A robust quality assurance (QA) process – backed by a highly experienced team of technical resources – can mean a successful product launch or project completion. It can also improve revenue potential, as what was expected is what is delivered. On the other hand, poor QA processes and unskilled QA team members can often result in significant product defects and delays, causing lost revenue and unhappy customers or partners.
QA is a critical component of the software development life cycle (SDLC) and one that should be incorporated throughout the process. However, with the current tech talent shortage happening across various industries, hiring, and maintaining a full QA team on staff has become more challenging and costly.
More and more organizations are turning to onshore QA outsourcing to solve these challenges and reap the benefits of a highly skilled quality assurance outsourcing team.
In addition, high-performing onshore QA teams can provide companies greater confidence when it comes to meeting deliverability goals and meeting stakeholder expectations.
What Is Onshore QA Outsourcing?
Onshore quality assurance outsourcing refers to a range of testing services that are conducted by an outsourced team of QA experts that are located within the same country vs. offshore outsourcing to a QA team in another country.
There are also two types of quality assurance testing that QA teams employ, manual and automatic.
- With manual testing, the QA testers run all of the tests on the software without the aid or intervention of any software tools.
- Automated QA testing is typically faster and employs special software or scripts used to find errors or anomalies in the software. However, even with automated testing there is an element of manual work as the QA tester must develop the scripts used to search for the defects and “turn on” and run the testing scripts.
Typically, onshore QA outsourcing teams employ both manual and automated quality assurance testing to ensure the highest quality software or product.
What Job Roles are Required for Onshore QA Outsourcing?
The most effective onshore outsourced QA team will be best determined by your organization’s specific needs; however, QA best practices indicate that a diverse set of skilled individuals, including QA engineers, testers, analysts, architects, managers, and more are needed to achieve the highest quality outcome.
Each person(s) serves a unique role ensuring the quality release of software, which means that if the QA team is lacking in any area, the quality of the release is likely to be affected. What are the essential roles of the QA team?
- QA Team Lead: This individual is the manager and oversees the onshore QA team, monitoring progress and interviewing/hiring new members for the team.
- QA Engineer: Team expert that tests the software to identify bugs or errors and works closely with the software development team to ensure fixes are made and quality standards are met.
- QA Tester: Individual(s) responsible for running the scripts and testing the software for bugs and errors.
- Architect: Develops the infrastructure for testing the software.
- Test Analyst: Responsible for documenting the testing process and overseeing
- Test Project Manager: Defines the QA testing process/tasks, monitors, and oversees the success of the project.
Top Seven Benefits of Outsourcing Your QA Needs
Given the importance of quality assurance and the challenges of hiring and maintaining a skilled in-house QA team, companies that want to improve efficiency, reduce labor costs, and ensure their software or products meet or exceed quality standards should consider the benefits of a high-performing onshore outsourced quality assurance team.
- Improve software deliverability – Meeting software deadlines in today’s rapidly changing environment can be a challenge. A dedicated onshore outsourced QA team working within similar time zones can help streamline the QA process and ensure all important steps are completed on-time, eliminating bugs and errors quickly and reducing delays.
- Gain faster access to advanced skillsets – By outsourcing to highly trained onshore QA professionals, you can quickly gain access to the skillsets you need should the scope of your project change.
- Reduce costs and improve efficiency – An onshore QA outsourcing model allows your organization to scale up or down as needed without hiring internal staff. You also gain the efficiency of better alignment to your individual software development lifecycle and eliminate any overhead from maintaining a full-time QA staff outside of those testing times.
- Increase quality control – With your entire QA team and expertise outsourced onshore in one location, the QA Team Lead can more easily manage the entire QA process, ensure better cross-functional communications, and improve time to market.
- Improve data security – An onshore outsourced QA team keeps all communications and work within the United States which eliminates exposure to potential geo-political and security threats.
- Get enhanced flexibility – With an onshore outsourced model, you can decide on the make-up of your outsourced QA team and testers. They can work with in-house staff or independently and you can add or remove team members as needed.
- Boost customer satisfaction – A highly skilled onshore outsourced QA team will help improve deliverability and quality, ultimately improving customer satisfaction and your organization’s ability to win repeat business.
If these benefits sound like something your organization could use, please reach out to us at Onshore Outsourcing to learn more about our highly skilled, software quality assurance experts.
