Companies in developed economies are increasingly looking offshore for a variety of IT tasks. This is driven by the availability of highly talented and experienced technical personnel in countries such as India, who are available at significantly lower costs as compared to local IT resources. As more and more enterprises turn to offshore service providers for their in-house IT needs, competitive pressures are forcing others to seriously look at the offshore alternative. Outsourcing is a business decision that is often made to focus on core competencies.

Forrester Research estimates that the demand for offshore outsourcing will account for 28% of IT budgets in Europe and the U.S. within two years. Further, the number of offshore IT workers worldwide (software engineers working overseas on projects for Western firms) will go from 360,000 today to more than 1 million by 2005

A subset of the term (off shoring) also implies transferring jobs to another country, either by hiring local subcontractors or building a facility in an area where labor is cheap. It became a popular buzzword in business and management in the 1990s.

Why Outsourced Product Testing?

Testing is a critical phase of software development that is frequently given short shrift since it's seen as a drain on time, money, and effort. However, even a simple code inspection can eliminate up to 88 percent of all defects. If you don't have the in-house talent, take a good hard look at outsourcing.

Outsourcing is ideal for development projects where cycles are short and time-to-market is critical, such as with Web applications. Most outsourced testers can help you with requirements, test strategy and planning and test execution and can work either on- or off-site.

Testing are outsourced by two types

• Inspection - Looks for structural defects and/or inefficiencies in the code itself.
• Testing - Looks for functional problems to ensure the application meets requirements.

The best way to avoid such a situation is to outsource testing services to offshore destinations. By outsourcing testing a company can realize huge cost savings and also improve efficiency to a great extent.

Why Kumaran for Outsourcing Testing Services?

Our dedicated team of experienced professionals uses KSTS unique project methodologies and processes to deliver high-quality validation solutions irrespective of whether applications are designed and developed within or outside of Kumaran. The team's expertise spans various domains, technologies and testing techniques.

The following are the reasons to choose KSTS for Outsourcing

• Reduced Cost
• Independent Assessment
• Skill and Expertise in Testing
• Reduce Cost
• Focus
• Carry out a greater range of testing

• Outsourcing is done to save money, improve quality, or free company resources for other activities.
• Outsourcing usually applies to a complete business process. It implies a degree of managerial control and risk on the part of the provider.
• A long-term, results-oriented relationship with an external service provider for activities traditionally performed within the company.

Time-to-market - As the Offshore Development Centers functions seamlessly with you in the product testing and maintenance cycles, the time to market the product could be reduced considerably.

Value additions - As the Offshore Development Centers testing team gets more knowledgeable on the functional and technical aspects of the product and its processes, they can value add on feature enhancements of the existing product and suggest new functionalities that could be incorporated. Further, they could also contribute on the technical aspects of the product to make it more robust and scalable.

Manpower and expertise - A large resource pool of qualified and technically sound resources is typically available in an Offshore Development Centers. The Offshore Development Centers could also be maintaining a wide range of resources on different technology platforms. This resource base could be easily mobilized and deployed quickly.

More capital funds - Outsourcing reduces the need to invest capital in non-core business functions, thereby freeing capital to invest in profit-making aspects of the business.

State-of-the-art technology - Outsourcers have to spend time and money on the most current equipment and on employee training to remain competitive. By outsourcing certain areas, you are assured of receiving the most efficient services and the latest technological advances within that particular function.

Price stability - By signing a contract to outsource, you will likely be able to obtain stable pricing, eliminating the future need to shop around. Stable pricing allows the company to budget operating expenses and capital purchases more accurately, while potentially preventing the likelihood of surprise expenses.

New business partners - Outsourcers clearly wish to be viewed as your business partner. And as a business partner, they share the desire to keep your company operating at its maximum potential. Through this business partner arrangement, outsourcers are eager to introduce you to other outsourcers to assist in that goal.

More time to focus on core business activities - You cannot overlook this intangible benefit of outsourcing. If a company is to be successful and profitable, management is needed to spend time planning and directing the company's business strategies and not wasting time worrying about managing certain administrative or ancillary functions.