Product quality control is key to ensuring 100% functionality of your end product, which translates into a high user acceptance rate. Earlier, enterprises had a dedicated quality assurance testing team that was tasked to conduct rigorous product quality tests as per the enterprise’s specifications.
Cut to the present day, things have changed in the quality management arena. Companies have deepened their focus on the end-user perspective than their vision regarding a product. This change is witnessed in things like software development, the performance of a medical device, analytical services and others.
There are no two thoughts about the fact that the perspectives of end-users are extremely dynamic. Enterprises need to introduce multiple ad-hoc changes during the entire product development lifecycle to align with the dynamic user perspectives. This has created extreme pressure on the in-house quality control testing experts.
In-house quality management experts lack the bandwidth or expertise to look beyond the conventional total quality management framework and work out a flexible quality testing solution right off the bat.
This compelled enterprises to form a beeline for quality outsourcing to reap the actual benefits of quality control. According to a Forbes Technology Council Post, the software quality system outsourcing market which was valued at USD 40 billion in 2019 is set to grow at 6% through 2026.
On this note, here’s looking at the top 5 reasons why outsourcing product quality control can prove to be the turning point for your business.
1. Outsourcing Product Quality Control for Cost Optimization
As stated earlier, enterprises require the best minds and tech stack at work to align with the fast-changing quality assurance testing standards. For instance, post-pandemic, supplier quality compliance requires the introduction of highly sophisticated cloud-based digital tools.
Highly talented quality management professionals are short in supply and can be quite expensive to hire. Procuring new infrastructure is also a costly proposition, particularly for an individual entrepreneur with no guarantee of the best ROI. In the current high-risk and fast-paced marketplace, no enterprise of any size can afford to lose money or time.
Since quality control procedures are the core function of QC outsourcing service providers, companies ensure that they house the cream of quality testing analysts and infrastructure to stay at the top of the game. Partnering with such a service provider allows enterprises access to such talents and infrastructure at half the quality control cost of procuring them in-house.
Most QC outsourcing service providers are known to offer flexible pricing. This means that an enterprise can pay only for the quality management service they have used at a certain time. It enables huge product quality control cost savings for enterprises as opposed to paying a fixed monthly compensation and other monetary benefits to the in-house team despite a low work volume.
2. QC Outsourcing for Access to Talents on a Global Level
The Covid-19 pandemic-induced mobility restrictions and lockdowns created a severe resource crunch during critical quality assurance phases such as software testing, manufacturing process quality compliance and many more.
Enterprises heavily relying on their local in-house quality testing team do not have a backup in case of emergencies such as political unrest or a pandemic. Such situations deter teams from commuting to their workplace and provide remote support with limited infrastructure. This either halts the entire quality management process or compromises the entire quality compliance test standards.
Prominent outsourcing quality control firms have resources spread across the globe with local quality assurance managers inspecting a team. Such firms have the bandwidth to ensure resource availability from regions that escape the impacts of a pandemic or any socio-political unrest. This exempts enterprises from the pain of managing an in-house quality testing team in affected regions. QC outsourcing firms assign dedicated supervisors who are adept with the region’s vernacular and regulatory requirements and hence are best suited to manage the quality management team.
3. Product Quality Control Outsourcing Brings in Expert Knowledge
Quality control outsourcing firms are home to testing experts who have exceptional domain knowledge. They tap into this knowledge to think beyond the traditional quality management framework to bring product and process improvements beyond a short span of time.
They stay at the top of the testing standard dynamics and all the regulatory requirements pertaining to it. Such experts make a continuous effort to hone their testing skills with the newest technologies disrupting the market. This is particularly pertinent in the software testing genre, where enterprises face the constant pressure of launching products at lightning speed and are bugs free.
With hands-on experience with the newest product quality compliance tech, outsourced software testing experts require minimal to no handholding during the software development lifecycle. They liaise with developers and designers, understand the objective of the product and test the same from the user’s perspective.
4. Quality Outsourcing to Address Integrity Risks
Quality assurance integrity risks are rampant across many industries. Such risks include bribing quality assurance personnel with money, gifts, or other subtle forms of bribery such as personal transportation provided for an onsite inspection, taking out to lunch and other such instances. These integrity risks, if not addressed beforehand, resulting in the leaking of confidential information, biased quality inspection, or counterfeiting of products.
It is not always possible for an enterprise to keep a check on the auditory activities of its in-house quality testing team. Such a lack of control creates cracks through which integrity risks may slip in.
Partnering with experienced quality testing service providers will help address these integrity risks to a significant extent. They conduct frequent inspections of the auditing activities of individual quality testers. Third-party quality control firms enforce stringent compliance guidelines that forbid quality testers from accepting favours of any kind.
They leverage digital audit software that creates a trail of all quality assurance activities. This trail is critical to flag any incident that does not comply with an enterprise’s pre-set quality compliance standards. Third-party quality control firms are known to implement and religiously follow QA process maps. These maps help the third-party service providers bind all the quality testing experts to a set process, deviating from which issues warnings to the team supervisor.
Additionally, third-party quality control firms implement incentive programs, sudden quality control checklists and tracking inspection activities, to keep any integrity risks at bay.
5. Outsourcing Quality Control for Better Business Flexibility
One of the biggest benefits of QA process outsourcing is the flexibility that can be the real turning point in an enterprise’s business. A client does not need to be bound by a service contract. Such a binding service contract compels the client to pay service fees for a certain point irrespective of the volume of work. It also compels the client to work with the limited resources they have for quality management.
Contrary to the above, third-party quality control service providers cater to quality assurance as and when needed. The service providers station resources across various time zones. This allows them the liberty to respond to their client’s quality testing needs anytime and anywhere.
The client gets to pick and choose a team of experts without having to go through the hassles of hiring and training resources. This allows ample business flexibility for a client who can work with a team of the best of experts round the clock on a need basis.
Conclusion
Quality management has pivoted from being conducted from an enterprise’s vision to the end user perspective. This makes outsourcing even more pertinent as this helps to bring a fresh perspective to the QA process. An in-house tester is bound to think in a linear way. It is mostly because they work towards a set direction in liaison with the developers, designers and business analysts. Third-party experts bring in industry insights and a fresh objective. It manifests into an unbiased quality assurance which is a big turning point for an enterprise’s business in the competitive marketplace.
At Global Inspection Managing, we take a holistic approach to product quality testing to ensure that you launch a product with guaranteed functionality. Our QA processes are tailored to suit your product specifications. For instance, our experts conduct earth continuity tests to determine the safety of your electronic goods. Similarly, we conduct power consumption tests to evaluate your electronic product performance in the real world.
We curate a detailed quality management plan as per your needs. This plan includes inspecting the product design, determining the product’s compliance with the highest manufacturing standards and material inspection to help your product meet all the pertinent regulatory requirements.