13 Things to Consider When Evaluating Software Testing Companies for Outsourcing

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#7) Change Management

There might be frequent requirement changes from the client end which impacts the testing cycle, if not handled properly. To overcome the additional cost, time and efforts of handling the requirement changes, service providers should maintain a strong change management system.

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#8) Intellectual Property Protection

IPR protection is one of the vital aspects to consider while outsourcing the services. One of the biggest challenges is to protect the businesses’ intellectual property when it is outsourced. The Personally identifiable information (PII) provided by the client should be protected by the vendor and not to be used for any other purpose apart from the intended business.

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#9) Communication

Sometimes communication barriers between client & vendors create a roadblock in the work to be done. So, it is very important to establish a proper communication channel between the two parties. The list of POCs for each area of work should be exchanged between client & vendor.

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#10) People

The team of QA engineers, leads, managers & technical staff to which the vendor assigns the outsourced work should be competent & an expert in software testing & management skills. You need to ensure that your work is going into the right hands.

Many clients also conduct interviews at the vendor site to ensure the resources employed for the project are proficient enough to take up the project work.

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#11) Security

Protecting data is very important from a business perspective. The outsourcing providers have information security policies & standards. Many vendors get their dedicated team to work in an ODC (Offshore Development Center) where only the team for a particular client project sites.

The entry of any external staff is restricted in ODCs. ODCs also restrict the use of mobile phones, cameras, storage devices like pen drives, etc.

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Choosing a Company for QA Outsourcing – Guidelines, Tips & Recommendations

Choosing the right service provider for your software is a challenging task. You will ultimately end up in chaos if your software gets into the wrong hands for testing.

Below are the risks posed to your business if you choose a wrong vendor for your testing work:

• Hindrance in the flow of work due to time zone, cultural & language gap
• Depreciated quality
• Delivery delays
• Delayed support
• Security breaches
• Slipping control over operations
  
  

Outsourcing needs very careful considerations and thorough study before delegating the work to a vendor. Spend a good amount of time before making the final decision.

There are many software testing vendors in the market today who all claim to be the best in their place. But, you have to select the right one out of this pool of vendors.

Follow These Steps to Select the Best Company:

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#1) Know what to outsource

First, know what you want to outsource. Jot down the scope of your work, areas of testing, type of testing required and the test coverage you are expecting from the vendor.

There are different types of testing services that you can outsource. It can be categorized into 4 broad types:

• Enterprise Application testing
• Web application testing
• Desktop application testing
• Mobile application testing
  
  

Also, clearly list the target devices and platforms over which you want the testing to be done.

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#2) To Whom to Outsource?

Having decided that you need to outsource the testing services and once you are clear on your requirements, a big question arises that to whom to outsource?

For this, you need to find out what vendors in the market are capable of serving to your needs.

Don’t worry! We have made it easy for you. You can refer to our list of top 20 software testing service providers.

There are big corporate IT companies like IBM, Capgemini, Wipro, etc. that provide testing services. Apart from these, there are some companies that provide specialized QA testing services only. These are TestFort, QA Mentor, QASource, etc.

The article link provided above lists the best testing service providers along with a link to their official website. It also itemizes the top software testing companies specific to India. Now, that you have the list of software testing service providers handy with you, the next challenge in front of you is to choose the best service provider out of this list.

To start, get ideas from the companies service model & processes and then find out whether it will work with your in-house team or not? By doing so, you will come up with a smaller list of vendors out of the big pool.

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#3) Investigate

Investigate these vendors with the help on the web, other companies using similar services, ex-employees, social media, etc. Cross-check the information provided by vendors about themselves. Do a thorough analysis of the company you are choosing for outsourcing.

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#4) Interact

Have your technical & managerial experts interact with these vendors to dig out more information about them. Get details about the team, their capabilities, and experience. It is essential for the testing process that the testing outsourcing company understands your products and your clients.