How to Save Budget on QA

Software testing is a significant part of the software development lifecycle, often consuming 20-30% of the IT budget, and involves various costs influenced by the project's complexity, testing scale, tools, team size, and methodologies. The concept of Cost of Quality (COQ) in software testing encompasses prevention, appraisal, internal failure, and external failure costs, with prevention focusing on activities to avoid defects, appraisal on detecting defects early, internal on addressing defects found during development, and external on issues discovered post-release. To optimize testing costs without sacrificing quality, strategies such as test automation, early shift-left testing, minimizing test maintenance, and efficient test data management are recommended. Tools like testRigor enable automation, allowing non-programmers to write test cases, while other approaches include optimizing test environments, leveraging crowdsourced testing, prioritizing test cases based on risk, and fostering continuous improvement in testing processes. Ultimately, the goal is to deliver high-quality software efficiently while minimizing unnecessary expenses and maximizing resource utilization.