Managed Services in Software Quality Assurance

The role of quality assurance is important in the software development life cycle. This is because the consequences of releasing poorly tested or defected software into the market can result to revenue loss since the software does not satisfy the end users.

Software quality assurance is of crucial importance to ensure applications and systems perform as specified and expected. They can help companies meet business objectives and provide seamless continuity.

However, for many organizations, they face a lot of challenges achieving the desired level of quality in their software. Some of these challenges are:

• They may need to invest in various types of resources to set up a quality assurance team which is overly expensive and that team may or may not be required every year, and with all the necessary infrastructure and processes – organizations often find that it’s challenging to focus on their core business.
• They also worry about their software applications meeting industry standards and requirement for quality. The sole aim of building a software application is to meet the requirement of the end users. If an application fails to meet this requirement, the application has failed regardless of the number of errors or defects that was corrected.
• Expertise skills, test environments, test wares and rigorous/ exhaustive testing are expensive and requires enough time.
• Companies can no longer rely on software developers to test as they may not have the zeal and time to do rigorous testing that is required.
• As a result of all these challenges there is a need to outsource quality assurance so that organization can deliver high quality while also reducing cost.

This is where managed testing services comes into play. Adopting managed testing techniques work at lower cost and with increased efficiencies. Managed quality assurance services cover all activities in a test project, including the entire testing process. At the beginning, the customer and service provider discuss the "what", "when", “who and "how" the project will be implemented. Managed testing is recommended when the testing topic is complex and requires coordinating several parties, all of which requires resources and expertise that the client may not have. So, organizations tend to outsource their quality assurance and software testing.

Managed services in software quality assurance usually requires some certain steps before implementation will begin which are:

1. What needs to be tested - This defines the system under test, as well as requirements or features that need to be tested
2. How it should be tested - This defines the depth and detail of the tests.
3. When testing should occur and when the testing should be complete.
4. Who are the key stakeholders and who needs to be included in different communication and decision-making processes? (QITASC, No date: online)

Adopting managed quality assurance and testing services has a lot of importance which includes:

? Business Understanding and Domain Expertise

Managed testing service providers in quality assurance demonstrate business knowledge, domain expertise, and technology understanding. This is vital to ensure activities are carried out correctly and that industry-standard and domain-specific best practices and guidelines are adhered to.

? Well-Equipped and Skilled Teams

Managed testing service providers can draw from well-defined and established test processes. They have a team of skilled work experience in testing. They also have a talent pool of resources in every niche of skillsets required in testing. They are also invested in continually upgrading to the latest and best testing tools and technologies. This further strengthens the quality of their work.

? Flexible and Responsive Teams

Managed testing service providers can scale their teams up or down based on evolving requirements. This helps to keep costs in check so your organization functions in a lean and agile manner. The market is constantly changing, and a quality assurance team can responsively adapt to market dynamics. They can reduce the time-to-market for new features or versions of your software. And with their seasoned quality assurance skills, managed service providers teams offer efficiency. Under a managed services engagement, the vendor is encouraged to use the best resources and most efficient team to solve a problem within the given parameters. The customer does not have to do resume selection and candidate interviews. A typical case for managed services is when a client needs to do exhaustive testing for a software application i.e., testing all combinations of inputs. Managed quality assurance is usually recommended here because the business might not have the resource, time and enough budget to do rigorous testing. Hence, the need to outsource their quality assurance and software testing services.

? Reduced Overall Costs

Organizations have reduced quality assurance costs just by leveraging managed quality assurance services. They accomplish this by leveraging the services of offshore testing teams that plan for testing activity in the most efficient and optimized manner. Apart from bringing down costs with offshore testing centers, organizations also achieve greater productivity with each business day resulting in shorter timelines to product launch. (Boston Technology, No date: online) In conclusion, managed quality assurance service is the solution for clients who want to transform their testing function and achieve high-quality systems cost-effectively, without the expense of large overheads and day-to-day responsibilities, and without losing over control.

In conclusion, managed quality assurance service is the solution for clients who want to transform their testing function and achieve high-quality systems cost-effectively, without the expense of large overheads and day-to-day responsibilities, and without losing over control.

REFRENCE LIST

1. QITASC. (No date) What is managed testing and when you should use it. [Online] [accessed on 1st August, 2022] https://www.qitasc.com/articles/managed-testing
2. Boston Technology. (No date) The benefits of managed testing and managed quality assurance services [Online] [accessed on 1st August, 2022] https://www.boston-technology.com/blog/the-benefits-of-managed-testing-ormanaged-qa-service