Errors are made by people. That’s why it is so important to test everything that coders produce. And we mean everything, from complex enterprise suites to one-page websites and landing pages. Such testing makes sure the product is reliable and secure.
What is Quality Assurance in short
Quality Assurance (QA) is a collection of actions that covers all technological features at all stages of the development, production, and commissioning of software systems.
The main purpose of QA is to ensure the high quality of the product. It focuses more on processes and tools than on system testing itself. This is a preventive action – it cares about the quality of the future product. Therefore, it is important to hire an experienced software development company for your needs, and get the best quality apps and software developed for your business.
QA for a Website
Any page you publish on your website should go through a rigorous QA process. Your website isn’t the right place to be cutting any corners, because the smallest mistake can deter you from closing a deal with a client.
Does your page take too long to load? Your visitors will leave. Is there a back-end mistake in your contact form? Your potential clients won’t be able to ask for your products and services.
Here are the key steps and processes your website testing should include:
- functional testing;
- usability testing;
- user interface testing;
- performance testing;
- security testing.
Website QA and testing should be carried out frequently. This will help prevent breakdowns at the initial stage. Testing will also ensure the stable operation of the site.
Testing allows you to solve a number of problems:
- third-party loads – when pages load for a long time even with a small number of visitors;
- cross-browser compatibility – the site does not display correctly in browsers;
- site errors – an error message constantly appears.
Why QA is necessary for a Business
When customers hear about the need to test software products, they often worry about the extra cost. In fact, the QA process ensures that problems that arise are resolved on time.
Mistakes in the development process are natural. A developer cannot critically evaluate their product. And during testing, a specialist specifically looks for possible gaps in the system.
Do not forget that the cause of failures can be not only the human factor, but also environmental conditions. So, the work of software and hardware can be affected by pollution, radiation and electromagnetic fields.
If you find a mistake at the initial stage of work, then it will be much easier and cheaper to fix it. Worse, when errors appear already in the process of using the product.
The presence of defects in the software directly affects the degree of customer confidence and the company’s reputation. In today’s competitive environment, no one can afford such risks.
Successful product operation is more important than development speed and cost savings. Therefore, testing should be a mandatory part of each phase of the software development life cycle. Nowadays it is difficult to imagine that the development process does without testing at all.
Testing at all stages of development ensures that the final product will work stably and its functionality will attract a wide audience. And this directly affects the degree of return on investment.
QA staffing or outsourcing: What’s right for You?
The larger the company, the more attention it should pay to Quality Assurance. In such cases, there is a need for a team of testers. At the same time, the QA function should remain independent of the project and operational groups.
For most organizations, software testing is necessary, but not paramount. In this case, the transfer of QA functions to outsourcing makes it possible to concentrate on the main activity, while testing will be carried out by external experts. Feel free to seek the necessary QA consulting services to determine whether you need to use the services of QA companies at the current stage.
Today, products are most often tested for reliability, performance, and security. Often, developers have neither the resources nor the qualifications to conduct this kind of testing. In this situation, testing outsourcing is not only effective – it is the only possible way to test software.
Another plus is that when outsourcing you do not need to pay a monthly salary to the QA engineers department.
Situations when QA outsourcing is needed:
- you have software that needs to be tested at each stage of development
- you want to reduce the cost of QA, and not recruit additional staff
- you would like to develop software faster and easier
- you need to get an objective assessment of the quality of your product
- you want to increase security controls
- to free up time for other work issues
But do not forget that the QA team will not solve all your problems. It can only identify, localize, and fix them. The development team will have to fix bugs in the product and solve problems of the development process.