3 Alternatives to Hiring Internal QA

Recruitment isn’t exactly at the forefront of most tech-first companies' minds right now.

Either budget won’t allow it, or the pressure of recruiting and onboarding new employees remotely could seem too high for a company simply focusing on getting by. When business continuity is a key focus, hiring internal staff, unfortunately, seems like a distant dream.

But, especially in companies where software is at the centre of your success, and product ROI reigns supreme, QA teams are still expected to deliver quality.

So, what are your options when time and budget is strapped?

Let’s say you have a new app release due and are lacking team capacity to keep up. Your product releases are being delayed because QA testing is slowing you down, and pressure is mounting. It might feel like the choice you are faced with is to release a potentially buggy app or delay the entire release cycle. Neither of which is desirable.

The good news is that there are alternatives to hiring internal QA.

It is possible to increase your testing capacity without expensive internal hires.

Read on to discover the options you have:

1. Implement an automaton tool

The demand for QA at speed is undeniable.

However your internal QA structure is often the blocker to moving faster. You are simply limited by the resources available. More testing resource, be it people or machines, results in faster results back to your engineering teams.

Automating some of your testing can be helpful in this instance. Automated testing is undeniably fast at providing test results, and also means thousands of tests can be run at once. This will save your team time, especially if they are having to perform repetitive tests that could be easily automated.

Using the right automation tool for you is essential to delivering high-quality test automation. Test automation tools can merge with relative ease into your existing development cycle, and help you quickly run hundreds of tests at once.

Selenium, for example, is a fantastic automation tool that allows you to write test scripts in a number of different languages and run those tests in many combinations of system environments.

But there are many options out there you may decide to implement. When making your decision, assess what your current, pressing needs are, but also think ahead to the future. These tools are often expensive, so make sure you are investing in software that has staying power.

Remember: automation is not always the answer.

If you are running repetitive tests manually that do not require rewriting, automation is a fantastic solution. A word to the wise though: you cannot automate creativity, and therefore manual testing is still an important tool in your testing toolkit.

To scale your testing effectively, you need to be executing a blend of manual and automated testing. This will achieve more robust test coverage.

2. Outsource your manual testing

If your QA team are all suddenly working from home, this change in process could unsettle your release cycle.

This leads to a number of different issues. Your manual testing team may be strapped for time, leaving you struggling to find available manual testers when needed. Or, you could be feeling the pressure to increase testing capacity quickly, especially if demand for your product is surging.

If this is the case, you might want to consider shifting a bulk of your manual testing out of house to another country. This will free up your internal team, and allow them to focus on streamlining the release process and making up for lost time.

Using an outsourcing platform typically means sending off manual test scripts and receiving raw test results in a relatively short space of time. The outsourcing model requires passing the responsibility of your manual testing over to an external company, where they use their in-house team to test your app or webpage.

However, there are drawbacks to outsourcing.

Outsourcing doesn’t necessarily add any scale to your approach, because there isn’t often a partnership that forms between testing provider and user. Once this bulk of testing you have outsourced has been completed, it can be difficult to keep up with continuous improvement and strategise how you will use that provider to go that one step further.

Moreover, outsourcing companies are often located in one country and have access to a relatively limited number of device combinations. In the end you could risk siloing your testing and not having access to the device/ network combinations you need to ensure quality in every release.

We discussed outsourcing further in our recent blog post “Is Crowdsourced Testing Just Outsourcing?”. Please read through if you are interested.

3. Partner with a crowdtesting solution

Crowdtesting is all about using the power of a network of testers across the globe to deliver test results - fast.

For example, at Global App Testing, we have a team of 40,000+ professionals testers in 105 countries. Our crowd is experienced at testing, and on-hand to test when you need it the most.

If you're releasing an app in a new market, partnering with a team like Global App Testing gives you access to testers in the countries of your choice with a vast range of device combinations. This will give you localized test results, so you can feel confident in every new release.

And all without hiring a single new person.

Furthermore, crowdtesting provides you with testing at speed.

Rather than spending time and money hiring ‘in-house’ testers, you can utilise the crowd to achieve results 24/7/365 which delivers instant scalability. The fact that these testers are located around the world means the crowd can be working while you sleep to deliver quality bug reports. This reduces the pressure on your QA and engineering teams and enables you to level up your testing capability.

At Global App Testing we also offer our partners a blend of crowd and automated testing, meaning you can scale all areas of your QA process at speed. Depending on your specific needs, you can receive test results almost instantly or exploratory test results from the crowd in 48 hours or less.

Finally, partnering with a crowdtesting company is a long term remedy for your engineering pressure. You need a solution that provides you with access to expert advice and strategy planning to help scale your QA strategy. Our team of customer success experts and test managers support your in-house team, helping them elevate their testing and increase product quality.

The alternatives to hiring internally

We understand that at this current juncture, recruitment isn’t a top priority for many companies.

But engineering professionals know that when product releases are being delayed, the need for extra support is paramount. Especially when product quality is at risk.

Budget constraints, recruitment freezes and spikes in demand can all seem like overwhelming factors - but there are alternative ways to help you meet your targets.