How Much Expertise Does Your Current QA Team Have?

Testing is a complex beast — especially when you consider the multitude of testing types you encounter along the way. With the size of testing teams shrinking every year (48% are comprised of five or fewer members; up from 34% in 2016), it’s not feasible for you to employ an in-house expert for every testing scenario.

There are no shortcuts to achieving software quality. If you don’t address your lack of expertise, your digital experience quality will suffer. Finding reliable expertise at scale is no easy feat. Even with a single domain expert, you will still lack the scale to sufficiently and thoroughly test your product.

Applause’s fully managed service provides both expertise and scalability, and comes with the trust of the top organizations around the world. Let’s take a deeper look at the experts who help maintain high-quality digital quality for our clients.

Every member of the Applause Community must pass Applause’s rigorous Testing Academy Training Program prior to live testing.

Applause’s Army of Experts

Gaining your trust is not as easy as telling you we are experts. Instead, we will show you where our expertise lies — the people. Our team includes:

Solution Delivery Manager: Your primary point of contact upon entering into a relationship with Applause, your SDM lends a consultative perspective to your situation. Your SDM is armed with a wealth of industry knowledge (e.g., ideal tester profile, best times to test, coverage gaps, trends, etc.) as well as extensive project management background to ensure you get the support you need throughout your project.

Solution Expert: For every Applause testing solution (e.g. functional, accessibility, etc.), we have solution experts with years of domain expertise and a deep knowledge of how the Applause solution can quickly augment your existing practice. For example, a functional testing solution expert can guide you on when in the SDLC your team should perform manual functional testing. Beyond the initial guidance, your solution expert helps you understand how to get the most out of Applause. This person ensures that Applause isn’t simply a tool, but a deeply embedded component of your testing strategy.

Test Architect: Your test architect initiates and directs all testing cycles based specifically on your goals — whether you seek to simultaneously launch features into several new markets, expand your current test coverage, or any other strategic initiative. Having architected countless testing cycles, your TA knows which strategy will best apply to your situation and yield the results necessary to meet your goals.

Test Engineer: Your test engineer curates custom testing teams for each testing cycle, using both testing data and relationships developed over time to select the testers right for you. This person manages your project from end to end, participating in daily client standups and ensuring testers perfectly align to your ideal customer profile.No matter how specific the target in mind is (e.g., brand account holder, unique profession, etc.), your TE ensures your needs are met.

Test Team Lead: During each cycle, your TTL supports and provides feedback to testers throughout cycles so they can easily complete their assigned test cases. This person knows your test cycles inside and out so no question goes unanswered and test cases are completed quickly and easily. Most importantly, your TTL triages all reported bugs by severity so you know where to focus your time and can address fixes immediately — this removes a huge burden from your team and frees up time for them to work on more critical projects.

Testers: Every member of the Applause Community must pass Applause’s rigorous Testing Academy Training Program prior to live testing. This process vets members through a range of courses and interviews. In addition to the vetting process, testers are rated by activity level, areas of expertise, quality and timeliness. You can hand-select testers with high scores, and request the same testers on multiple cycles if you want.

Over time, the testers become an extension of your team, enabling your QA team the flexibility to scale up whenever you need. We have numerous testing experts for every testing solution, giving you both the expertise and scale you require to ensure premium product quality.

Expertise for Every Situation

You may feel that some testing scenarios are too complex to outsource, but with Applause, there is no scenario too difficult or unsolvable. Applause not only has a testing solution for every one of your needs, but chances are, we have tackled a similar scenario to yours (probably on many occasions) over our decade-plus in business.

Applause’s expertise is trusted by the biggest and most reputable brands in the world. Don’t let your gaps in expertise hold you back from producing the software quality your customers demand.