Testing as a Service

The software testing function has become a challenging activity for enterprises due to increasing technological complexities, software sourcing challenges, rising costs and security issues among others. Software Testing as a Service (TaaS) shall be the way to choose in future.

Typically, software testing is done either internally using the infrastructure that exists within the organization, or then is outsourced to software services providers. At the IT service provider's side; software testing underwent a long drawn evolution cycle. From ad-hoc practices within different business units, it gradually evolved to a centralized Managed Test Center approach, and finally towards institutionalizing a Testing Center of Excellence within the organization. The final stage of the evolution cycle of testing has manifested in the form of Testing-as-a-Service (TaaS).

Testing-as-a-Service delivers application quality management solutions in a flexible service model that accelerates the implementation of your quality center of excellence. Testing-As-A-Service delivers application testing services in a Pay-Per-Use model that provides flexibility in service and pricing. It also lowers the cost of entry to full service testing options and helps you implement best practice quality management processes. This helps you leverage your existing investments by incorporating them into the Testing center of excellence.

TaaS can be used in the following scenarios:

• Functional testing - In a continuous integration kind of scenario, TaaS could be a platform for creating an agile based functional testing environment
• Load Testing - TaaS could be used for creating various kinds of loads to stress test applications. The scale-in/scale-out nature of cloud comes in handy for generating variable loads.
• Performance and Benchmark Testing - TaaS can be used for Independent Software Vendor’s; looking to create benchmark reports for their products with their standardized test suites.
• Regression Testing - Applications which are in maintenance mode can make use of TaaS to run regression tests of previously written test scripts.
• Security Testing - TaaS scans application code and websites to identify security vulnerabilities before they escape into production.

Key features

• Implement best practices and testing framework for Testing-as-a-service
• Use quality processes to reduce defects, hence rework, and costs
• Achieve faster time to delivery with dedicated test labs using the Testing Center of Excellence Model
• Pay-Per-Use model allows you to control your budgets effectively while making the most for each cost spent

Benefits delivered by TaaS:

• Improved agility by using automation to reduce testing cycles and accelerate time-to-deployment
• A transaction model that provides more predictable, affordable pricing
• Faster cycle times, supporting more frequent testing and broader coverage
• Reduced business risk by leveraging comprehensive regression and performance testing to ensure your apps work properly
• The assurance that you’ve found any critical vulnerabilities in your app
• Ability to protect critical business software assets from fault-related failures
• No need to purchase application licenses or additional hardware with TaaS
• Save expensive resource time by avoiding the installation, configuration and maintenance of the testing tools
• TaaS allows you to budget project resources and costs more effectively
• TaaS will correspond with all your methodologies, and can be delivered anywhere in the world

Testing-As-A-Service (TaaS) is a robust framework that enables an organization to achieve the goal of "quality at an affordable price". TaaS enables your organization to establish a structured approach to testing tailored to suit both your testing needs and your budget. 

The TaaS framework can either be a dedicated testing team working on testing assignments for your organization, or a shared test team which after the establishment of the necessary framework can be drawn on a need-to-have basis.