TABLE OF CONTENTS

· Why is software testing important?

· Steps in the software testing process

· What are your options for software testing

· The STRONG reasons for outsourcing your software testing

SUMMARY

Market research studies show that 40% of unplanned application downtime is caused by application failures or "bugs"; 40% by application errors and only 20% by hardware, environmental factors or disasters. Therefore, 80% of unplanned downtime can be alleviated by improvement of IT processes, pre-deployment testing and complete operations training. But not all organizations have the "know-how" or resources to perform the software testing process. Software testing is crucial, but it is certainly not the core activity of most organizations that need it. Outsourcing this process will allow a company to focus on it's core activities while software testing experts can handle the work proficiently, ensuring quality results. The company will save time and money on a process that would otherwise be too tedious and exhausting if performed internal.

Why is software testing important?

Software testing is an essential and vital phase of any software development project. Developers and testers must ensure that newly developed products meet practical and performance requirements and that those products are reliable to operate consistently under every circumstance. The risks of launching a product that is not yet fully prepared are greater now than ever before because of the change in expectations and demands of the end users.

A continuous approach to quality, initiated early in the software lifecycle, can lower the cost of completing and maintaining the software significantly. This greatly reduces the risk associated with deploying poor quality software.

Briefly, the main improvements that come with deploying software testing and highlight the generally quoted reasons for testing are:

- Save time and money by identifying defects early

- Avoid or reduce development downtime

- Provide better customer service by building a better application

- Know that users' requirements are satisfied

- Build a list of desired modifications and enhancements for later versions

- Identify and catalog reusable modules and components

- Identify areas where programmers and developers need training

Steps in the software testing process

Software testing providers focus primarily on evaluating product quality, which is realized through the following core practices:

- Find and document defects in software quality.

- Advise on the perceived software quality.

- Validate and prove the assumptions made in design and requirement specifications through concrete demonstration.

- Validate that the software product works as designed.

- Validate that the requirements are implemented appropriately.

A good test effort is driven by questions such as: How could this software break? In what possible situations could this software fail to work predictably? Software testing challenges the assumptions, risks, and uncertainty inherent in the work of other disciplines, and addresses those concerns using concrete demonstration and impartial evaluation.

What are your options for software testing

Independent testing denotes the test design and implementation most appropriately performed by someone who is autonomous from the team of developers. This means that the results will be impartial and reflect an objective view of product's capabilities.

But though company literature boasts the tremendous time and money saving features of outsourcing software testing - while stressing high quality work you can count on - one should decide clearly whether it is really beneficial to outsource software testing.

How can you decide if it makes sense to outsource software testing? You've got to begin by carefully analyzing your needs as they relate to this critical phase of software development. Software testing means many things to many people. The main objective of software testing is to ensure the software functions as specified before going into production. But it also means making sure the software is intuitive and easy to use.

Before you make the decision to outsource software testing, it's important to clarify what you want from the outsourcing company. As their popularity grows, so do the services these companies provide. Many also provide software design services. Or, they will plan, but not implement a software testing process for your organization. And they will even send individuals to your site to takecare of integrating the software testing tools you purchase with your hardware. In general, regardless of your exact software testing needs, if you've got the money to pay for it, you'll find an outsourcing company willing to do it.

The STRONG Reasons for Outsourcing your Software Testing

ACCESS TO A SKILLED TEAM OF TESTERS

Probably the most important reason why companies decide to outsource software testing is to eliminate the learning curve.

Employees of specialized software testing companies are not only aware of different software testing tools, but they already know how to use them very well. If you work in software development, you know how tight production schedules are. Anything that saves time helps keep projects on schedule. Software delays are costly so when weighing the costs vs. benefits of outsourcing software testing, determine how project delays affect your bottom line.

REDUCE EXPENSES WITH RESOURCES

Following the previously mentioned reason, it's also important to say that software testing providers are not only specialists in testing tools but, obviously, they already own it. And these tools are pretty expensive. So the fact that you won't have to buy them any more is already a significant cost saver.

Moreover, oftentimes software development houses cannot afford to hire and maintain a full-time development team and an in-house software testing team. For these companies, the decision to outsource software testing is an easy one.

BETTER SOFTWARE QUALITY

Another key benefit of outsourcing testing practice is better software quality supported by:

· Organization independence, which ensures focus on quality, correctness and conformance to requirements without schedule or budget overruns

· Technical and process independence which is achieved through mature processes, specialized resources and tools for testing the application

· Central repository of testing best practices such as mechanisms to identify defects in early release cycles and approaches for reducing test case development effort

FASTER TIME TO MARKET

Organizations with an independent testing process ensure improved time to market by enabling faster turnaround of releases. This is achieved through:

· Skills in test automation strategies, enabling faster testing cycles

· Optimizing staffing lead time and improving the ability to handle fluctuations in demand

· Higher degree of predictability in testing effort, enabling adherence to schedule

SAVE OVERALL COSTS

It's an overhyped subject that IT outsourcing in general determines significant costs reduction. But in software testing particularly, research studies show clear figures regarding companies that chose outsourcing instead of in-house deployment.

- In a study conducted by AMR Research, surveys proved a cost of finding and fixind deffects that accounts for nearly 50% of the cost for all software development projects.




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