Introduction
With any business, the goal is to optimize the spend on people, process, and technology. This article will show you some ways to save money on software testing. Software testing is a complex area that requires specialized validation techniques that take time to learn over the years. In the similar lines of a doctor, the practice expertise takes time to learn. We have general testing practitioners that know a little about everything and also specialized testing experts that can deep dive. This article will help you save money on software testing by identify some key areas of cost savings but make sure you are not suffering a “quality” lost at the same time.
People
Investing in the right people is critical for any business. This is especially true when the job requires expertise in the field. In regards to software testing, you have different levels of competencies you must account for. For example, if you are building a new application or website from scratch with defined requirements and design, you can typically get by with an entry level software tester(s). On the far end of the spectrum, you might be going thru some major digital transformation and migrating applications on-prem to the cloud requiring someone with some strategic test planning and strong technical background.
If your testing practice today is lacking or you have been experiencing production bugs that might be costing you sales or revenue. We recommend reading through our blog site, QA books, and leveraging the gig economy for a quick fix.
As your product or service advances, you can continue to leverage the gig economy or eventually hire a long-term strategic role.
Process
Understanding how to go about software testing for your business can be time consuming and you may even feel like its not important right now. That is a misconception our industry must educate on. As your product or service grows, you must also keep up with the proper validations thru the eyes of your consumer. If you fail to validate the success of your product or service, you may be closing up your business faster than you can save it. While the added cost for software testing might cause you to think about skipping, DO NOT! Your business livelihood could suffer.
Be sure to find someone that knows how to do functional testing and non-functional testing. You can save money by making sure the person doing the software testing understands the difference.
Technology
Using the right tools for the right job. Sounds easy right! As with any new technology, software validation techniques typically follow. You will want to make sure you have the proper tools for the following:
- Test Case Management
- Data Generation
- Execution and Logging
- Defect Tracking and Resolution
- Monitoring
The list above is basic list to follow you can get by with using something like Microsoft Excel if your project is small but for the medium to larger companies, you will want to bring in some specialized tools especially around test management, test automation, and production monitoring.
Many software testing tools continue to add more features allowing for a more complete solution for test management. Look for ways to reduce tools and leverage more of an orchestration tool.
Summary – Key Points
The industry standard cost for quality assurance and software testing is roughly 25%-40% of the total IT spend.
Automate and execute tests earlier in the software development lifecycle. This reduces costs as defects are cheaper to fix as you shift left.
As your product and service grows, make sure you account for expanding quality improvements and software testing processes/tools in your annual budgets going forward.
