Software products today are being developed for a unified experience. Applications are created to perform and deliver a seamless experience on multiple types of devices, operating on various platforms.
Additionally, the growing demand for launching products at pace and scale is pushing businesses towards ensuring that they are market-ready in shorter time frames. The prevalence of Agile/DevOps practices now requires testing to be carried out simultaneously to development. Continuous development, integration, testing, and deployment have become the norm. Testers are now a part of the development process, testing the features, releases, and updates in parallel as they get developed.
The testing & deploying of a multi-platform product in a fast-paced environment requires expertise and complimenting infrastructure to deliver a unified experience. Add multiple product lines, constant updates for new features, a complex deployment, a distributed user base, into the mix, and your search for an outsourcing partner could become a daunting task.
We share some considerations that can guide your decision making — drawn from our experience of working as outsourcing partners for some of our clients, helping them deliver quality products on time.
Criteria our clients applied before selecting us as their outsourcing testing partners
Need for staff augmentation vs. managed services
You can choose staff augmentation if the requirement is short term and the tasks are well defined. In the case of a long term project, it is best to opt for managed services. Managed services suit best if the project requires ongoing support and skill sets that are not available with the business but are vital for the product or project. It also fits well for long term projects that have a clear understanding of outputs and outcomes.
Agility of the vendor’s testing practices
Agile/DevOps methodologies now drive a healthy percentage of software development and testing. Can the vendor maintain velocity in an Agile/DevOps environment? Do they have the processes to integrate into cross-functional, distributed teams to ensure continuous integration, development, testing, and deployment?
Relevant experience working for your industry
Relevant industry experience ensures that the testers involved know about your business domain. Industry knowledge not only increases efficiency but also guides testers to prioritize testing with the highest level of business impact.
Tools, frameworks, and technologies that the vendor offers
Understand the expertise of the vendor in terms of the tools, frameworks, and technologies. What is their approach to automation? Do they use/recommend licensed or open source tools? These are some considerations that can guide your evaluation.
Offshoring – Onshoring – Bestshoring
Many vendors recommend offshoring processes to reap benefits from cost savings. But does offshoring translate to an equally beneficial proposition for you? While you can best ascertain the applicability and benefits of offshoring, it is advisable to go for a mix of the three. In a managed services engagement, right shoring (a mix of onsite & offshore), ensures that the coordination aspects are dealt with by the vendor.
Reputation in the market
Ascertaining the reputation of the vendor in the market can be another useful way of evaluation. Reading independent reviews about the organization, understanding the longevity of their existing engagements (Customer stickiness), references from businesses that have engaged with the vendor earlier, number of years the organization has been in business are some of the factors that can be applied.
Culture within the organization
The culture of your potential partner must be broadly aligned with your organizational culture. The vendor should identify with your culture, be quick to adapt, be ethical, and gel well with the existing team. The culture within the vendor organization is also crucial to ensure that the employees are respectful of their commitments and stay accountable for assigned responsibilities.
Low-cost vs. high-quality output
Engaging with people who have the experience in the required domain and technology, working on a customized delivery model, within stipulated timelines, come for a premium. But are more likely to deliver value compared to a low-cost fragmented solution with inexperienced manpower, little or zero knowledge on domain-specific skills and technology, and an unsure commitment to timely delivery.
Do you know of other factors that influence decision making in terms of identifying the right outsourcing partner? Please share your thoughts.
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