How to decide if you should go for an outsourced testing team

Proprietary or outsourced testing team – that is a question

• • It is not easy to determine, which is better – proprietary or outsourced testing team. That is because the question is not completely valid. It is like choosing what is better – 400hp sports car or 400hp trailer. The answer is – depends on what do you need the car for. So, what do you need testing for?

• The ultimate goal of testing should be achieving a desired quality of software. But each company is different and so is the code. Is there a universal rule that will help you determine if you need your own or outsourced testing team? Let’s go trough some of the notoriously known pros and cons of outsourced testing team and maybe we will find one.

Pros of outsourced testing team

• • Higher efficiency – external testing team is usually composed of experienced and skilled professionals able to perform the tasks in shorter time, you have the testing team only when you need it

• • Lower infrastructural cost – no need to have expensive testing software and tools licensed within the company

• • Lower HR costs – no recruitment, no training, no development for testing

• Better focus – no need to worry about testing, time to focus on what you are best at

Cons of outsourced testing team

• • Difficult selection process – market is overcrowded with outsource testing providers, there is very hard and long journey to get the right one

• • Security in danger – confidential data, source code, documentation accessible and much more is available to third party

• • Out of control – it is very hard, especially in time crunching situations, to negotiate proper terms and follow deadlines

• • Quality issues – need to regularly check the quality of testing, reputation of the company is at stake

• Different countries – long distance communication, different time zones, different laws, different everything

How to decide

• • Large enterprises – most difficult decision. As you have a plenty of projects running simultaneously, you shouldn’t have troubles to allocate work for your own testing team. Recruit, train and develop your own people and your quality and security will be completely under your control. Possibly outsource the team extension in peak periods. Or use your reputation as a bargain chip to negotiate the best terms. Check SANAE flexible engagement model for details.

• Small and medium business – easy to decide. Not so many running projects? You need just one or two testers to perform quality check 5 or 6 days within the month? No problem – use SANAE flexible engagement model to achieve best results in software quality.