Outsourcing Testing Services: Essential Things To Look For
According to a survey by the National Institute of Standards and Technology, outsourcing of testing services to third-party vendors helps the US software industry save more than $20 billion every year. The rising market competition, need for cost cutting, and the demand for specialization encourage many businesses and software developers to revise their approach toward product development. The push for trimming down expenses and increasing profit has made them to search reliable partners for outsourcing testing needs. However, it is important to ensure that testing services providers must follow proper quality and delivery standards and guarantee infallible products assuring effective bulwark against loss of business or revenue.
The following are some important parameters to consider while making a decision on outsourcing your requirement for testing services.
Justify Need for Outsourcing Testing Services
Notwithstanding the temptation of product testing outsourcing model, it is pertinent to look if you need to adopt it. Check out the real benefits you are to get and thorough quality-cost analysis. No doubt cost is a big factor. But delays and lack of quality can defeat the purpose, as it requires you to employ extra resources to check testing services done by the vendor. Make sure your outsourcing needs are compatible with your revenue generation model and client management cycle.
Go For The Right Vendor
While improved profitability and sustainability remain key objectives of outsourcing, it is equally important that the testing services provider must be technically sound, experienced, easily communicative, have better resources, domain knowledge and well-equipped lab capable of handling the task. Consider an offshore partner while selecting the right testing services provider based on the following seven major criteria.
•       Technical skills, infrastructure, and resources at disposal
•       Domain and industry expertise
•       Competence, experience and qualification of the team
•       Security and delivery standards
•       Project management and knowledge transfer capability
•       Client-centric communication and approach
A good testing services provider must be able to address all client concerns on deliverables, quality, and support and assure satisfaction. Timeliness and continued communication are as significant as proficiency of team providing testing services. The team should be a perfect blend of experience and expertise and in-house professional must be able to understand exact client requirements and deliver accordingly. Skills should be complemented with domain knowledge and utilization of latest tools. It must be willing to sign a comprehensive service agreement assuring on intellectual property, data security, quality, and deliverable. 
Consider Skill and Technology
The software industry is expanding fast and requires testing services providers to quickly acquire and deliver as per the latest technical standards. A big plus is use of open source tools. Vendors must use a combination of licensed and open source tools to keep costs low without compromising on the quality. Again they should have sufficient expertise to handle complex testing services in e-commerce, mobile, BFSI, gaming, retail, and other sectors that aggressively looking for IT solutions. Vendors must have adequate resources, such as dedicated testing lab and in-house experts experienced in various domains and infrastructure to train their professionals as per client requirements.
Consider Strategic Benefits

Consider strategic benefits of outsourcing testing services in actual terms. Does your chosen testing services provider offer both on-site and off-site manpower? Make sure you have both options to employ whenever required. You are set to gain immensely and increase your marketing edge if the vendor agrees to adopt your working hours, process, and flow effectively. Make sure your vendor is reliable enough to act as an extended arm of your business and ready to help you when emergency requirements for testing services arise. 

Thanks,
360logica Business Team!
www.360logica.com