LTS QA

Outsourcing automation testing is a popular choice among businesses who want to save cost and time in their testing process, but not every one of them knows how to successfully choose an automation testing services provider. To do this, you need to be aware of many aspects, ranging from requirement clarification, technical skills required, etc. Let’s find out more about the actions you should take to find an automation testing services provider in this article.

 

1. Clarify overall requirements

Always define the overall requirements of your project before choosing any service provider. You and your business need to well understand what you expect from the outsourced projects, both in terms of the technical aspects and expenditure to devise a detailed plan for your operations.

 

Goals and objectives

What businesses most expect from automation testing services can be cost reduction, faster time to market or the need for experts in automation testing. Define which is your priority and you can proceed to the next steps. Based on the information about this, you can find the vendors that can meet your particular needs.

 

 

Kind of testing

Automation testing is not a one-size-fits-all solution for your testing process. As automation testing can only take care of some particular kinds of testing, there are scenarios in which your products definitely need manual testings. In other words, there is a variety of what you can test with automation testing, and you need to consider them carefully before starting the testing activities.

For example, you can implement automation in functional testing, unit testing, integration testing, smoke testing, non-functional testing, performance testing, regression testing, etc. But for Adhoc testing, user acceptance testing, etc., it is vital you carry out manual testing.

Read more: Automation testing vs. Manual testing

 

Scope of work

You can outsource your whole testing department, or just some functions of your project. With the scope of work clear in mind, you can then form a checklist of what specific features need to be outlined.

 

2. Have a checklist of technical skills in automation testing services

With automation testing in general, there are plenty of testing tools and programming languages to be implemented. But for an outsourced testing project, you need to stay consistent with the choice of the testing tools.

 

 

For each test objective or approach, there are different automation testing tools, so you just can’t grab any automation software tester to join your team. From the initial decision for the testing tool, you will have to find the test personnel who have the technical knowledge and experience in the following criteria:

• The programming languages required in that tool (Python, Javascript, C#, etc.)
• The supported platforms and reporting functionality of the tool (iOS, Android, etc.)
• Script maintenance and reusability

Read more: Interview questions for software testers

 

3. Know your desired ROI (How much time, effort and money can be saved)

For automation testing projects, the most frequent reason for doing this is to get a better ROI (return of investment). The cost for setting up an automation testing team and writing test cases, test scripts may take a much longer time than that of a manual testing project, but the long-term outcomes will help the team save better.

 

 

Since this is such an important and beneficial thing for businesses to pursue, they also need to be more careful when calculating the ROI. From the metrics of how much time the project will work on, how many people need to be on the project, you ask the service provider to give a wrap of the overall ROI you can gain from the project, and then choose the vendor with the most promising numbers.

 

4. Clarify the expected speed of regression tests

When implementing automation testing, one benefit you can gain from it is the testing speed. Automation testing allows you to shorten your testing time in some particular testing types, say regression testing, as one month’s work can be done within just more than a week. Knowing this, you also need to work out the expected time to market for your project, hence the testing timeframe is indicated.

 

 

With the attention to the speed of regression tests, there are some particular things you can require from your vendor to achieve it:

• The use of test management software
• The implementation of the test schedule
• The technical measures to ensure consistent speed

 

5. Clarify the cost (Salary & Benefit, Tool cost, Maintenance cost)

Hiring an external party to deliver automation testing may be costly. Although the overall price for testing is very little compared to the development cost, automation testing is another spectrum as the job requires knowledge of certain programming languages. In terms of costs, you need to consider the following things:

 

Salary & benefit

Be aware of the average salary and benefits for automation test engineers both from your region and from other parts of the world. From this information, you can decide which country you want to hire the automation testing services from and the scope of price for your project.

 

Cost for automation tool

For automation testing, you can either choose the open-sourced tool or a commercial tool. Each has its pros and cons as follows:

• For open-sourced tools, you don’t have to pay for anything when working with them, but you are more prone to security and maintenance risks.
• For commercial tools, it is very costly for you to use them, but after all, you can get full support from the tool developer and better security measures.

 

Maintenance cost

One major problem with automation testing, in general, is the maintenance cost. If there are any changes in the developing process, the automation code for testing just might not work, causing the test team to find and fix the code all over again. This maintenance process may take up hours or even days to detect the changes and fix the code, hence the cost for maintenance is also another thing you need to note on your contract.

 

 

6. Seek you automation testing services with Lotus QA

Lotus QA has the expertise and experience with automation testing services in many domains such as retail, food and beverage, healthcare, etc., making us one trustworthy and professional service provider for businesses wanting to implement automation testing. When working with us, you will get access to:

• High Security: LQA not only follows stringent procedures of ISO 27000:01 for optimal security and international standardized process but also flexibly adapts to clients’ requirements
• Quality Human Resource: we ensure staff competency through strict rounds of interviews, on-job orientations, continuous learning & development for the most suitable QA staff.
• Flexibility: We provide different working models to allow clients to choose or change the plan at any time.

Contact us for more support with automation testing services:

• Website: https://www.lotus-qa.com/
• Tel: (+84) 24-6660-7474
• Fanpage: https://www.facebook.com/LotusQualityAssurance

A successful software QA outsourcing project requires not only a thorough understanding of your objectives but also in-depth knowledge of the testing market around the world. In this article, let’s find out more about the top countries for software quality assurance services to choose the most suitable destination for your outsourced test center.

 

A Quick Review of Top Countries for Software quality assurance services

To make a favorable destination for outsourcing software quality assurance services, it takes the compilation of many features, including the average salary, Education in IT, Policies for foreign clients, the current number of QA engineers and technical skills. Take a look at this simplified table to gain an overview of the countries with the top software quality assurance services.

 

	Average yearly salary	Number of annual IT graduates	Focused segments of software testing
India	$4,334	1,500,000 (engineering and technology)	AI for automation Automation testing End-to-end testing Cloud Testing
Vietnam	$7,631	50,000	Application testing Automation testing Manual testing API testing Full Cycle testing
The U.S.	$75,242	2,170,000	Application testing Cloud testing IoT testing Security testing DevOps testing AI testing
Ukraine	$8,000	130,000	Full Cycle testing API testing Agile testing Automation testing Game testing
Poland	$17,148	98,250	Manual Test Design and Execution Automated Testing Test Automation Framework Design Functional Testing Load & Performance Testing End-to-End Software Testing API Testing
The Philippines	$8,724	171,960	Application testing Automation testing Manual testing

 

1. India

Currently, India reigns as the most renowned destination for software testing outsourcing in particular. The deciding factor making India the top software quality assurance services country is the reasonable costs for hiring a software tester. With a large pool of low-cost software test engineers, India offers the lowest price for testing services.

In terms of technology, test engineers from India tend to go for the latest and upcoming technical features. In fact, TopCoder has rated India as the 10th most advanced country in terms of Programming skill rankings across the popular outsourcing locations.

 

Software quality assurance services in India

According to research from Deloitte, in terms of governmental policies, India also favors foreign investors, especially in the technology sector. Moreover, the longtime experience in delivering IT services and the undeniable reputation of India in the global IT market have led the government to offer incentives in the best way they can. Besides the policies for the growth of technology in general, India has always boosted education in technology with multiple incentives and many more technology institutions. Such supports from the government has granted India the opportunity to thrive with the largest talent pool.

Also read: Essential QA Metrics to Navigate Software Success

2. Vietnam

Vietnam is the “rising star” in the global software quality assurance services market. Although Vietnam has only gained its reputation recently, the country turns out to be a small but vibrant destination for top-quality software testing services. Every year, there are about 50,000 tech junior graduates from technology institutes, providing an abundant source for Vietnam’s talent pool. About 20% of these graduates will work in the software testing industry.

 

 

What’s so special about the testing services from Vietnamese vendors is the high-quality human resources. According to the A.T. Kearney GSLI, from the early education on Information Technology to the resource availability and financial attractiveness, Vietnam always works towards to best quality in our IT workforce. In this chart, Vietnam ranks alongside India and The Philippines – two popular IT Outsourcing countries. Plus, Tholons Global Innovation COUNTRY INDEX – 2020 ranked Vietnam in the 9th place for talent, skill and quality, proving the country’s capability to ensure high-quality testing services and catch up with the latest testing trends.

The workforce for software testing in Vietnam is well-trained of the required skills in QA processes. For example, the automation testers in Vietnam will sure know the automation tools and frameworks such as Selenium, Appium, Cypress, Ranorex, Eggplant, Katalon, etc.

In terms of government policies, there have been some decisions and laws to protect intellectual property development and cybersecurity, all of which are of great benefit to businesses planning to outsource their software quality assurance services in Vietnam.

Read more: Why you should choose Vietnam as your IT Outsourcing destination

 

3. The U.S.

Despite the rising positions of many other test hubs in the world, the U.S. remains a trustworthy destination for outsourcing testing services. Among tech nations, the U.S. has always been one of the leading places for the most ground-breaking technologies. The application of the latest technologies in the U.S. is the most advanced. Unconsciously, the work quality in the U.S is the standard for every other country to follow as this country has a high level of professionalism.

 

When working with software testing vendors from the U.S., the obvious benefit for you is the language. Since the U.S. has a wide variety of cultures, it is very easy for you to get people with the same cultural background as yours.

Also, America is the home to many famous software testing outsourcing companies in the world, namely Mindful QA, ScienceSoft, QA Mentor, etc. These companies have already made their names in the global testing market, and are trusted destinations for business from all around the world.

 

4. Ukraine

Information Technology is one of the key strategic industries in Ukraine. The value of Ukrainian software outsourcing exceeded $5B in 2020. Also, Ukraine was named the “Offshoring Destination of the Year” by Global Sourcing Association (GSA) in 2017 and ranks 20th the GSLI.

 

According to a popular vendor in Ukraine, the country has more than 1,600 IT service providers, and about 90% of them offer testing services. What’s more, 24% of IT specialists in Ukraine are QA/testers, and 19% of them have 7+ years of experience. There are a little over 48,000 QA experts, and around 16,000 ICT graduates enter the market annually.

The country organizes a wide range of QA conferences such as BAQ Conference, QA Fest, Security Testing Marathon, IT Weekend Lviv: Software Testing & Big Data, etc.

 

5. Poland

The country’s IT services market reached $4.6B in 2019. Around 32% of Polish IT experts work for IT outsourcing (others are working for BPO and GBS companies). Around 29,000 QA professionals are involved in the IT sector in Poland. There are also 500+ IT companies that offer outsourced software testing services.

 

 

Moreover, Poland was ranked 15th in Tholons’ Top 100 Outsourcing Destinations. Poland was also listed 16th in the world for English skills in the EF English Proficiency Index.

 

6. The Philippines

The Philippines is one of the biggest names for IT Outsourcing and software quality assurance services in Southeast Asia. The BPO and outsourcing industry, in general, has been in The Philippines since the mid-1990s, making this country a favorable and professional environment for IT outsourcing operations.

 

 

Besides the fairly reasonable price for the high-quality work, The Philippines can also provide you with the following:

• Effective communication as English is one of the national languages in the country. Almost every tech engineer in The Philippines can speak fluent English. This also leads to cultural fit and compatibility with western countries, bridging the gap in the communication process.
• Famous IT Outsourcing destination with favorable investment policies. Since The Philippines has been in the market longer than any Southeast Asia country, it has long developed a friendly environment for foreign companies to cooperate with domestic IT service providers.
• At present, Outsourcing companies in the Philippines employ more than 2 million people. Therefore, you will have access to a very large talent pool.

 

 

Consult IT outsourcing Strategy with Lotus QA

Lotus QA has the expertise and experience with testing services in many domains such as retail, food and beverage, healthcare, etc., making us one trustworthy and professional service provider for businesses wanting to implement testing. When working with us, you will get access to:

• High Security: LQA not only follows stringent procedures of ISO 27000:01 for optimal security and international standardized process but also flexibly adapts to clients’ requirements
• Quality Human Resource: we ensure staff competency through strict rounds of interviews, on-job orientations, continuous learning & development for the most suitable QA staff.
• Flexibility: We provide different working models to allow clients to choose or change the plan at any time.

Contact us for more support with testing services:

• Website: https://www.lotus-qa.com/
• Tel: (+84) 24-6660-7474
• Fanpage: https://www.facebook.com/LotusQualityAssurance