QA is not just an acronym. Quality Assurance is defined by Techtarget as “any systematic process to determine whether a product or service meets the specified requirements”. That is, it gathers processes that establish and maintain criteria for a service or product to run correctly.

The QA is an instrument that validates the operation of processes and services. In software development, for example, through individual inspections, performance testing, process adaptation, among others, which aim to avoid malfunctioning products and services of the company that QA needs.

Auditing and consulting: what do I do?

The 2018-19 World Quality Report (WQR) study by Capgemini, Sogeti and Micro Focus analyzed the responses of 1700 people in 32 countries, from ten different sectors. It consulted what objectives companies have to hire QA testing. 42% of respondents said they use QA to detect “software defects before launching it.” The same percentage had the statement “ensure the satisfaction of end use”. Finally, 41% of respondents use QA to “contribute to business growth” and 39% of them to “increase software or product quality”

.In that sense, an adequate QA service is used for many purposes. Therefore, there are different ways to arrive at a good diagnosis and execution of actions that ensure the quality of the product or service. One of them is to do an audit or consultancy for the company. In this scenario, it is important to make the differences between the two ways of addressing it.

According to the RAE, an audit is the “systematic review of an activity or situation to assess compliance with the objective rules or criteria to which they must be subjected”. Whereas, for the Intereconomía website, a consultancy refers to whom is offered to solve the problems that arise from the audit review. Therefore, both processes are necessary, and it is not advisable to hire them separately.

Companies like Tecnova perform both services.

The benefits of doing auditing and/or consulting at QA

If your company has thought about consulting and/or auditing at QA, it is important to consider the benefits of Quality Assurance. At Tecnova we detail some of the benefits of doing so. As stated by Avantica:

• Saving money: The longer it takes to detect a bug in your software, the more difficult and expensive it will be to debug it. By using quality control testing, throughout the software development process, you will save time and money after deployment.
• Prevents catastrophic corporate emergencies: Errors in corporate software can lead to system outages, missing data and communication failures. If you use software in an enterprise or handle sensitive, confidential information, it’s best to make sure that the software will work exactly as it should. The QA intends to find out.
• QA processes inspire customer confidence: When QA software testing is a priority for software development, a message is sent to customers that want their software, product, etc. to be as successful as possible.
• QA maintains an excellent user experience: The user experience makes or undoes a product. If the software fails or is slow, it prevents the user experience with the product. Bad user experience generates dissatisfaction and frustration. A good user experience, which you get when you’ve meticulously tested a software product warranties a satisfied user, who is much more likely to recommend the product and your business to others.
• The QA promotes organization, productivity and efficiency: The unwanted scenario is a faulty software, frantic communication looking for fault responsible and hasty solutions.

Working in an organized way, with quality control tests from the beginning of your development strategy, allows you to work at ease and be more productive. To do this, for example, using agile methodologies, allows the software tested as it is created, rather than always waiting until the end.

If you want to know about these and more benefits, do not hesitate to consult Tecnova’s QA services.