Testing as a service refers to an outsourcing model that includes testing activities associated with certain business activities of an organization. These activities are performed by a service provider instead of in-house employees.
TaaS may also involve engaging consultants to assist and guide employees or outsourcing an area of testing to a service provider. A company usually does some testing in-house.
TaaS model is the best fit for specialized testing efforts that only need basic knowledge of the system or design. Services well-suited for the model includes application testing, performance testing, security testing, regression testing, and monitoring of cloud-based applications.
How Does Testing as a Service Work?
When it comes to TaaS, an organization hires a third party to execute testing procedures that are traditionally performed in-house. Enterprises purchase testing software, testing tools, and infrastructures from providers on a pay-per-use basis. TaaS is just one part of the testing procedure, such as the combination of software and infrastructure, outsourcing of a department or a platform.
Regardless of the form TaaS takes, it consists of a provider assuming a fraction of the organization’s testing responsibilities. The model can also be used for automated testing procedures that would take longer for the in-house staff to complete if performed manually. It is also beneficial for customer organizations that don’t have sufficient resources (technology, staff, or money) to do the testing themselves.
TaaS is not the best suitable option for organizations that demand in-depth knowledge regarding the company’s infrastructure. Though there are several types of TaaS, each with its specific procedures, TaaS will operate in the following way:
- An environment or a scenario is created to do the test. For software testing, this may be called a user scenario.
- A test is designed to assess the company’s response to that scenario.
- The vendor provides a secure test environment to run the test.
- The vendor is responsible for monitoring performance and determines the company’s ability to meet goals included in the test design.
- The company and the vendor work in collaboration to improve the product or system being tested to boost future results and performance.
Types of Testing as a Service
Several types of TaaS apply to different sections of an organization and are associated with different parts in the lifecycle of a test. TaaS is generally divided into three main categories:
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Functional Testing as a Service
Functional testing includes testing the front pages of a website or an application to evaluate how potential customers will interact with it. This allows the company to determine whether their application is intuitive, functional and helps detect potential bugs that are most apparent.
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Performing Testing as a Service
Performance testing is the second type of TaaS. TaaS firms stress-test an application’s ability to deal with multiple users. This helps create virtual users so they can see how the application performs under load. As a result, invaluable information can be provided for a company looking to ensure that its website or application grows as required.
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Security Testing as a Service
As one of the most important features of TaaS, security testing probes and scans a website or an application to identify any vulnerabilities. With more legislation adding burdens on companies to protect user data, an added layer of accountability is provided by security testing.
Key TaaS Features
Testing as a Service is a self-service portal to run the application for functional and load tests. It features a test library with security controls and saves all the tests accessible for end-users.
To boost the hardware utilization, sharing the Cloud hardware resource pool is facilitated while complying with the security policies. Moreover, there’s an on-demand availability for complete test labs. This includes the ability to deploy test tools, multi-tier applications, and test scripts.
In addition to detecting the setbacks and solving problems for applications under testing, the metering capabilities enable charging and tracking for the services used by customers.
Benefits of TaaS
TaaS allows you to get perform any type of application testing. You can discover the potential performance issues by load testing. Moreover, TaaS can help your organization save money as the cost to pay human resources and build infrastructure is factored into the service provider.
Testing as a service helps streamline software testing conditions and setup. Most of the steps taken to perform the test are further simplified.
About Vates Nearshore
Are you looking for a software outsourcing company for your business? Vates Nearshore is a software development company in Argentina where our experts deal in software development and provide Testing as a Service solutions. Moreover, we outsource software development and provide custom software solutions, IT staff augmentation, and more.
For more information about our services, book a free 30-minute call with us today.
About the Author
The author is a certified software development professional working as an employee in Vates Nearshore. With years of experience in the industry and comprehensive knowledge in the field, he provides software solutions to the company. He also specializes in monitoring and manipulating computer programs of all kinds.