Offshore Testing: Is Outsourcing Your Software QA Worth the Wave?
Tags: testing, webdev, selenium, softwaretesting
Published: 2024-03-21 13:11:46

Offshore software testing is the practice of outsourcing testing activities to an external partner located in a different country. There are several reasons companies choose to go for offshore software testing services. 

The most common motivations are cost reduction, access to skilled talent, and advantages of time zone differences. Additional benefits include improving time to market for releases and scaling up testing efforts rapidly.

This article provides an overview of **[offshore software testing services](https://binaryinformatics.com/software-testing-services/)**, including the potential benefits as well as risks and challenges. Key factors to weigh when considering offshore software testing are covered. The goal is to help companies determine if offshore testing aligns with their goals and makes strategic sense for their organization and projects.

Topics covered include:

- Cost savings from lower hourly rates 
- Access to qualified testing professionals 
- Maximizing time zone differences
- Speeding up release cycles  
- Scaling team size rapidly
- Ensuring quality expectations are met
- Mitigating risks like communication gaps
- When offshore testing is a good fit

With the right partner and approach, offshore software testing provides valuable advantages. But it also requires careful management to be successful. This guide covers key considerations when weighing offshore testing services.

## Cost Savings  

Offshore software testing can provide immense cost savings compared to hiring domestic testers. The most significant factor is the difference in hourly rates. For example, a quality assurance tester in the United States may charge $50-100 per hour, while an equivalently skilled tester in India or Eastern Europe may charge only $20-30 per hour. This represents a 50-70% cost reduction for every hour of testing work.

Some key factors that enable these major savings:

- Lower wages and costs of living in offshore regions
- High availability of skilled, English-speaking testing talent 
- Favorable currency exchange rates
- Government incentives and tax benefits for IT companies in some countries

When multiplied across an entire QA team over months or years, these hourly rate differences really add up. For a 10 person QA team, offshoring can save over $200,000 per year in wage costs alone.

Other cost savings come from lower infrastructure, equipment and office costs in offshore regions. And by properly coordinating time zones, offshore testing can maximize productivity by enabling “follow the sun” testing coverage.

While upfront investment is required to set up partnerships, processes and communication channels, most companies achieve ROI from offshore testing in the first 6-12 months. Proper planning and governance is key.

For software companies under pressure to control costs and speed up release cycles, offshore testing is an effective way to slash budgets without sacrificing quality. The proof is in the hourly rates.

## Access to Talent

Offshore software testing provides access to a deep talent pool of educated, skilled software testers. Countries like India produce a very high number of engineering graduates each year compared to Western countries. For example, India graduates over 1.5 million engineers annually, while the US graduates just 140,000. 

This huge talent pool allows companies to build strong offshore testing teams, with staff that have specialized skills and qualifications that may be scarce and expensive to find onshore. Testers with expertise in the latest automation frameworks, performance testing, security testing, and other niche disciplines can readily be found.

The abundance of talent offshore also makes it easier to scale up testing teams quickly when needed for larger projects or test cycles. Rather than being limited by local hiring, companies can leverage the offshore talent pool to ramp up their testing capabilities in a timely and cost-effective way.

Overall, access to highly-skilled, educated software testing professionals gives companies a level of talent they likely could not match onshore. Offshore testing provides the flexibility to build stronger, deeper testing teams that drive quality.

## Time Zone Advantages for Round-the-Clock Testing

Offshore testing centers are often located in different time zones than a company's headquarters. This allows for 24/7 testing coverage by transitioning work between time zones. Some of the key benefits include:

- **Maximizing testing hours**. With testers located across time zones, testing can happen continuously without downtime. Rather than limiting testing to normal daytime business hours, offshore facilities enable round-the-clock test execution.

- **Faster test cycle times**. By transitioning work back and forth between time zones, projects can progress faster. Bugs and issues are detected and fixed more rapidly when testing happens 24x7.

- **Real-time testing**. For applications that require real-time testing and validation as code is written, an offshore team in a different time zone can provide instant feedback and results. This is immensely valuable for agile development environments.

- **Rapid iteration**. Having an offshore testing team working while primary development teams sleep leads to rapid development cycles. Issues get flagged more quickly so developers can start their days addressing bugs that were found overnight.  

- **Facilitating collaboration**. With coordinated hand-offs between time zones, collaboration happens seamlessly. Tracking progress and communication is improved when work is passed fluidly between teams across global regions.

The around-the-clock coverage enabled by offshore testing teams provides significant time and cost efficiencies. It allows companies to accelerate release cycles, provide real-time testing, iterate more rapidly, and facilitate global collaboration. The time zone advantages lead to more rigorous, continuous QA practices.

## Improved Time to Market 
Offshore software testing can significantly accelerate time to market for new products and features. By leveraging testing teams in different time zones, companies can achieve round-the-clock development. Nightly code drops can be tested overnight by the offshore team and results made available to the onshore team at the start of their day. Issues can be fixed and new builds created during onshore working hours, then tested again overnight offshore. This continuous cycle compresses testing timelines and release schedules.

Offshore testing teams with specialized skills and expertise can also speed up timelines. Rather than having a backlog for certain types of testing like performance, security or usability, those test cases can be allocated to offshore experts. Test automation skills can also help accelerate repetitive processes and frequent regression testing cycles. The scale of offshore testing teams allows for more parallel testing on different platforms and devices, further accelerating feedback and timelines.

For companies operating on tight product roadmaps with the need to frequently update applications, leveraging round-the-clock offshore testing is an effective strategy to compress development cycles and achieve quicker time to market. Knowledge transfer and collaborative work models ensure offshore teams understand priorities and can identify areas where additional testing may be warranted to speed up delivery. The incremental improvements in release velocity add up, providing a significant competitive advantage.

## Scalability 

Offshore software testing provides immense scalability benefits for companies of all sizes. With an offshore team, it's easy to rapidly scale testing up or down to match fluctuating business needs and new product launches.

Rather than going through the lengthy hiring and onboarding process to grow an in-house team, companies can quickly ramp up testing by adding more offshore testers. These testers can be brought on for a specific project and timeline. Once the project is complete, the team can scale back down without any layoffs or severance costs.

Offshore testers are often well-versed in flexing up and down on engagements. Services firms maintain large pools of skilled testing talent that can be allocated to client projects in an agile way based on demand. The firms handle recruiting, training, management, and other HR functions.

The ability to easily dial testing resources up or down is extremely beneficial for companies with seasonal cycles, special initiatives, or products/features that require spiky testing at launch but lower volumes for maintenance. It allows them to match testing capacity to their current business needs and adjust it as those needs evolve.

Overall, leveraging an offshore testing partner provides tremendous agility, flexibility, and cost efficiency when it comes to scaling testing efforts. Companies don't have to over-hire full-time in-house staff to meet peak demand. The scalability of offshore testing is a major driver of its popularity and growth.

## Risks and Challenges

Offshore software testing services can offer significant benefits, but also come with risks that need to be managed. Here are some of the main challenges and how to address them:

### Communication Issues

With teams located remotely, communication issues like delays or misinterpretations can occur. Strategies to manage this include:

- Establish clear communication protocols for daily standups, project updates, escalations, etc. 
- Document requirements extensively and keep them updated.
- Schedule regular video calls to put faces to names and build connections.
- Bridge cultural gaps through training and relationship building.
- Hire bilingual project managers if needed.

### Data Security 

When testing involves sensitive data, security is critical. Ways to ensure offshore teams protect data include:

- Vet providers thoroughly and ensure proper security protocols are in place.
- Use encryption and access controls for all data transfers and storage.
- Restrict data access only to essential personnel.
- Establish NDAs and security terms in the contract.
- Conduct audits and reviews of the security measures.

### Quality Control

Managing offshore teams remotely can make quality control more difficult. Steps to ensure quality include:

- Establish measurable test metrics and SLAs in the contract.
- Schedule demos and iterative test report reviews.  
- Automate testing and logging where possible.
- Conduct periodic in-person visits if feasible.
- Test a small project first to verify capabilities.

With proper planning and oversight, the risks of offshore software testing can be minimized. The key is finding the right partner, implementing security controls, maintaining excellent communication, and verifying quality continually.

## Quality Considerations

Offshore software testing services have made major strides in quality over the past decade. While there were significant quality concerns with outsourcing in the early 2000s, most reputable firms today have robust processes and controls in place to ensure high-quality deliverables.

When evaluating offshore providers, look for companies with mature quality and process methodologies like CMMI Level 5 and ISO certifications. These frameworks provide standards for software development and testing activities to prevent defects and promote continuous improvements. 

Compared to onshore counterparts, offshore teams go through extensive training and evaluations to prove competency before being staffed on engagements. Their work is also closely supervised throughout projects with multiple quality checks built into the process. Code reviews, test plan reviews, defect tracking and resolution steps allow offshore project managers to catch issues early.

For time-sensitive projects with little room for error, carefully vetting providers based on client references, longevity and demonstrated capability is key. With the right partner, quality can match or exceed onshore standards due to their focus on process rigor and ongoing training. The incentives are aligned for offshore firms to deliver superb quality to win new business and retain clients.

By leveraging mature offshore providers, quality no longer needs to be a blocking factor for achieving testing goals. Savvy companies realize great offshore talent equipped with the latest technology and skills can deliver exceptional quality in a cost-effective manner.

## When Offshoring Makes Sense

Offshore software testing can provide immense benefits, but it also comes with risks and challenges. Determining if offshoring is the right approach for your project requires carefully weighing multiple factors:

- **Cost savings** - Offshore testing can substantially reduce costs, often 50% or more over onshore rates. The cost arbitrage is a prime motivator. However, cost cutting should not override quality - beware very low bid offers.

- **Project complexity** - Simple testing with clear documented requirements suits offshore teams. Highly complex projects with loosely defined requirements present communications challenges.

- **Application type** - Offshore teams are well versed in common technologies like web, mobile, client-server. Leading edge or highly specialized apps may require niche expertise difficult to find offshore.

- **Test automation** - Automated testing is easier to offshore, while exploratory and usability testing are more reliant on context and soft skills. Assess how much automation testing you require.

- **Security and IP sensitivity** - Apps dealing with sensitive data or IP may not be good offshoring candidates. Assess data privacy, export control risks.

- **Timing and deadlines** - Tight deadlines and rapid test cycles are challenging offshore. Factor in times to document, communicate and ramp up offshore teams.

- **Communication needs** - Daily collaboration requires extra coordination offshore. Well documented apps with limited real-time discussion are most suitable.

- **Cultural fit** - Marked cultural differences could impact team cohesion and communication styles. Visit potential vendor sites to assess cultural alignment.

The best results come from selective offshoring of testing scopes compatible with an offshore model, while retaining mission critical work onshore. Evaluate all of these factors to determine what testing is appropriate to outsource offshore.

## Conclusion

Offshore software testing provides numerous potential benefits for companies looking to optimize their testing processes and cut costs without sacrificing quality. By leveraging talent and lower costs in overseas locations, companies can achieve significant savings compared to domestic testing. Other advantages include access to a larger talent pool, the ability to accelerate testing and development through 24/7 productivity, and scalability to ramp up or down as needed. 

However, offshoring does come with risks around communication, project management, data security, and cultural alignment. Careful planning and management is required to implement an effective offshore testing strategy. When done right, offshore testing can deliver faster release cycles, enable test automation at scale, and free up domestic resources to focus on higher-level tasks.

The keys to success are choosing the right overseas partner, defining rigorous processes, investing in relationship building, and maintaining active oversight of the testing process. For companies able to mitigate the risks, offshore software testing can provide the cost efficiency and talent needed to remain competitive in today's market. With a thoughtful approach, quality and speed do not need to be sacrificed. By leveraging offshore testing as part of a holistic quality assurance strategy, software teams can achieve both continuous testing and continuous delivery.