Top 5 Considerations to Choose a Reliable Testing Services Company

The critical role of quality in the success of any software application in the market is a foregone conclusion. It determines the brand equity, customer satisfaction, and revenue levels of any company. It must be understood that quality cannot be sacrificed for speed of delivery or any other consideration. Any state-of-the-art software product needs to get rid of vulnerabilities that hackers or threat actors can exploit easily. The answer to mitigating such possibilities is to undertake software quality assurance, preferably at every major step of software development, a la Agile or DevOps.

Remember, the year 2021 witnessed 78.4 million ransomware attacks, which was higher than the previous three quarters (Source: Techrepublic). In fact, cybercrime is expected to cost businesses $10.5 trillion annually by 2025, which is substantially higher than the $6 trillion in 2021. With so much at stake, QA testing should be made an integral part of the SDLC, and businesses should look at hiring or outsourcing the job to an experienced testing services company. This is because conducting such testing in-house can have its share of challenges, with running costly overheads being one of them.

Given the importance of the software testing process in the success of any product, there is a preponderance of software testing services around the globe. Thus, for any business enterprise, it can become a nightmare to separate the wheat from the chaff and hire the services of an experienced software testing company that can deliver the goods. In this blog, we discuss the top 5 criteria for enterprises to choose a fitting testing services company that meets their testing goals.

Top 5 factors to consider when selecting a reputable QA services provider

The top 5 points that business enterprises can consider when choosing a reliable testing services company are:

1. Trustworthiness: What do you do when you don't want to set up an in-house software testing unit but don't want to outsource the job because you're afraid of losing business secrets? To manage the risk and balance the contrarian perspectives, you need to engage a company delivering quality assurance services with a reputation to boot. For starters, you need to enter into an agreement with the company restricting it from sharing crucial business information with third parties. Besides, the company should have, as a part of its processes, strict cybersecurity measures to thwart any episode of data breach. You may visit the company’s account on Google, Yelp, or other platforms to check the entries made by clients and check its client list. If you find that renowned companies have outsourced their software testing to this company, then it can more than prove the company’s trustworthiness.
2. Service level agreement: Business enterprises should outsource their QA requirements to software testing companies that sign proper contracts. These contracts, aka service level agreements, give details of the project, quality procedures, escape clauses, turnaround time, and reporting and monitoring mechanisms, among others, to be followed by the latter. The agreement should clearly define the outcomes the business enterprise should expect from the testing company.
3. Protection of intellectual property: Intellectual property can be a thorny issue between the software development company and the outsourcing company. This needs to be protected at all costs by the latter by not sharing it with anyone for purposes repugnant to the intended business. The SLA should define the same and lay out clauses or penalties that the outsourcing company should adhere to or pay if the condition is breached.
4. Cost: In the end, everything boils down to the cost factor - how much is the testing company going to charge for delivering services? So, begin by getting quotations from various companies that can add value to the job instead of merely finding bugs. The testing company should offer fair rates and should have the means (resources and infrastructure) to deliver the goods within agreed turnarounds. However, don’t make the mistake of choosing a company offering the lowest rates, for cost should not be bartered for low quality.

5. Experience in your field: Each software development and testing project can differ from another based on parameters such as business goals, quality, system features, and others. For instance, testing a banking and insurance app would entail a high level of security, comprehensive test coverage of the workflows, and data integrity, among others. So, the software testing companies chosen for outsourcing must have experience and expertise in working in the chosen field. This can prevent issues of understanding processes or the lack thereof, or any costly rework later.

Conclusion

Outsourcing software testing is a critical activity with wide ramifications. If given to the wrong company, the resultant damage to brand equity and reputation can be immense. Choose a reliable software testing company by following the above-mentioned points and achieve your business objectives.