Top Software Testing (QA) Services Companies United States of America (USA)

Software testing is important because it helps to ensure that software products and services are of high quality. In addition, by testing the software's functionality, businesses can identify and fix any bugs or errors before they cause major problems.

Typically, there are three objectives of software testing:

Finding Defects: The main objective of software testing is to find defects in the software.

Ensuring Quality: Software testing also helps ensure that the software is of high quality.

Meeting Customer Expectations: Software testing also helps businesses meet customer expectations. In this way, companies can ensure their customers that they provide quality software.

The Deming or PDCA cycle is a widely used framework for quality assurance. The cycle has the following phases:

Plan: In the Plan stage, businesses determine what needs to be done to improve the quality of their software products and services.

Do: In this stage, businesses implement the plans they have made.

Check: Businesses verify that the changes they have made have actually improved the quality of their software products and services.

Act: Based on the findings of the Check stage, businesses take action to further improve the quality of their software products and services.

The PDCA cycle is an iterative process, which means that businesses can go through the cycle multiple times to continuously improve the quality of their software products and services.

Quality control is the process of ensuring that software products and services meet the quality standards of the business. While quality assurance refers to the examination of the process that leads to the end product, quality control is the examination of the end product.

It includes activities such as inspections, reviews, and audits. In quality control, companies check if the software they've created meets the requirements and needs of the end-users.

Thus, if there's a bug or problem in the software, the company can fix it before releasing the software to the public.

In quality assurance, the company looks at the defining process and tries to find ways to improve it, while in quality control, the company looks at the end product and compares it against a set of standards.

Quality control is more focused on catching errors, while quality assurance is more focused on preventing errors.

Quality assurance should be done early in software development to prevent errors and defects from occurring in the first place. Below is a typical quality assurance process:

Requirements Analysis: In this stage, businesses gather information about the needs and requirements of their customers or end-users. Research shows that it's 15 times more costly to fix a defect in the testing process than to prevent it during the requirements stage.

Test Planning: Once the QA team has collected the requirements for test planning, they can go ahead to create a test plan. The IEEE 29119-3 indicates that the test plan should have a test strategy. It should also cover the project budget, deadlines, and testing scope.

Test Design: The QA team uses the requirements gathered in the previous stage to design test cases. A test case is a set of conditions or variables under which a tester will determine whether an application, system, or component is working as expected or not.

Test Execution: In this stage, the QA team runs the test cases and compares the actual results with the expected results.

Test Reporting and Documentation: After the test execution stage, businesses should document the results of the tests in a report. The aim of this is to communicate the findings to relevant stakeholders.

Defect Tracking and Management: In this final stage, businesses track defects found during testing and work on fixing them. By tracking defects, companies can identify areas of improvement in their software development process.

After completing these stages of the SQA process, the QA teams undergo release testing. In this type of testing, the software is put through a series of tests to check if it's ready for release.

There are two types of release testing: alpha and beta. Alpha testing is done by in-house employees, while beta testing is done by actual software users.

It's important to put quality assurance measures in place to ensure the delivery of high-quality software products and services. Below are some best practices for SQA:

Integrate Quality Assurance Into The Software Development Process: QA should be included from the beginning till the end of the software development process. It helps to prevent defects and errors from occurring in the first place.

Use The Right Tools And Technologies: The quality assurance team should use the right tools and technologies for their testing process. For instance, they could use automated testing tools to speed up the process.

Define Clear Goals And Objectives: The QA team should have clear goals and objectives aligned with the business goals. They should also develop KPIs to measure their progress.

Create A Detailed Test Plan: The test plan should be created before starting the testing process. It should be detailed and cover all aspects of the project.

Conduct Regular Training Sessions: The QA team should undergo regular training sessions to keep up with the latest trends in the industry.

There are many international standards for software quality testing that companies can use to conduct SQA. Here are some of them.

ISO/IEC 9000 Series

The ISO/IEC 9000 series is designed to help businesses with the quality management of their products and services. Companies can leverage this standard to benchmark several aspects of quality management, such as quality assurance, quality control, and quality planning.

IEEE 829 Standard for Software Test Documentation

The IEEE 829 standard is a guide on how to create test documentation. The standard specifies the templates for different types of documents, such as test plans, test cases, and test reports.

IEEE 1028 Standard for Software Reviews and Inspections

The IEEE 1028 standard is a guide on conducting software reviews and inspections. It includes different software reviews, such as walkthroughs and technical reviews.

ISO/IEC 25000

The ISO/IEC 25000 sets the guidelines for SQuaRE or Software Quality Requirements and Evaluation. The standard helps companies assess the quality of their software products.

Many companies lack the in-house resources and expertise to carry out an effective software testing process. This is where outsourcing comes in. By outsourcing software testing (QA), businesses can benefit from:

Access to Skilled and Experienced Professionals: When you outsource software testing, you'll have access to a team of skilled and experienced professionals. They can help to improve the quality of your software products.

Cost-Effective: Outsourcing is a cost-effective way to carry out software testing. It's often cheaper than hiring an in-house team of testers.

Faster Time-to-Market: Outsourcing can help to speed up the software development process and get your products to market faster.

Consider outsourcing to a reputable company if you're looking for a reliable and cost-effective way to carry out software testing.

The software testing industry in the US is worth $6.8 billion, and the demand for SQA companies will only increase in the future with the rise of dependence on software. So when you're looking for a partner for software testing (QA), here are some of the things you should consider:

Industry Experience: Does the company have experience in your industry? It's important to choose a company that understands your business and specific needs.

Range of Services: What kind of services does the company offer? Make sure they offer the services that you need.

Pricing: How much does the company charge for its services? Get quotes from several companies and compare prices.

Reputation: What is the company's reputation in the industry? Read online reviews and check out their website to learn more about them.

A 2019 report from senior tech professionals and CIOs showed that companies spend nearly 23% of their annual IT budget on testing and quality assurance.

Thus, the cost of SQA differs from organization to organization. It depends on the company's size, the scope of the project, and other factors.

Typically, if you hired individual assurance engineers and testers, the total cost would accumulate much higher than anticipated. Rather, it's better to work with a company that already has all these professionals on its teams and gives you the total quote.

When measuring the cost of software testing quality assurance, you should fundamentally look at four things:

Prevention Cost

It is the cost you expend on making sure the defects are not injected in the first place. It is further classified into two types-

• Upstream Prevention: It includes all the activities to prevent defects from entering the system. It is done during the requirements gathering and design phases of SDLC.

• Downstream Prevention: All the activities done to prevent defects from propagating to the next stage are called downstream prevention. It is done during the coding and testing phases of SDLC.

Detection Cost

It is the cost incurred to find defects injected into the system. Detection costs are further classified into-

Static Detection: All those activities done to detect defects without executing the code are called static detection.

Dynamic Detection: All those activities done to detect defects by executing the code are called dynamic detection.

Internal Failure Cost

These costs occur when a defect is found before the software is delivered to the customer. The cost of fixing the defect is called internal failure cost.

External Failure Cost

These costs occur when a defect is found after it is delivered to the customer. The cost of fixing the defect and losing business due to that defect is called external failure cost.

Companies often make mistakes when outsourcing software testing quality assurance which can be detrimental to the project's success. To avoid making these mistakes, here's what you need to do:

Don't Underestimate the Cost: When budgeting for your project, include the cost of SQA. Don't try to save money by skimping on this important part of the project.

Don't Ignore Industry Regulations: If your industry is regulated, choose a partner that is compliant with all the necessary regulations.

Don't Sacrifice Quality for Speed: When choosing a partner, don't sacrifice quality for speed. Make sure to find a balance between the two.

Software has become an integral component of today's businesses. To ensure that software functions as expected, it must undergo testing by Quality Assurance (QA) experts. QA Services helps businesses improve the quality of their software products and services.

Xpeer connects you to software testing and quality assurance companies that can help assess the quality of your software products and services. With Xpeer, you can be assured of getting high-quality software testing services from qualified and vetted QA companies.

If you don't have the resources or infrastructure for in-house SQA teams, it's best to outsource the task to a dependent SQA company.

At Xpeer, we help you find the best SQA company for your needs without wasting your organization's time or resources. We understand the urgency of finding the right partner and the focus on ensuring the said partner is compliant with international regulations and aligns with your company's objectives.

We connect you to relevant companies after vetting hundreds of firms. With Xpeer, you can rest easy knowing that the partner we connect you with will exceed your expectations.