Outsourcing testing services ensures independent, impartial evaluation: QA Infotech

In an exclusive with Abhigna N.G., CIOL, Mukesh Sharma, CEO, QA InfoTech, highlights that testing raises the quality of the product a notch higher, and makes it easy for the clients to focus on their essential aspects of development. Excerpts:

CIOL: Please update us on what QA InfoTech has been doing this past year.

Mukesh Sharma: QA InfoTech is a leading independent Software Quality Assurance and Testing company specializing in providing high-quality testing services to a number of global corporations.

Established in 2003, it is dedicated to quality and has everything to be a reliable quality assurance partner. With the vision to establish itself as a global leader in offering high-end QA and testing services, QA InfoTech has made its presence felt in the software testing market across the globe.

We offer an array of QA and testing services, including functional testing, performance testing (assistance with defining goals and metrics, test script development, stress, scalability, benchmarking, assistance with test execution at off hours and results analysis), usability testing, compatibility testing, focused user group testing, internationalization, localization and globalization testing.

QA InfoTech has four strategic business units (SBU) -- Software Testing, Consulting, Training and Placement Services. Through its SBU, QA InfoTech offers complete solution for Software QA services.

QA InfoTech has three business centers in India, with the head office in Noida. The company has a US affiliate in Farmington, Michigan, USA.

QA InfoTech’s expertise spans testing for learning management system, desktop publishing software, content management systems, client server applications, desktop application software, web based applications and applications testing on handheld devices, both in local and global markets.

CIOL: How does your offshore testing center help enterprises?

MS: Outsourcing testing services ensures independent and impartial evaluation. This takes the quality of the product a notch higher, and makes it easy for the clients to focus on their essential aspects of development, while meeting their quality assurance goal by outsourcing their testing services to an independent software testing company.

Placing developers in a role where they have to identify their own defects creates a great deal of conflict and biasing. This, in turn, leads to an inferior product placement. To prevent this, it is important to select an independent testing partner with testing as its core competency and focus.

Our outsourcing delivery model optimally combines all the elements of onshore and offshore execution to ensure smooth interaction between both sides and helps us to envisage and formulate the best testing solutions for our clients.

As an offshore testing centre, QA InfoTech offers advantages such as the ability to deliver the best quality assurance QA services that are integrated well with the precise requirements of our clients; flexibility and agility to changing needs; regular communication providing accurate estimates and status reports; work with client to develop effective escalation process; identify, measure and resolve issues in a timely manner and take corrective actions proactively; right mix of highly skilled resources and latest technologies; systematic and strategic testing approach; and assure total transparency and quality control.

CIOL: How do you see the testing market for mobile handheld devices? How is QA InfoTech eyeing this industry?

MS: The mobile handheld devices market is likely to see an explosive growth in the testing arena. The mobile industry has revolutionized the entire communications platform. The number of users accessing the Internet from mobiles for business usage has grown exponentially and will continue to do so. Due to this boom, there is a need to take care of developing and testing components, as well as devices and applications.

As a software testing company, we want to be capable of covering all of the high-speed technologies. We are also testing mobile devices for our clients.

CIOL: Microsoft has teamed up with QA InfoTech as a vendor for software QA and testing services, which was much talked about. How does this partnership help both the entities?

MS: QA InfoTech is very excited to provide QA and testing services to Microsoft. We are confident that it will be a very successful and productive alliance.

It will not be prudent to disclose much about the details of this partnership due to the confidentiality agreement. Our association will definitely result in the delivery of reliable and quality products to the users.

CIOL: Attrition is a big concern for any software company. How does QA InfoTech attract and retain high talent?

MS: Attrition is no doubt a big challenge that every organization faces. Though there is no single foolproof method to put an absolute stop to this, we take measures to contain this risk.

Our success is the direct result of hard work, dedication and enthusiasm. To help our employees overcome challenges and enact their roles brilliantly, we have a strong HR leadership that guides the employees to carry on their tasks efficiently.

We recognize that apart from offering a highly attractive compensation package, it is very important to provide other benefits that create a feeling of being valued and acknowledged. That’s why we work hard to make sure that we offer attractive benefit programs ranging from financial perks (profit sharing plan) to non-financial incentives like an energized working atmosphere, job satisfaction and career opportunities.

We retain and attract good talent by providing following benefits: continuous training, rewards and recognition, flexible leave policy, quarterly goals and self-evaluation, etc.

CIOL: How do you go about testing particular software? How do you ensure that the particular software is free from bugs and is safe from security threats?

MS: QA InfoTech makes great efforts to analyze the precise requirements and plans for strategies that are essential to carry out expert testing and high quality standards on the client’s products. We understand that every application is different from the other, and has its own unique risks and requirements.

Right from checking the completeness of testing efforts for any overlooked aspect to any missed or uncertain requirement, our strategy allows us to identify and detect any flaws early in the cycle instead of in the closing stages.

Our strategic and planned QA activities makes it easy to decipher highly technical and complex issues Here is a brief overview of what our testing strategy entails:

• Review the provided documents for a thorough understanding of the product features, and requirements.
• Provide clients with a comprehensive, detailed Test Plan containing the entire testing strategy that would be executed for testing the product.
• Once the expected functionality is defined and baselined, scenario based and requirement based test cases are created and executed for testing actual behavior against expected behavior.
• Reporting the defects.
• Generate a regression testing suite that contains a battery of difficult tests based on risk analysis, which has the potential of failing a program if it is broken. Executing regression testing ensures that errors are fixed and the modified code still complies with the specified requirements. It also assures that the unmodified code has not been affected as a result of the changes made.
• Once all of the bugs have been reported, the project is re-tested, de-bugged, the Test Execution Report completed and the Defect Metrics trend chart plotted, the QA process concludes.

In order to make the software free from security threats, we implement proper tools and establish application security testing early on during the testing cycle. Our risk based security testing helps specify risks and threats so that they can be eliminated before they are introduced.

Our security testing strategy involves the penetration into the application as a non-authenticated user, an authenticated user, and an administrative user, respectively. This exercise helps to determine the vulnerabilities built in these user groups.