Why Is Quality Assurance Important for Your Business?

What’s the primary goal of any business? No matter the scenario, business model, or particular industry, it’s all about profit and growth. Reaching these goals often depends on offering top-quality products or services that meet user needs and expectations. This is particularly relevant to any kind of digital product. That’s where quality assurance, or QA, comes into play. It’s not just an extra step of the development; it’s actually what stands behind every success story. QA makes sure your digital product shines, works like a charm, and meets the tough standards even the most fastidious modern-day users expect. This process helps your business grow and increase profits by making your product the best it can be at every stage — design, development, deployment, and even after it’s out there for people to use.

But what does QA really do for your business in practice? How can you count the benefits of professional software quality assurance services? Is checking your product at each step of its journey enough to ensure everything runs smoothly? So, today, we will dive into the importance of quality assurance, QA business solutions, and all the intricacies of ensuring your product quality at every stage of the development process. Let’s go!

What is quality assurance?

Quality assurance is an in-depth process that examines every nook and cranny of digital products to ensure they hit the mark in terms of functionality, usability, and performance. But QA is not just about seeking bugs. It’s a comprehensive approach that evaluates the software against both pre-defined business strategy and industry standards. In practical terms, it means that a seasoned QA expert can provide really valuable insights not only throughout the development phase but also during the initial planning stages. In the early stages, the integration of QA insights can fundamentally shape the project’s trajectory, while later in the software development process, the role of QA evolves to focus on refinement and optimization. As the product takes shape, QA becomes more intensive, adding numerous tests aimed at uncovering any issues that could impair user experience or hinder performance. Later, QA experts begin to work closely with developers, iterating on feedback, fine-tuning features, and providing regular regression testing. 

QA is a systematic process that involves a blend of manual and automation testing, covering everything from code quality and user experience to product stability and overall customer satisfaction. This nuanced process requires a keen eye for detail and a deep understanding of software engineering principles. A seasoned quality assurance specialist uses a variety of tools and techniques to dissect software, looking for potential issues that could undermine its effectiveness. They work closely with developers, providing feedback that helps refine and improve the product before it reaches the end user. Coming back to the initial definition, it can easily be extended by adding that QA, to a certain extent, is about building confidence — confidence in the software’s quality, in its ability to exceed user needs, and in its performance under various conditions. 

Components of quality assurance

As aforementioned, QA is a systematic and thorough process, encompassing several key components from the initial stages of development to the final checks before release. Here’s a closer look at what QA business solutions look like in practice:

Analysis

It is an initial phase when QA specialists dive deeply into the project’s requirements and goals. However, in the case of hiring a new QA team for an existing product, it’s often rather about a software quality audit. At this stage, QA teams assess the software’s intended functionality, target audience, and operational environment, laying the groundwork for the entire QA process. (an experienced QA specialist with a trained eye can always tell what is good and what is bad at a glance).

Planning

Armed with insights from the analysis, QA professionals craft a detailed testing strategy. This plan specifies the types of tests, necessary resources, schedules, and the environment setup for testing. It ensures a structured approach to QA.

Test case development

In this stage, QA teams devise specific scenarios to test the software against its requirements. These test cases are designed to cover all functionalities, possible user interactions, and performance criteria, aiming for a comprehensive evaluation of the software’s quality. 

Test execution

The execution phase is where test cases are actually put into action. This step involves running the tests and identifying any issues that deviate from the expected behavior. Here, automation testing goes into the scene and can make a huge difference.

Documentation

Keeping meticulous records is the alpha and omega of any part of the development process, and the same is true of the QA. Documentation encompasses the test plan, individual test cases, results of the test execution, and any defects uncovered, providing a clear trail of the QA journey.

Verification

The final step ensures that any fixes or changes made to the software have resolved the identified issues without introducing new problems. Verification checks confirm the quality and readiness of the software for its release to users.

Important note: This is just an example of how the quality assurance process typically looks like. In practice, it can significantly vary depending on the project’s size, complexity, industry standards, and specific requirements. While the core components of the QA provide a foundational framework, the actual implementation may be customized to suit the unique needs of each particular project.

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Quality assurance vs. quality control

Although it may seem that quality assurance is just another wording for quality control (QC), they are quite different. Both QA and QC are fundamental aspects of quality management; however, each focuses on different parts of the product development process. QA is a proactive process that emphasizes the prevention of defects through the planned and systematic activities of the development lifecycle. QA is more about ensuring the processes are in place to produce the desired outcome, making it inherently process-oriented. 

On the other hand, QC is a reactive process that concentrates on identifying defects in finished products. It’s, let’s say, rather product-oriented compared to process-oriented QA. While QA aims to prevent defects, QC aims to identify and fix defects. In practice, most software development quality assurance providers offer quality assurance services that include both quality assurance (QA) and quality control (QC). 

Why QA is important for your business: Top 4 reasons

So, here, we return to our initial questions: why is quality assurance important? 

QA saves money

In some way, QA can remind marketing or advertising, as you cannot count the direct income from the implication of strong QA practices in your software development lifecycle. But at the same time, you can count the development cost reduced by QA specialists. First of all, some bugs can be literally pretty expensive. Secondly, the later you find a bug, the more expensive the fix.

QA makes your product better

QA basically makes sure your software looks great and works great. It also boosts your reputation, speeds up development, makes updates safer, and helps you understand how to make your software better over time. With QA, you’re always learning and improving, making sure software stays ahead of the game.

QA keeps your customers happy

Customer loyalty is what every business wants. With a decent quality assurance program, your software works smoothly, making sure people using it are satisfied. When customers are happy, they stick around longer and, consequently, trust the product more. That’s where quality assurance importance becomes evident.

QA reduces the need for support

If your software works smoothly thanks to QA, fewer people will need less help from your side. This means your support team can focus on helping customers with more complex questions or issues than just broken buttons, reducing the overall need for expensive support departments.

Implementing quality assurance

Implementing software quality assurance in your development process can seem daunting, but by breaking it down into several manageable steps, you can create a robust system that enhances product or service quality and customer satisfaction. Here’s a step-by-step strategy to guide you:

Define your quality requirements

Identify what high-quality products mean for your business, considering factors like performance, usability, and readability. Set clear, measurable objectives for those metrics to guide the quality management process.

Establish quality standards

Develop a QA plan that outlines the processes, tools, and methodologies you’ll use to achieve your quality objectives. Also, set up standards and guidelines for related practices: coding, testing, and documentation, ensuring everyone in your team knows what’s expected.

Assemble your QA team

Build a team of skilled QA professionals who understand your quality objectives and the technologies you’re working with. You can choose between several engagement types that fit your project best, such as a dedicated team model or an hourly-based hire. 

Integrate QA early and throughout

Try to incorporate QA from the start of the development lifecycle (as soon as possible, to be more precise). It works even in the very early planning stages. Then, continue QA activities throughout the entire development, catching and fixing issues as early as possible.

Let the QA team develop and execute testing

The most significant part of work for the QA team typically consists of creating test cases, ensuring test scenarios mimic real-world usage, testing itself, and documenting findings. Later, the QA team repeats the testing several dozen times. Depending on your project’s specificity and business model, a QA team may resort to integration testing, functional and non-functional testing, regression testing, user interface and user experience testing, etc.

Review and refine

After each testing stage, specialists analyze test results to identify recurring issues and areas for improvement. Refine your QA processes based on these insights, adjusting your strategies to meet your quality requirements better.

Verify, validate, and monitor

Ensure that all fixes and improvements are verified and that the software meets the established quality standards and expectations, then validate the product with stakeholders and, if possible, real users to ensure it meets customer expectations. Based on this information and user feedback, you make necessary adjustments and inform future QA efforts.

Challenges and solutions of quality assurance

Challenges	Solutions
High costs for testing	Optimizing testing processes with automation where possible and reasonable may help with repetitive testing, but it still requires an initial investment. In case it’s impossible, prioritizing critical tasks, efficient project management strategies, and resource allocation help optimize QA costs.
Limited time for testing	Integrating QA earlier in the development cycle to identify issues sooner may help with this challenge.
Insufficient testing coverage leads to bugs	Insufficient testing may occur for two main reasons: repetitive tests take too much time, or QA processes have inadequate requirements. In the first case, automated testing may be the way to go; in the second one, you can only clarify the requirements.
Balancing manual and automated testing	Developing a strategy that leverages the strengths of both approaches. You can use automation for repetitive tasks and manual testing for complex scenarios and new features. Striking the balance always requires a perfect understanding of the product.
Handling legacy systems with limited documentation	QA offers special exploratory testing techniques to understand the system better and gradually build up the documentation through the testing process.
Balancing quality with time-to-market	If you need to release an initial product rapidly, you need to understand core functionalities and prioritize them. Leveraging agile and CI/CD for faster releases may also help with setting continuous improvement practices in subsequent updates.
Managing test data complexity	Creating a centralized test data management strategy that ensures data is relevant, secure, and easily accessible can be the solution.

Outsourcing QA: Why it is a good decision for your business

Choosing the right QA outsourcing partner is a key decision that can significantly impact the success of your software development process. With ELITEX, you’re not just hiring an outsourcing service; you’re gaining a dedicated partner committed to elevating your product’s quality to the highest standards. With a proven track record of successful QA solutions, such as Smartrr or PostCMS development, ELITEX is the ideal choice for businesses looking to streamline their development process without compromising on quality.

Choosing ELITEX means opting for a quality management partner who understands your vision and is dedicated to turning it into reality. Whether you are seeking to build quality assurance systems from scratch, improve code quality, or just have other further questions regarding the importance of quality assurance, don’t hesitate to contact us. Reach ELITEX today, and let’s build a product that exceeds all expectations together!

FAQs about the importance of QA