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| Why Outsource Software Testing (and to China)? |
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| Why outsource software testing? In a nutshell, to stay ahead of the competition. Today’s successful companies tend to be those that effectively allocate resources. They focus on their core competencies, their markets and their customers’ needs, and develop products and services which meet or anticipate these evolving needs. |
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| If competitors are getting their application software produced for about a third to a half of your costs and more quickly, then you have a problem. Everything outside the “core competence” is a potential candidate for outsourcing to specialized organizations. |
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| The trend nowadays is to outsource software testing. The nature of software testing lends itself to an outsourced task. Software testing has many elements that are standard and repeatable. It doesn’t require the creative demands of development and the IP risk of exposing source code. Also, the hassles and hurdles to outsource software testing can be surprisingly low (see XBOSoft Quick ReleaseTM Program). |
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| Finally, Offshore IT companies are plentiful; they're headquartered in the United States and in technology-rich countries such as India, China and Eastern Europe to name a few. The majority of these typically offer a smorgasbord of services; from development and testing, to localization. Surprisingly, very few are 100% focused on software testing. Companies that specialize in software testing can often deliver extra dividends in expertise and insights. |
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| How can you decide if it makes sense to outsource software testing? Software testing means many things to many people. The main objective of software testing is to ensure the software functions as specified before going into production. But it also means making sure the software is intuitive and easy to use. Below are a few key points: |
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Reduce the learning curve. Software testing often requires specialized testing tools. Software testing companies’ employees already know how to use these tools. |
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Compress development cycles. If you work in software development, you know how tight production schedules are. Anything that saves time helps keep projects on schedule. Software delays are costly so when weighing the costs vs. benefits of outsourcing software testing, determine how project delays affect your bottom line. |
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Even out labor cycles. Often times software development houses cannot afford to hire and maintain a full-time development team and an in-house software testing team. For these companies, the decision to outsource software testing is an easy one. |
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Save money. A key consideration in any outsourcing decision is to reduce costs. See the attached Table ( Click Here for Details ) on potential cost advantages for outsourcing a software testing project to China. |
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| Over the past several years, China has grown dramatically as a destination for businesses to outsource software testing needs. This trend toward outsourcing (or off shoring) software testing to China is partly explained by: |
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| 1. Growth in technical education |
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There is a reservoir of well-educated and highly committed technical graduates who have the ability to do a good job. The Chinese educational system is estimated to be producing some 250,000 engineers per year and some 450,000 new IT professionals. |
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To promote technical education, the government has opened specialized software colleges in addition to traditional schools. |
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| 2. Affordable Labor |
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China offers savings up to three times as compared to U.S. |
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Labor is available at significantly lower prices than India. |
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| 3. Language |
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English has attained the level of China's second language. |
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Government has made the National English proficiency test mandatory for all Bachelor and Master degree’s. |
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| 4. Liberalization of laws and government policies |
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China has passed laws that protect private ownership and intellectual property. |
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It has also embraced public/private partnerships and domestic/foreign partnerships. |
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Existence of offshore manufacturing, physical proximity to major markets, and risk reduction |
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China is the manufacturing plant of the world providing a sound base for outsourcing strengthened by risk mitigation and greater stability. |
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China now has major R&D Centers for IT and Software Development for most of the major US and European tech companies. |
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Companies with high workforce concentrations in India are now diversifying away from India to reduce dependencies and risk. |
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