The fast-paced, ever-evolving technological world of today means that software has only one chance to make a good first impression that decides whether or not an end-user will ever open the software again. To say the very least, that’s a lot of pressure to put on a piece of software, the developers behind the scenes, and everyone involved in its creation.
Thankfully, quality assurance helps ensure that companies are putting out the highest-quality, most stable, enjoyable, and user-friendly applications possible for their target demographics. Whether by partnering with a reputable software QA outsourcing company or choosing to hire in-house professionals, using quality assurance is a must for a successful Software Development Life Cycle. It helps companies release better products now and produce even better products through identified improvements over time.
What Is Quality Assurance? How is QA Different from Traditional Testing?
Simply put, software quality assurance is the process of observing and testing programs to ensure that it meets the required standards set forth by both the relevant industries as well as the clients. Its objective is to improve the development process and keep it more streamlined and error-free to ensure quality outputs.
Quality assurance helps ensure that the product aligns with any necessary regulatory requirements or compliance, any required specifications, and the business’s goals. Given how QA sounds, it’s not uncommon for individuals to use the terms software testing and software quality assurance interchangeably as if they are the same thing. However, they are a bit different in terms of both scope and responsibilities.
Testing is usually a specific step (or several smaller steps depending on the development methodology used) to find bugs and errors. Software quality assurance starts during the planning phases of a project and continues throughout maintenance mode post-release.
While quality assurance does help find issues or errors in programs, it goes one step further to help identify the weaknesses and problems in the processes that lead to said errors. After the identification of these weaknesses in the process, the implementation of necessary mitigation procedures in current and future development projects means better, more bug-free applications in the future.
How Does QA Help Build Better Software for the Future?
- Software QA testing helps save companies both time and money – now and in the future. As QA is a process that runs parallel to actual development, it finds potentially costly bugs or issues ahead of project completion. This helps prevent projects from going over budget or extending timelines for the specific project.
- This also identifies where the problem stems from and notes overall improvements. Instead of just fixing the “here and now” aspect of things, QA means saving precious time and money for the next project as well.
- QA testing helps build brand loyalty by providing consumers with a product they can trust now and a brand they will trust for the release of future products. Without quality assurance, companies put their brand loyalty and reputation on the line by putting out sub-par products.
- Quality assurance guarantees that the solutions put in the hands of the end-user are the most trustworthy, highest-quality applications possible by learning from mistakes to better the development process.
Cybersecurity is one of the most important aspects of software development in today’s market. Users rightfully demand that companies take responsibility for protecting their data, so businesses must ensure that they do all that’s possible to keep sensitive information out of the hands of cybercriminals.
If software products don’t go through a stringent testing and quality assurance process, there’s no way to ensure that they aren’t vulnerable against the most recent cyberthreats and hacking methods. Software QA helps companies rest assured that their products are secure and trustworthy to protect themselves and their users both now and in possible future projects.
The only way for companies to produce better products for the future is to understand where to make improvements now. And the only measure they can take to recognize issues and figure out how to prevent them from occurring again is properly identifying and correcting them during the Software Development Life Cycle through quality assurance.
While this process may seem like overkill with testing procedures already in place, quality assurance takes testing a step further by preventing the issues or problems from even happening in the future. A good quality assurance team helps businesses go from building usable programs to building software that users actually look forward to using.
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