The SME Blog

SME’s Business Services Consultants all agree that Quality Assurance (QA) is crucial when used to identify if your product, software, or services are up to standards. QA is the:

• Method to ensure customers are satisfied with the product/service.
• Process used to scrutinize products/services to improve the end result.

Our Subject Matter Experts are dedicated and experienced in identifying all critical defects before a product or service goes public.

WHY DO COMPANIES USE QA?

Quality Assurance demonstrates to company leadership and to the public that a product/service is up to industry or regulatory standards. QA quantifies the product/services’ standards before it goes out to production. SME believes when a company has a good QA team, it lets corporate management, customers, regulators and government officials know that a product or service meets quality requirements consistently.

Based on our expertise, QA should never be overlooked to hit a deadline because that could result in loss of customer faith, unacceptable profit margins, and your company’s ability to attract talented employees. QA will also let you know if you are using your resources in a proactive manner.

WHAT ARE THE BENEFITS OF A QA TEAM?

 With our years of experience, SME can say with confidence there are numerous benefits of having a QA team in place, like:

• Helping to meet customer demands and expectations.
• Working to build trust with customers and beat the competition in the long run.
• Saving costs by detecting and fixing issues and flaws at early stages.
• Assisting in setting and maintaining high quality standards. 

SME’s past engagements have proven that investing in QA is not only worthwhile, but indispensable taken today’s fast pace environments. It is essential to be familiar with and use QA Team best practices for the desired results. High quality builds trust with your customers, which, in turn, makes you competitive and trustworthy in the market.

HOW DOES QA REDUCE COSTS?

At the completion of any given project, we can honestly say having Quality Assurance in place is especially helpful to all businesses. We believe it allows our clients to reduce extra costs that come with retesting. When customers aren’t satisfied with a product, the backlash can damage the company’s reputation, and negatively affect future products. SME will attempt to save costs and fix issues before problems become larger. Our Team will help establish and maintain quality standards by preventing problems to begin with.

Over the years, SME has learned the longer a bug goes undetected, the more costly it is to fix. In most cases, a simple cost versus benefit analysis will show that the benefits of employing a skilled and well-equipped QA & testing team and adequate quality processes far outweigh the costs.

SME stands by considering the various arguments for implementing adequate QA & Testing processes, none is more convincing than the associated costs of a faulty product or service.

WHAT IS A QA TEAM?

Our experienced consultants have learned when Quality Assurance is done right, it provides confidence, and lets companies market their products with few worries.

It’s crucial to keep in mind the key goals and choose the candidates not only on their current skills, but also on their potential for growth. SME will ensure you have clearly defined QA Team roles and responsibilities to empower you to choose the team members who are most suitable for the defined roles.

Quality Assurance Engineers often handle diverse tasks with different complexity levels. The team will benefit from their ability to diligently manage routine and repetitive tasks. QA tasks are handled expertly by those who are perfection driven and tend to look deep into the root of an issue.

HOW IS A QA TEAM MANAGED?

Just like any other team, SME believes a QA team is strong and successful when it is well organized, features healthy atmosphere, motivation and is united by a common goal. All of this is the result of good management. Aside from the general guidelines on teambuilding, there are some industry specific recommendations that are worth considering and implementing:

• Make sure the requirements for each test case are specified clearly and understood by team members for better performance.
• Establish rules and processes for everyone to follow.
• Track progress on all projects regularly.
• Encourage ongoing learning and improvement, support initiatives.
• Provide each team member with the tools necessary for their effective work.