Outsourced vs In-house Software Testing Team - What To Choose?

What is software testing?

Software testing is a process of software exploration and evaluation with a purpose to define whether it meets specified requirements and to ensure its high quality, by detecting defects and situations in which the software behaves improperly and unpredictably.

If you have come to a conclusion that you require software testing, first of all, you should consider whether you need in-house or outsourced software testing. Many aspects must be taken into account before the final decision making.

If after the analysis of your company capabilities and your project peculiarities you have decided to hire an outsource software testing company, pay attention to this list of software testing companies.

Outsourcing and In-house: What's the Difference?

Outsourcing and in-house are two business approaches that help effectively use IT services.

Outsourcing is a hiring of an outside company to complete specific tasks. On the other hand, in-house or insourcing is a business practice of using organizations' own staff and resources to perform particular tasks. Both business approaches can be very beneficial for a business. Let's consider the advantages and disadvantages of each of them.

In-house testing advantages:

Control

Insourcing enables you to keep a tight rein on all the processes. For some business owners it is very important, and we cannot but mention it.

Immediateness

Surely, you need to waste some time and make an effort to collect a team of professionals, but after that, work on any project can be started at once, and in case of immediate need, all the talents are at call.

Advanced knowledge of business particularities

Usually, the in-house team works on a project from its very beginning, so they know all features and peculiarities of that project and industry in general.

Professional training

If you need employees with specific knowledge and skills, you can develop them in the way you need. As a consequence, you have employees who are satisfied with their professional growth, and necessary specialists in your team.

Company image improvement

Having an in-house testing team, you can rise in your customers’ and partners’ estimation.

In-house testing disadvantages:

Great expenses

The in-house testing is a costly affair. You have to spend money on the recruiting process, additional account services, equipment, office rent, training, etc. Besides, salaries must be paid even after the project completion; otherwise, you have to fire specialists and hire them again when the need arises.

Staff recruitment

Search for highly-qualified specialists can be quite exhaustive and long-lasting. Once finding them, you need to offer such specialists better terms than they already have. You should provide them with a high salary, interesting projects, professional training, and other benefits.

Absence issues

In the case of an employee's sickness or leaving, you face a need to waste additional time and money on recruitment of a new one or suspend your project.

Outsourced testing advantages:

Cost efficiency

Outsourcing can help you to save you a lot of money. There is no need to conduct numerous interviews, pay huge salaries, purchase equipment, rent additional offices, etc. You just pay an agreed sum of money per hour or for the whole project.

Access to highly skilled professionals

A good number of great IT specialists prefer to work with outsourcing software testing companies as they provide them with numerous and diverse projects that support their professional growth.

Opportunity to focus on critical business issues

Delegating a part of your work to an outside company, you can get engaged in the most important business issues.

Opportunity to change team quickly

If you are not content with outsourcing team work, you can always change it for another one. In the case of an in-house testing team, this process is more complicated.

Outsourced testing disadvantages:

Quality

Sometimes business owners can face bad quality of outsourcing company work. Mostly it happens when it comes to extremely business-specific projects, and business owners are forced to organize an in-house testing. To minimize this risk, you should thoroughly study information about an outsourcing software testing company and make sure that it has already dealt with similar projects.

Minimum control

Working with a reliable outsourcing company, you may not control every step and task. Still, business owners prefer not just to receive reports but to involve their own supervisor in the project in order to have all important tasks under control.

Problems with communications

Modern technologies provide us with all opportunities for communication. Nevertheless, you need to take into account the time zones and choose an outsourcing software testing company whose work hours coincide with yours in such a way you will be able to settle issues more quickly.

Security

If a project contains sensitive data, security issues are critical. Hiring an outsourcing software testing company, you have to make sure that it applies all available and effective measures to secure your data.

What is better: outsource your project or do it in-house?

To be honest, this topic is quite controversial. As you can see, both approaches have their pros and cons. Still, in-house testing is usually suitable for big companies and large corporations that have opportunities to invest in their own software testing department. On the other hand, outsourcing is efficient for startups and small businesses, providing them with experienced staff without additional expenses.

Sometimes choosing between in-house and outsourced software testing can be pretty tough. Making the final decision, think about your budget, resources, time limits, and project peculiarities. If your project is big, long-lasting, extremely specific, and needs profound industry knowledge and an increased level of secrecy, it makes sense to invest in an in-house testing team. However, if your project is quite trivial and you are short of time, funds and resources, the best thing you can do is to apply to an outsourcing software testing company.

If after the analysis of your company capabilities and your project peculiarities you have decided to hire an outsource software testing company, pay attention to this list of software testing companies.