13 November 2021
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21 April 2023
7 Minutes Read 
BY
Divya shree
As you settled into your well-deserved break, savoring a hot cup of coffee in your office, the weight of launching your payment platform weighed heavily on your mind. You knew that the quality assurance (QA) process was the backbone of your product, and any shortcomings could have disastrous consequences for your startup.
Manually testing a large number of payment transactions in a short period can be a daunting task, more so when users prefer various payment schemes like UPI, credit cards, and debit cards across multiple banks.
And your team was worried that something might slip through the cracks. In situations like this, it’s crucial to consider the benefits of outsourcing your Software testing efforts.
The 2023 State of Test Automation Report revealed that the top challenge reported by respondents was a lack of resources for test automation, with 22% of participants falling under this category.
When asked about their biggest hurdles in testing, this was the most commonly cited difficulty – the lack of available resources to implement proper testing best practices into their test strategies.
While it is commendable that the founders and core team handle the testing themselves, the concern is how they manage them and ensure proper documentation of test cases.
The real question here is whether your current approach can handle the growth of your startup and product features.
Sadly, the answer is no.
The new phase will require newer approaches. Your customers will play a key role here as they define your product roadmap and its crucial features. Their feedback and satisfaction are paramount to the success of your startup.
Difficulty in scaling: Startups might find it challenging to scale up their testing efforts quickly up or down depending on project needs. The core team will have to invest a lot of time, and money in finding, hiring, training, and retaining a dedicated QA team.
Inexperienced testers: Let’s say that your developers take up the job of testing; they might not have the necessary experience or knowledge to map out a plan that will identify all defects, nor will they be unbiased. This could lead to poor-quality products and negative customer experiences.
Hiring challenges: Startups might struggle to find the right candidate for their testing needs if they choose to hire in-house. It could be a lengthy and costly process that diverts focus from other important tasks.
Delayed testing setup: Startups may need to spend time setting up testing environments and frameworks, which could delay the testing process and impact the overall development timeline.
There are two ways to approach testing – in-house testing and outsourcing.
In-house testing involves all QA activities of the software lifecycle being done within the organization, while outsourcing testing involves delegating the testing activities to a third-party organization that specializes in software testing.
The outsourcing approach is a lifesaver for startups that do not have the necessary resources and infrastructure to do it themselves.
In-house testing is only recommended when the core team has the time and money to closely manage and control the testing process. It is expensive in most cases.
Keeping the testing process in-house can lead to better communication among the people as they can discuss, and ask for help. The hired testers must be familiar with the product and its development process, must collaborate with the entire team that built the product, and understand their target audience.
But let’s not forget the other side of the coin.
In-house testing can be a costly endeavor. Training and retaining a team of QA staff can put a serious dent in any startup’s budget, especially when there’s pressure to deliver results quickly. And what happens when your product starts to grow? Suddenly, those limited QA resources start to feel like a real roadblock.
There may also be potential for conflicts of interest and bias in testing, as internal testers, your team may have a vested interest in promoting the success of the product.
Of course, there are pros and cons to both in-house testing and outsourcing, but outsourcing can provide startups with access to a wide range of specialized testing services, including automated testing tools and frameworks.
Outsourcing testing can help startups scale up quickly. A specialized testing team can quickly set up testing environments, execute test cases, and provide test reports. This can help the startup save time and money on hiring, training, and retaining a dedicated QA team.
Developers are not testers. Testing requires a specific skill set and a systematic approach to identifying problems. Outsourcing testing can ensure that your product is tested by experienced professionals who have the expertise and knowledge to identify defects and ensure product quality.
Outsourcing testing can also help startups overcome the challenge of hiring the right candidate. Testing companies have a pool of talented professionals with different levels of experience and knowledge. This makes it easier for startups to find the right candidate for their testing needs.
Time is a crucial factor for startups. Outsourcing testing can help startups save time by providing quick turnaround times and reducing the time required to set up testing environments and execute test cases. This can help startups meet their deadlines and launch their product on time.
Outsourcing testing provides access to a team of experienced professionals who have worked on similar projects before.
For one, an experienced testing team has likely worked on similar projects before and knows where the weaknesses are present. This means that they can figure out potential issues more quickly, and suggest improvements to your product-building efforts.
Testing companies have pre-built testing environments and frameworks that can be used to start testing right away. This can help startups save time and money on setting up testing environments and frameworks.
Outsourcing testing lets the startup team be flexible in scaling up or down depending on project needs. This can help startups save money on testing resources when they are not needed and scale up quickly when required.
Take the case of Fotopia Technologies which has a set of tools that helps businesses manage all their documents, contents, and information on Microsoft 365 and SharePoint.
Fotopia entrusted Testvox with three important projects that required thorough testing. The projects were called FotoSign, FotoCapture, and FotoView. The thing is, Fotopia didn’t have an in-house testing team, so they needed some help from outside experts.
That’s where Testvox came in. They’re an independent software testing company with a ton of experience testing plug-ins embedded in Microsoft Outlook and document management applications integrated with SharePoint and Microsoft 365.
Fotopia knew they could trust Testvox to provide thorough testing and make sure everything was working as it should.
Outsourcing testing is the suggested option for startups that want to scale up quickly without sacrificing product quality.
In a nutshell; we have seen that in-house testing might give you better control and collaboration, but it can be expensive and time-consuming. And that outsourcing is a more practical and cost-effective solution for startups. With outsourcing, startups can access experienced professionals, specialized testing tools and frameworks, quick turnaround times, and flexibility in scaling up or down as needed.
By outsourcing their testing efforts, startups can focus on their core business objectives and ensure their platform is of the highest quality.
