The growing popularity of Crowdtesting

Crowdsourced testing or crowdtesting is an emerging trend that is all set to experience an upward growth at a 9.9% CAGR over the next four years. 

As ‘remote’ becomes the new normal, the popularity of crowdtesting is also growing in parallel. The pandemic has broken all the preconceived notions regarding the rigid requirements of collocated teams in an Agile-driven software development lifecycle. 

Now, testers from all across the world are serving remotely to the global companies for their QA needs. 

With the sudden overturn of the old ‘in-office’ working style, many companies were caught off-guard and suffered from the severe lack of remote infrastructure while moving their in-house QA teams to a work from home scenario. 

During the time, several organizations’ QA teams were rendered ineffective due to inefficient remote working infrastructure and capabilities. Then, independent QA services and crowdsourced testing become the two escape routes.  

Learn how Cigniti enabled remote working option for 98% of its workforce in less than 48 hours to ensure business continuity for all of our clients. 

Although, COVID-19 has become a primary reason for the sudden surge in the demand for crowdsourced testing, the existent upward trend can be attributed to accelerating global digital transformation, high demand for faster releases, need for flexibility and scalability in QA practices, cost-effectiveness, among others. 

Irrespective of the software development and software testing methodology that an organization follows, crowdtesting can help in scaling those efforts in a highly cost-effective manner. 

Let’s dive further into the detailed aspects of crowdsourced testing. 

Also read: Why Should You Crowdsource Software Quality Assurance? 

Is crowdsourced testing the new normal? 

The straightforward answer should be yes. But the answer isn’t as simple. 

The world has just gotten used to the working from home scenario, with web communication being the only channel of exchanging information. 

Although yes, crowdtesting is all about leveraging a team of distributed testers working in a remote condition, it has not become the norm – yet! 

But, given its growing popularity, it is all set to be the new normal. 

The concerns that organizations had about crowdsourced testing in the pre-COVID era such as security and the risk for IP infringement still remain. However, now that they have survived the remote working conditions themselves, they are better prepared to tackle and manage a crowdsourced team. 

Closing the in-house skill gaps with crowdsourced testers 

This is one of the major benefits of crowdsourced testing that one should definitely consider while weighing its pros and cons. 

Usually, organizations do not have the right pool of resources in their in-house team who is capable of taking over the quality aspects of an innovative project efficiently. In such a scenario, hand-picked, thoroughly-vetted crowdtesters, sourced from all over the world become the perfect choice. 

Also read: Crowdtesters Will Tear Your Software Down. Are You Prepared? 

With crowdsourced testers, the limitation related to the lack of required skills becomes obsolete. They come from different backgrounds, geographical locations, knowledge & skills.  

Additionally, being in different areas allow the crowdtesters to assess and evaluate a software or application under real-time condition as opposed to simulated conditions within a software testing lab. 

This, in turn, means higher accuracy in the results and higher effectiveness of the entire QA process. 

Key benefits of crowdsourced testing 

As crowdsourced testing is a process in which real end-users test a software application under real conditions, the outcomes generated are more likely to result in a customer-centric end product. 

The distributed testing team in a crowdsourced testing process is easier to scale up or scale down. Therefore, it brings flexibility and scalability along with high speed at low costs. 

As the number and variety of devices keep on increasing, crowdsourcing becomes the right channel to test a software application on a number of devices before the final release. 

Also read: How Does Crowdsourced Testing Fit in a DevOps World? 

Case study – Crowdtesting helps leading motor insurance provider reduce mobile testing costs to zero 

A major UK based motor insurance claims settlement provider, specializing in settling accidental claims related to vehicles and providing emergency services was facing challenges due to non-conventional form of testing being practiced and the absence of test artifacts. 

Not only was there no strategy for validation of the automobile device–application pair, but also the existing testing environment did not have simulation facilities. This led to unforeseen risks and logistical issues that derailed the testing process. 

After in-depth discussions with the client, we suggested that the client perform crowdsourced functional and mobile-based QA testing. To begin with, a robust planning and communication structure (both forward and backward) was implemented between the clients’ team and our team of testers. 

We suggested implementing a BYOD policy that would increase the number of devices available for testing. By doing so, the client was able to bring down its expenses on mobile devices to zero. While the successful implementation of non-conventional form of testing practices enhanced the clients’ testing capabilities and scalability, it was also able to achieve seamless integration and co-ordination across its team. 

Read the complete success story. 

How can we help 

At Cigniti, we offer a complete portfolio of Quality Engineering services, delivered through strategic go-to-market partnerships with crowdsourcing platforms having a global reach.  

The access to a globally-vetted community of 50,000+ user testers & testing professionals provides a great competitive edge through crowdsourced user research & digital testing, using leading edge digital platforms.  

Our experience in multiple domains and our niche capabilities add on to the value provided by this extended global reach. This helps improve the quality & user experience of your applications, accelerates software innovation for your enterprise, and ensures an impeccable user experience for your customers, thus resulting in better value for your clients, globally. 

Schedule a discussion with our experts and learn more about our crowdsourced testing services.