or outsourced to another company that specializes in software testing.

Before we dive deep into outsourcing software testing services, let's take a look at the benefits of outsourcing. This will help you in deciding whether to do it in-house or outsource the requirement.

Advantages of Outsourcing Software Testing Services

Software Testing is an inevitable part of the Software Development Life Cycle, and all software needs to go through this stage. So, it goes without saying that it is one of the most important parts of software development.

Let's have a look at the benefits of outsourcing software testing services..

Use of a Wide Range of Tests

There are many different types of tests which need to be performed for comprehensive testing of software. In case of outsourcing software testing services, your QA testing services partner will perform a wide range of tests as compared to what you can manage.

There are basically two types of testing:

1. Functional Testing
2. Non-Functional Testing

There are several tests within these two broad categories. Let's have a quick look at them for your reference.

Functional Testing

This category of testing includes the following:

System Testing:

This is generally performed after integration testing and QA testers evaluate the software application behavior under various conditions and scenarios including abnormal usage.

Unit Testing:

It is a type of software testing in which individual components or units are tested in isolation from the system. It can be a class, method, function or a module. 

Acceptance Testing:

This is done at the end in which various stakeholders check whether the software application matches the acceptance criteria.

Integration Testing:

Integration testing involves testing all the units together as one system and not in isolation. This is done to ensure they work as per the requirements and there are no bugs in the code.

Non-Functional Testing

Performance Testing: 

Software testers simulate every possible circumstance that your software encounters and see how it performs under these conditions. This includes load testing to see whether the application can handle the surge of users.

Security Testing: 

This involves checking if the software is immune to hacking and other cyber crimes. It assesses the security of the software system, identifies loopholes, and ensures data security.

Compatibility Testing: 

As there are different operating systems, devices, browsers, other software, and hardware, testing is done to ensure that the software application is compatible with all or most of them. 

Usability Testing: 

It is all about evaluating the User Interface and experience of the entire software application. This is done with the help of actual users and their feedback.

Hence, if you want your software application to undergo all types of tests, it is better to outsource QA.

Access to Experts

One of the major benefits of outsourcing software testing services is that you get the services of industry experts who have vast experience across various domains. 

These experts ensure that your software complies with the latest trends, best practices along with making it bug free. You also save upon costs of hiring them full time and use their services for a limited period of time.

Minimal Life Cycle Expenses

As you outsource your software testing requirement, your development team can focus on other important aspects. They don't have to worry about all the issues that might crop up in the software. 

Software developers can focus primarily on whether software matches the requirements, its scalability and maintainability. As a result, it can minimize expenses on maintenance and disruptions. 

Suggested Reading: Are You Keeping Up With the Emerging Trends in Software Testing?

Faster Launch 

Testing experts can enable you to launch your application much faster than an in-house team. They can make rigorous use of automation testing tools, which hastens the process. 

Automation testing can save a lot of time and ensure that the software application is rolled out on time as per schedule.

Suggested Reading: Why Software Testing is Not Easy and How Automation Helps

Cost Efficiency

Maintaining an in-house team of testing experts is always more costly than outsourcing the requirement. You can save a lot of money on hiring, training and other miscellaneous costs. 

If you outsource your software development requirement to a region that has lower hourly rates or wages, it can further reduce your expenses.

Use of Advanced Tools

By outsourcing software testing services, you don't need to purchase advanced tools and own them. External software testing teams invest in a variety of latest tools and technologies and make use of them for testing. 

Best Practices for Outsourcing of Software Testing Services

You should be very careful when outsourcing software testing services. Follow the below mentioned best practices for the same.

(1) Choose the Most Suitable Company

There is no dearth of software testing companies across the globe. You get a wide range of services, and each company has its own cost structure. Hence, the first thing you need to do is to be crystal clear about the software testing services you require. 

This is essential to ensure that your software meets the requirements and is robust. So, you need to verify the credibility of the software testing services company you want to hire. 

Ask them to provide references of previous projects they have handled and reviews and ratings received from clients. 

All QA testing services companies under consideration should have the expertise required for your project.

(2) Transparent Communication

The chosen company for QA testing should have clear cut communication with your in house team and schedule regular meetings. They should handle your confidential information with utmost caution and keep you posted about the ongoing testing work.

Without transparent communication, it would be difficult to ensure the software under test will meet the highest possible standard. Hence, you must be in constant touch with the software testing services company.

(3) Provide Feedback

As you receive information about the progress of testing of your software application project, you should provide regular feedback about the same.

Keep a track of whether the testing process is as per the defined objectives and standards. For this you should specifically define certain metrics to assess the performance of the testing team.

Disadvantages of Outsourcing Software Testing Services

We have seen the benefits of outsourcing software testing services to an external team. However, as there are pros and cons to everything, outsourcing QA has its own disadvantages. Let's have a close look at them, as they can help you in making your decision.

Security Issues

This is the biggest disadvantage of application testing outsourcing. Your testing partner firm can misuse the data and technology they get access to while performing the QA test. 

This information can be passed on to competitors or unauthorized persons, which can damage your business. Hence, you need to be extremely careful when outsourcing software testing services.

The service level agreement(SLA) should have clear security standards, and you should continuously monitor the testing process. 

Hidden Costs

Outsourcing software testing services is a cheaper option as compared to hiring an in house team of experts. However, there is always a chance that an offshore software testing services firm has hidden costs. 

If there are some outsourcing companies whose pricing is too good, it may be a clear indicator of low quality service. Some of them may not fully disclose all expenses beforehand.

This can result in hidden costs emerging later, which will have an impact on your project lifecycle and budget. 

Hence, discuss everything at the very beginning of meeting with probable QA testing services partners. Carefully read the contract or the agreement and give extra attention to the fine print. This will prevent future cost escalations. 

Time Zone Difference

In case you outsource your requirement to an offshore software testing services firm, there can be time zone differences between the two parties. It can lead to communication delays of at least a few hours, which can be critical in some cases.

As a result, companies should establish clear communication protocols with offshore software testing services firms. They can make use of automated tools and trackers for collaboration between your in house development team and offshore software testing team.

You should make use of overlapping working hours of the two teams for real time communication.

Under Qualified Manpower

It goes without saying that low-cost specialists cannot deliver software testing services which are of highest quality. There can also be an issue of languages spoken and understood by the QA testing services team.

Language barriers can cause bottlenecks in the overall testing process. This makes it necessary to hire a testing team which knows one common language, which is generally English. 

Less Focus

QA testing services companies handle many clients at the same time. As a result, it may happen that your project may not get the required attention. This can negatively impact the quality of your software.

Hence, you need to make sure that the QA testing services firm you hire allot a dedicated team for your project. They should have enough manpower to handle multiple clients at the same time and deliver high-quality QA testing services.

Lack of Control

When you outsource QA, you do not have complete control over the testing process. You will receive all the reports from the software testing services firm but still not have complete control over the process.

This can lead to performance issues, wasting of time, and delays in the launch of the software application. 

Cost of Outsourcing Software Testing Services

There is no fixed cost on QA outsourcing as it depends on project requirements and your software testing partner. However, there are some common factors which determine the overall cost of outsourcing software testing services. 

The biggest impact on cost is of software project complexity. Higher is the complexity, higher is the cost of outsourcing software testing. 

The methodologies used including, functional testing, non-functional testing, automated or manual testing also have a say on the overall cost of outsourcing software testing. 

The testing team including all the experts who would work on software testing outsourcing projects influence the overall cost in a big way. Along with this, tools and technologies used by the team will add to the cost of outsourcing software testing services.

However, for your reference, you can consider the below mentioned hourly rates:

The location-wise hourly rates for software testing services are 35$-45$ in USA, 20$-30$ in UK, 25$-35$ in Ukraine, 10$-15$ in India and 8$-15$ in Vietnam.

Steps of Software Testing

You may outsource the software testing process, but as we have already seen, you need to keep a close watch on the proceedings. This requires you to be well-versed in the stepwise procedure of software testing.

Let's have a quick look at the steps followed.

Step 1: Requirement Analysis 

The name itself is self-explanatory, and this step involves determining what has been developed and how it needs to be tested. 

This is very important to have a clear picture at the very beginning and eliminating lack of clarity at a later stage, which may result in unidentified bugs.

The QA testing services team also decides which tests can be automated and which needs to be done manually. 

They also have a face to face interaction with the software development team to understand the requirement better. A requirement traceability matrix (RTM) is created to map requirements to test cases. 

Step 2: Test Planning

Once all the requirements are gathered from the development team, it is time for QA testers to begin their task. They create a plan for objectives, testing strategy and resources required for the same. 

This stage also involves deciding on the timeline and cost involved for QA testing services provided to the client. The QA testing team also decides on the milestones and test deliverables. 

Various testing tasks are assigned to the software testing team, and the test plan is reviewed by senior experts before execution. 

A test plan document is created, which clearly mentions the processes and goals of testing activities. 

Step 3: Test Cases 

This step involves creation of specific test cases which are based on the outline of the test plan. Test cases are detailed documents that state what needs to be tested, methods of testing and expected outcome. 

At the end of this stage, the testing team possesses a wide range of test cases, which ensures that all bugs are identified and corrected before launch of the software. 

The software testing services team analyzes and approves various automated tests and manual test cases during this stage.

Step 4: Set Up Test Environment

This is all about setting up all the necessary software and hardware for the test. This environment should simulate the real-world scenario that the concerned software will encounter. 

In Software development, generally, there is an issue of the code working on one system and not on another. This makes it necessary to set up a proper testing environment.  

The final outcome of this stage is that a perfect test environment is set up for the QA testing team. 

Step 5: Text Execution

This is the stage in which the actual software testing takes place as per the developed test cases. All reported abnormalities and bugs are documented and passed on for further scrutiny. 

QA testers map the bugs with their corresponding test cases and update the Requirement Traceability Matrix(RTM). Once the bugs are fixed, retesting is done to see whether they have been resolved completely.

Regression testing is also done to see that bug fixes have not created new defects. 

Step 6: Test Closure

Test Closure is the last and final step in the Software Testing Life Cycle. It involves completing all testing processes and documenting them in detail. 

During this stage, the software testing services team have a clear understanding of reliability and quality of the software. 

A final report is generated about all the test cases executed, defects and fixes done. The test environment is cleaned up and test data are archived for future reference. 

The results are shared with the QA outsourcing client along with comprehensive documentation.

Wrapping Up…

So, it's time to wrap up the entire Software Testing & Quality Assurance(QA) process. We have seen the advantages and disadvantages of outsourcing software testing services..  

You also know the best practices to be followed while outsourcing software testing services. The Six steps which we have discussed for the software testing process will help you in selecting the most suitable QA testing services partner.

Take your Pick!