How to Outsource Software Testing and Quality Assurance (QA) to Win the Time & Cost

According to Global Market Insights, the software testing market reached $51.8 billion in 2023 and is expected to grow at a CAGR of over 7% in 2024-2032. That sounds impressive and truly proves the importance of the industry. Not to mention that the quality of your software and future reviews of its users also depend on how well the testing was.

It’s also important to understand that developers won’t test your app or conduct web QA, yet many businesses try this way and end up urgently looking for specialists with proper skills and testing tools.

Gathering a team of automation and manual experts that can not only comment on the bugs and errors but interact with the improvement process and assist the development team is another challenge. To succeed, you may want to try outsourced software testing services and software QA outsourcing. What are they? How to find such a team in a short time?

In this article, we share explanations, facts, tips, and tricks on hiring the right service provider and outsourcing QA and testing wisely to win time and save money.

Enjoy!

4 Reasons to Outsource Software Testing

First of all, let’s settle on the question of why you may need quality assurance outsourcing. We’ve specified 5 most important reasons.

New feature launch speed

Our professionals in outsource QA testing can help you launch new features in very tough deadlines. Customers nowadays don’t forgive poor app work, user experience, and other mistakes, so quick launch without losses in quality is a must.

Burnout of core team and lost deadlines

Did you know that 30% of your core team time is devoted to fixing urgent bugs? It’s not cost-effective as QA engineers have lower rates than developers. Besides, it’s demotivating for the dev team. So, it makes sense to turn to software testing and QA outsource.

Long hiring terms

It can take you 12 months on average to find and hire the right QA engineer. But what if your project needs to be launched in ⅓ of that time? In this case, ProCoders do the hiring for you in a different time, say, 4-6 weeks. We look through talent pools to find specialists familiar with the outsourced QA testing model or staff augmentation if you need it instead; We also interview and test the candidates, ensuring that only professionals work for you.

High employment costs for an in-house team

In case this is a one-time project and your in-house app and website QA team lacks skills (or you have none), a QA and software testing company comes to the rescue. You’ll get a qualified addition to your team or a whole new dedicated one for the project. No taxes, no vacations, no other bonuses you would need to provide to an in-house expert.

While you may need an in-house team for some tasks, using a whole team at 45% of their capacity but still paying 100% doesn’t sound very cost-efficient.

All this sounds very beneficial for you. But what about the whole outsourcing quality assurance model? There can’t be only the pros, right?

Yeah, kind of. So, let’s discuss this honestly as well.

Pros and Cons of Outsourced QA Testing Services

Experts differ in their statements on the usage of outsourcing, as well as its pros and cons. So, in this article, let’s overview the advantages and disadvantages of outsourcing quality assurance and software testing specifically, in detail.

Application Testing Outsourcing Pros

First, let’s see what’s good about outsourcing.

Cost-effectiveness

Usually, you would spend money (and time) on hiring the right people, training them, installing the right software, purchasing the right tech for their needs, and so on. In the case of QA software outsourcing, those additional expenses are eliminated.

Efficiency

It’s much better to use our experts’ outsourcing testing services as their expertise is wider than that of regular developers who have little experience with QA. A fresh professional look at a problem can resolve a lot of issues. The testers can use different methodologies and find unusual ways to resolve peculiar problems.

Variety of tech and skills

Our testing specialists have a variety of software and diverse skills that allows them to take up any project, no matter the complexity. So, they will be able to choose the best testing algorithm and software for your case, delivering outstanding results.

Easy adaptation

When you choose ProCoders, for example, we provide you with people who have extensive experience with software testing. They have worked with projects of different scales and needs. That means if something unexpected occurs, they won’t lose their professionalism to tight deadlines or complex problem-solving.

No bias

Your software quality assurance outsourcing isn’t a part of your company, which means there will be no bias when it comes to testing results, recommendations, and concerns. We at ProCoders think that all organizations deserve honesty when it comes to software quality.

Software Test Outsourcing Cons

Let’s see the cons now. As a disclaimer, let us just tell you that all of these can be avoided if you choose the right company to collaborate with.

Security

When choosing a company for QA and software testing outsourcing, take into account how it handles sensitive data. For proper testing results, you’ll need to provide a lot of it to your contractor. Customer and corporate data is extremely important, and we at ProCoders know that.

That’s why our specialists always sign NDAs prior to beginning their work. Their goal is to make your project flourish, not to steal information.

Quality

You have limited control over the quality the outsourcing company you hire for QA software testing provides. For example, if you opt for a lower price because “everything should be fine with the app we’re about to launch”, chances are you’re going to get back a buggy app your customers won’t love.

Location-based concerns

Outsourcing testing offshore comes with location-based concerns such as time zones. How are you going to talk to your testers if you’re at least 5 hours apart? Well, here at ProCoders, we establish working hours during which you can communicate with the team or the specialist, checking on their progress. This is the time when it’s convenient for both parties to engage in a conversation.

The argument over outsourcing software development pros and cons will never end, and we’re not trying to join it. Why join something like this if you could work on eliminating the cons and focusing on the pros?
That is what we do with our two outsourcing and staff augmentation models. Each one is perfect for a particular client, but you have to know the differences between them.

Software Testing Outsourcing Models

There’s an everlasting topic of outsourcing vs. outstaffing. Which one to choose, what are the pros and cons of each model, and so on.

In brief, when you outsource software quality assurance services, you have to consider the two models: full outsourcing and staff augmentation. Both are great for their own purposes and any of them can be useful for your company.

Let’s get into details. We provide examples based on the experience of our long-term lead QA specialist, so keep on reading!

Fully Outsourced Quality Assurance and Software Testing

The outsourcing model is suitable when:

• You have no QA team
• You doubt you have enough resources for a proper testing
• You’re too busy with the core business and want to trust the whole process to someone
• You/your team doesn’t have sufficient technical experience

So, basically you have this app and don’t know what to do now, who to turn to, where to look for professionals. Imagine the anxiety and overwhelm when you’re in such a situation and there’s no time to handle all of this yourself.

What you have to do is apply for our Discovery Phase services, where our specialists will see what resources you need for a proper testing process, including:

• What kind of team you need
• How much it will cost
• When the project can be launched, tested and checked.

As you get a clear plan on the following steps, you can hire our team or sole specialist to check and recheck your project. You can also turn to any other QA company and they will do the job according to our budget, skillset, and timeframe plan. Another option is gathering your own team according to our recommendations on the necessary skills.

ProCoders case example of outsourced qa services

Our QA generalist Ruslana is working on this logistics tech infrastructure for SDCN. She is the leading QA specialist and is involved in the project along with the ProCoders team of software testing experts. This is one of the cases where the client knows what they want but doesn’t really have time and resources to handle the development and testing process on their own.

So, they turned to ProCoders and we’ve gathered a perfect team for them. These people are responsible for the quality of testing and promotion of potentially beneficial features to the customer. With constant communication and prolonged collaboration, our team has chosen the best temporary additional staff (with the client’s consent, of course) and is currently making the best possible decisions for the project.
It’s sometimes tricky to get the information to the client in the right way as they don’t have time to get into all the tech intricacies, but that’s why we say that we value communication!

Persuading them to refactor the code to implement a new feature, explaining why it’s important, making the best decisions together, and finding the most suitable functions for the app is what defines a role of a dedicated ProCoders testing team.

Staff Augmentation: Adding Quality Talent to Your Existing Testing Team

Staff augmentation, on the other hand, is an ideal match for your project if:

• You can do it yourself but have no time and sufficient resources
• You have your own project manager or even a testing team but require help
• You want a fresh view with a new/different methodology
• You know who you need and why

So, you contact us and say how many specialists you need and what requirements you have to the candidates (app industry, e.g. healthcare or gaming, etc.), and we find them for you. These people aren’t just skilled, they are excellent team players, which is perfect since they will work with your PM and team.

Our specialists can bring a new vision to your project, finding solutions to the problems you thought you couldn’t resolve.

ProCoders case example

Another project our lead QA works on is for Quartz Network. A large, multi-national company with lots of employees turned to ProCoders for help as they needed additional testing staff for their revolutionary B2B project. The company knows what they need and how they need it, including:

• The kind of staff
• The number of people
• The tasks they will be doing

Quartz Network has their own PMs who control everything connected with the project. So, our responsibility is to perform tasks on a high level, and that’s it. The communication is still active, our staff and the company’s representatives schedule weekly calls to discuss the progress, though. No over-involvement, just plain high-quality collaboration bringing fruitful results.

The work is done using the Scrum network, which our testers have a rich experience with. The frame was chosen by the client, so it’s great that we have diverse experts employed who are familiar with most types of technologies and methodologies.

It may be difficult to grasp the difference between the two, but Ruslana summed it up like this:

“The difference between the two models is the level of responsibility and control given to our staff. We work perfectly with both models and communicate with the client, getting their consent to anything we do. We’ll either guide you to the perfect result or just get the job done to help you and your team get there.”

If it’s still hard, we can help you with this. Apply for the Discovery Phase services at ProCoders and let’s discuss the needs of your project, the budget, the timeframe, and the number of specialists needed.
If you’re in doubt about what services you can and should outsource, check out our list just below.

List of Software Testing Services That Can Be Outsourced

Here are the most common outsourcing QA testing services:

• Automation testing
• Compatibility testing
• Cross-browser testing
• Documentation services
• eCommerce testing
• Exploratory testing
• Full cycle testing
• Functional testing
• Game testing
• Installation testing
• Localization testing
• Mobile application testing
• Multi-platform testing
• Performance testing
• Security testing
• SEO testing
• Technical writing testing
• UI testing
• Usability testing

Even if you outsource testing of several of these, you’re going to save a lot of time and effort. That’s a given if you use QA outsourcing tips from our professionals.

Useful Tips for Successful QA Testing Outsourcing

These are crucial tips that will help you outsource software testing services properly without being disappointed as a result.

Arrange communication between your managers/team and the outsourced/outstaffed team

We think that communication is one of the keys to successful cooperation. So, establishing proper conversation channels on both sides is crucial.

Sign NDAs and SLAs

NDAs (Non-Disclosure Agreements) are documents QA testers should sign before you provide them with sensitive data about your app, customers, company, etc.

SLAs are Service Level Agreements – documents that identify the guidelines and deadlines of each testing phase.

ProCoders specialists, for example, always sign these documents to provide the best worry-free experience.

Establish regular reporting

To be systematically updated with the progress and maintain control over the process, establish regular reporting and online meetings.

Interview and communicate

Besides having a personal interview with the experts you’re outsourcing software QA to, it makes sense to have some team calls with your developers and QA specialists in order to coordinate them better and avoid future miscommunications.

How to Choose the Right Software Testing Outsourcing Partner?

Let’s sum up this topic in an easy-to-understand guide in the form of questions you should ask yourself when looking for, checking, and choosing the best software QA services for outsource.:

• Location – where do your future testers live? What are location options? How are you going to communicate? What are their salary expectations?
• Mindset – something not all businesses pay attention to. Do your values align? How will the agency’s staff treat your project? How important is it for them to collaborate with you effectively long-term?
• Expertise – how many types of outsourced QA for software does the company have experience with? Do they have manual testing experts or only automatic? How familiar are their testers with products in your niche?
• Cost – what commission do you have to pay to the agency? Are there any hidden fees in small print and what are they? Can the company provide an estimate of the final price?
• Product security – how protected will your data be during the collaboration? What documentation do the testers sign to guarantee its safety?

Answer all of the above, and you’ll narrow down your list to a couple of finalists. To address your curiosity, let us tell you a little about ProCoders and why it’s the universal and effective choice for your business.

Why Choose ProCoders as Your QA Outsourcing Partner?

Because service is our superpower. ProCoders strives to have loyal, long-lasting relationships with clients by providing superior services at an adequate price. Our specialists are from Central Europe, where the costs of living are lower, which reflects in our pricing. That being said, we know no such thing as quality loss.

Our mindset is meeting your business goals, not just delivering a high-quality test. We only look for experienced specialists who have worked with software in your industry and have insider knowledge of how different tests have to be done.

And finally, you shouldn’t worry about the security of your information as our staff signs NDAs and complies with them.

Conclusion

Outsourcing quality assurance offers faster time to market, resource savings, and top-notch software quality. It’s cost-effective, time-saving, and adaptable, with benefits like multiple methodologies and easy team integration.

You can choose between outsourcing and staff augmentation, depending on your project needs. In both cases, selecting a reliable QA partner is crucial. Evaluate their expertise and alignment with your goals through interviews.

For tailored advice, consider our Discovery Phase services to determine the best model and team size for your project. At ProCoders, we’re committed to top-quality services and long-term collaboration, with the best QA testers ready for your application.