Application testing is quite a popular line in software development outsourcing. On
the one hand, testing procedures are an important component in making
quality software and if a software product must comply with quality
requirements, these requirements must be clearly defined. Absence of
full-scale testing during product development is a serious risk factor.
This can not only make the project unprofitable due to eliminating
defects during commercial operation of the product or refunding money to
buyers (if this is a commercial off-the-shelf product), but this can
also ruin the company’s reputation.
On the other hand, the process of full-functional testing is usually very resource-consuming. For example, functional testing of commercialoff-the-shelf products should include checking its ability to work under different editions of the target operating system, as well as under different language versions of this OS, verifying stability of the product during installation and removal of various updates for this OS and office applications, investigating the product’s work with different options set and under different user rights, sometimes also testing how it works on different hardware configurations. Also, usually the developing company does not have at their disposal the whole range of the necessary hardware and OS versions. Load testing of server-based software (as well as some other kinds of testing) normally require appropriate allocation of equipment and quite expensive software (for example, there are testing tools that cost more than the total budget of many software development projects), also specialists are needed who can create test procedures that ensure completeness of testing and the product’s compliance with the requirements. Some large software developers have these resources, but for small and medium companies it is too expensive.
It should be noted that today in Russia there are companies that specialize in providing software testing services. Such companies usually have at their disposal a wide range of hardware and software, as well as special testing tools. Let us remember that in the field of software development there are also some other outsourcing practices apart from creation of standard code, testing and compilation of documents. For example, web and intranet developers quite often order design for their applications with specialized studios that have professional artists on staff.
According to the poll conducted by AMR Research, the domestic outsourcing industry has an annual turnover of about 750 million dollars, which is significantly less than the turnover of this industry in India. At the same time, in Russia, there is a number of companies, providing services in the field of software development outsourcing, which have the turnover of more than 20 million dollars. According to the AMR Research, Russian companies have certain advantages; the most important of them are high qualification of their specialists and a low rate of staff turnover. Besides, unlike Indian service providers, Russian companies can be characterized by a more balanced approach to project management and due to this fact the analysts recommendto contract Russian companies for the projects that involve high risks. Also, according to the analysts of AMR Research, it is advisable to outsource to Russia for the companies, which need relatively inexpensive development or support of custom applications; or for those that need project support in the Western Europe, especially in Germany and the Scandinavian countries; and also for the companies seeking an alternative to India in order to minimizegeopolitical risks and cultural differences.
