To outsource or not to outsource its automated software tests? "That's the question" would say a certain Hamlet. But the real question is rather: why do it and, above all, how?
Our testing expert Michael Granier said it very well in his introductory article: in 2022, product quality is no longer an option. In addition to a business loss, a production incident can strongly impact your e-reputation and it is therefore important to invest in a testing strategy adapted to the context of your company. And for some, it may be necessary to outsource it, especially due to lack of resources (human, technical...). The outsourcing of tests, as its name indicates, consists in entrusting an independent team, physically separated from the company, with the design and execution of its test scenarios. This has many advantages and Mr Suricate presents you with the 4 good reasons to think about it, as well as the best practices to adopt.
1. Delegate
Test automation is a complex business, requiring certain resources and skills that are not always available. By outsourcing your test automation, you don't have to worry about all that. A specialized company (like Mr Suricate) does it for you, from the creation to the analysis of your test cases, including the execution of test scenarios, maintenance and incident reporting.
The advantages are multiple: not only do you relieve your technical teams, who can then concentrate on other tests or on production, but you also reduce your costs because you save on hiring testers or on training, not to mention infrastructure.
2. Independence
And independence means bias. Calling on an external solution to take care of your automated tests means benefiting from a perspective and objectivity that your internal teams do not necessarily have or no longer have. An independent team has the advantage of seeing your site or your application with a pragmatic and new eye. What's more, you gain in quality, because the associated teams are specifically trained to meet your needs. You are assured of accurate results and more efficient reporting of anomalies.
3. Zero infrastructure
Opting for a functional test automation strategy is more and more necessary to improve your move-to-prod, reduce your time to market and gain in quality, but it represents a cost in terms of infrastructure. By outsourcing, you don't have an internal infrastructure to manage and you eliminate this cost.
The bots run the scenarios (web, mobile, API...) as well as scalability, which allows for efficient parallelization (playing your tests as efficiently and quickly as possible) and are all managed independently of your teams' skills.
4. Centralize
By using an outsourcing solution, you centralize your automated test scenarios in a single tool that is accessible to all teams and easy to use. The reporting of anomalies is faster and more efficient and you gain in reactivity to correct bugs directly on your side. This is a considerable time saving for your teams.
What are the best practices in terms of outsourcing automated tests?outsourcing?
Now that we have presented you with the good reasons to move to outsourcing your automated tests, you may be wondering where to start and how to set this up for optimal ROI?
The challenge here is to prepare well in advance. First of all, you need to think strategically about which tests you need to outsource and which ones you can keep. Outsourcing everything is not necessarily a good idea. It is interesting to keep some manual tests, such as validation tests, on a one-off basis, in order to maintain flexibility and independence.
Secondly, this requires good documentation of both the software and the tests to be outsourced. The team that will be in charge of creating, executing and maintaining your test cases needs to know your interface in detail, as well as your needs.
Finally, it is important to continue to ensure that the project is managed in collaboration with the external teams to whom you have entrusted the automation of your tests. Communication is the key to ensuring the quality of this project.
What's next? Now you just have to get started!
For more info on test automation, we invite you to download our guide on quality and software testing. And if you have any questions or suggestions, don't hesitate to share them with us in the comments ;)
