The world of software development is highly competitive. If your company creates apps for consumers, you must release the best products and do so at the fastest rate and for the lowest cost. Apps must work perfectly to avoid negative reviews and customer defections. Even if you’re just offering a website or web-based interface for customer convenience, it must also reflect the highest possible quality. Anything less will weaken your reputation.
The same is true if your software is meant for employees, who are your customers in this case. For example, say you’ve released an in-house dashboard for employees to find HR resources, and it doesn’t work as expected. Workers will get frustrated as they encounter errors or bugs and will get a negative impression of your company and its efforts to make HR “easier.”
To be sure you achieve the appropriate standards, quality assurance (QA) should be a critical step in your development process. It ensures the right procedures are being used throughout application creation. This important element enables development teams to more easily control the quality of the application, makes product evaluation quicker, and offers insights from end users.
What Is QA?
QA is the validation that a product is up to the standards expected by its developers and users. The process of QA testing is the process by which quality experts determine whether the product has reached those standards.
The QA process may be conducted by the product developers but, to ensure a high level of objectivity, is better performed by professionals who aren’t part of the production process. While it may seem more convenient or cost-effective to have developers perform QA testing, this approach may actually result in more errors going undetected and, therefore, more time and money spent repairing bugs and other problems later on.
Common defects found in the QA process include problems in data input fields, popup messages that are too complex or confusing for users to understand, a challenging user experience (UX), and the software not working as intended on every device it’s meant to be used on.
QA differs from quality control (QC) in that QC examines the quality of the end product, rather than the process throughout development. QA is more proactive in that it can help prevent defects rather than finding them in the end product, as with QC. While QC may involve testing and inspection, QA involves auditing and process definition.
Why You Need QA for Every Software Development Project
Every software development project should include a QA component. In addition to avoiding the potential negative consequences mentioned above, QA can provide the following benefits:
1 Save time
It might seem counterintuitive to say that adding a step to the development process can save time. But it does because finding small issues enables developers to fix them before they become time-consuming problems that are harder to address.
2 Save money
The same principle is true for sticking to your budget. With robust QA, developers can fix small problems during the development process, before they grow into larger issues that require a bigger financial outlay to manage. Plus, a better end product that doesn’t get used or doesn’t sell is a complete waste of the money spent on its development.
3 Boost your company’s reputation
If your company develops apps as products for sale, they must be of the highest possible quality. Products that are difficult to use or don’t work as expected attract negative reviews and word-of-mouth. The opposite is true of high-quality apps that perform well and include a well-thought-out user interface (UI).
4 Increase revenue
When your company is able to market and sell those high-quality apps, you get the benefit of positive reviews and word-of-mouth, which lead to more customers and increased sales.
5 Improve security
Security is a primary concern for devices or programs that transmit information between devices or systems, so one of the best reasons to perform a rigorous QA process is to ensure application security. The QA process will identify any security risks so they can be addressed early on.
6 Increase customer loyalty
The benefits of quality-crafted products go beyond just more customers and more sales. When you’re able to generate customer loyalty, you get customers for life, which are less expensive to keep than getting new customers altogether. Plus, loyal customers who become “raving fans” will spread their appreciation to their networks.
Types of QA Solutions
Before you integrate QA into your process, think about the services you need. The following are typical services a QA testing provider will offer.
QA consulting
Recommendations to ensure quality and functionality based on a thorough analysis of your project.
Full-cycle QA
A testing plan that ensures performance and high functionality, including all parts of your project, from the initial stages through completion.
Documentation
Structured communication based on your target audience.
Test automation services
Services and solutions that create the best results based on your goals, technologies, functionality, and infrastructure.
Software testing
A comprehensive mix of investigation processes to ensure high-quality web, desktop, and mobile products.
Pre-certification and compliance testing
Includes PCI DSS, Section 508, UK and European accessibility standard, and more.
Consider a Nearshore Option
BairesDev offers software testing and QA outsourcing to ensure higher quality in your products. Our software testing and QA teams work within an independent division of our company, with over 60 experienced QA engineers available to provide robust QA to help you achieve your software goals.
As a nearshore outsourcing provider, we offer our services to clients in the U.S. looking for a partner that shares similar language, culture, and working hours. Our services are typically less costly than those of providers based in the U.S.
But we work with companies in other countries as well. Our team has completed all sorts of QA projects around the world, ranging from software development startups to large corporations. No matter what kind of customer we’re helping, or where they are, our services are always based on a deep understanding of your business goals.
