Coverage every release
A defined regression and smoke plan makes tested paths, failures and outstanding gaps visible at each agreed release checkpoint.
BPO Service
QA Outsourcing Services
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Direct answer
Quality assurance (QA) outsourcing gives software teams external testing capacity within their release process. Actigy BPO runs manual, exploratory and regression testing, with defect reports in your trackers, from Bulgaria, Romania, Poland and Ukraine. The team follows your tools, sprint cadence and review rules. Your product and engineering owners keep acceptance criteria, fixes and release decisions.
Share the product area, release cadence and test backlog. Review the proposed QA scope before choosing a pilot.
Your acceptance criteria · Your release decision · Paid pilot before scale
According to Actigy BPO, buyers choose nearshore CEE delivery for time-zone overlap, agreed data-processing terms and process continuity. Published attrition figures use different definitions, so compare them in the BPO attrition rate benchmark before you rely on one.
At a glance
QA outsourcing at a glance
| Provider | Actigy BPO (Prague; delivery in Bulgaria, Romania, Poland and Ukraine) |
|---|---|
| Service | QA Outsourcing |
| Work in scope | Test case design & execution, Exploratory testing, Regression cycles, Defect reporting & retest, Cross-browser & device, Release smoke testing |
| Pricing model | Per full-time equivalent (FTE) by role and industry; test scope and release frequency inform staffing, not a per-test charge |
| Engagement | Managed team or staff augmentation |
| Team includes | Trained operators, a Tech Lead, and QA |
| Coverage | Testing hours matched to the agreed release plan; any extended or up to 24/7 coverage requires a staffed roster |
| Delivery region | Bulgaria, Romania, Poland and Ukraine (Central and Eastern Europe) |
| Controls | Approved test access and peer review. The provider states ISO 9001 and SOC 2 alignment, not ISO certification or a SOC 2 audit; confirm the controls for your test data. |
| Pilot readiness | Agree timing after requirements, test data, environments, access and the tester roster are ready |
| You keep | Acceptance criteria, code changes, risk acceptance and the release decision |
What does QA outsourcing cover?
QA outsourcing, also called software testing services, gives product and engineering teams dedicated testing capacity inside their existing process. The team provides QA outsourcing: manual and exploratory testing, regression cycles and defect reporting inside your sprints. The team designs and executes test cases, runs exploratory and regression testing, validates fixes and logs clear, reproducible defects in your tracker.
Testers work to your acceptance criteria, definition of done and release cadence, and join sprint ceremonies as agreed. Define the new-feature checks, regression suite and smoke tests for each release. Report what was tested, what failed and what could not be tested, rather than treating a completed test count as complete product coverage.
Manual and automated testing serve different needs. Exploratory sessions examine behavior beyond scripted cases; regression checks look for previously working behavior that has changed. The team can scope support for maintaining or extending automated tests, subject to the team's fit with your framework and pipeline. Designing a new automation architecture is not the default service.
Some decisions stay with your team. Product owners keep the acceptance criteria and the definition of done. Engineering keeps the code, the fixes and the release decision. The testers show what works, what breaks and how to reproduce it. A good defect report names the build, the steps, the expected and actual result, and the evidence.
Capabilities included
Which software testing tasks can the team handle?
The team can take responsibility for the agreed test plan, execution, defect reports and retests. Define the product area, supported environments, evidence required and review checkpoints. Your product and engineering owners retain acceptance criteria, fixes and the decision to release with any unresolved defects.
Test case design & execution
Test cases written from agreed requirements and run on the builds included in the test plan.
Exploratory testing
Unscripted testing by trained testers to find issues that scripted cases miss.
Regression cycles
Regression suites executed each release to catch reintroduced defects.
Defect reporting & retest
Clear, reproducible defects logged in your tracker and retested after fixes.
Cross-browser & device
Checks against an agreed browser, device and operating system (OS) matrix, with untested combinations identified.
Release smoke testing
Pre-release smoke checks of critical paths, with failures reported to your release owner.
Automation support
Support for maintaining and extending automated test coverage where it pays off.
Which teams need outsourced QA capacity?
This QA service fits:
- SaaS and software teams shipping on a sprint cadence
- Product teams without dedicated QA capacity
- Engineering leaders who need regression coverage every release
- Companies launching across many browsers and devices
- Teams with quality issues slipping into production
- Teams that want QA, technical support and IT operations under one delivery team
Scenarios
When should you consider an outsourced QA team?
Teams outsource QA in four common situations.
Regression coverage slips under release pressure.
Agree a prioritized regression suite and time budget with the team. Report skipped or blocked checks before the release owner decides whether to ship.
Developers test their own work and bugs escape.
Add a separate testing pass with reproducible evidence. Review the pilot's findings and missed issues; a second team does not guarantee defect-free software.
You need to scale QA for a big launch.
Plan additional testers around product training, environment access and the launch test matrix. Agree availability, ramp-up and scale-down terms in advance.
You're shipping across many browsers and devices.
Choose the browser and device combinations from your user needs and support policy. Keep the tested versions and remaining gaps visible in the release report.
Is this QA service the right fit?
When the service is a strong fit
- You need consistent regression coverage every release
- Developers are testing their own work and quality is slipping
- You want clear, reproducible defects in your tracker
- You need to scale QA for launches without permanent hiring
- You want coverage and defect-trend visibility
- You can share requirements, acceptance criteria and test environments
When another model may fit better
- You only need a senior automation architect to design a framework from scratch
- Your product requires certified safety-critical test attestation
- You have no requirements or acceptance criteria to test against
- Testing volume is too small to justify a managed QA team
QA delivery
What supports reliable test execution?
Defects you can act on
Build details, reproduction steps and expected versus actual behavior help engineers investigate. Fix ownership and priority stay with your team.
Scales with releases
Plan temporary testing capacity for launches, with product training and availability confirmed before it enters the release schedule.
Quality made visible
Track the agreed coverage denominator, defect severity and escaped defects by release. Compare like-for-like test scope before drawing a trend.
Delivery method
Pilot plan for QA outsourcing
The team pilots QA outsourcing on one product area or release cycle before any team scales. The plan below uses three stages, and you decide at the scale gate.
| Stage | What happens |
|---|---|
| Test readiness | Review release cadence, test environments, existing cases, tools and the defect workflow. Agree the standard operating procedure (SOP), acceptance criteria and key performance indicators (KPIs). Confirm approved test data, build access and tester readiness before the pilot. |
| Scoped test cycle | Test one product area or release cycle. Run the agreed scripted and exploratory checks, log reproducible defects and identify blocked or untested paths. Measure coverage, defect-report quality and cycle time against the pilot plan. |
| Scale gate | Your team reviews the results, escaped defects where observable, and remaining coverage gaps. Approve additional testers or product areas only after agreeing capacity and onboarding. Keep release authority with your product and engineering owners. |
See the full delivery method: How the pilot works
Related services and industries
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Industries
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Actigy BPO scopes human review for AI agent testing. Client engineers retain model changes and release decisions.
Visibility
What is reported for each test cycle?
Set the reporting cadence around your release decisions. The team reports completed and blocked tests, defects found, retest results and regression cycle time for the agreed scope. Link production defects back to a release when the data permits. A SaaS & Software team should be able to see the gaps as well as the completed work.
- Completed, failed and blocked tests against the agreed test plan and environment matrix
- Regression cycle time and test completion against the release checkpoint
- Defect severity, reproducibility and retest status, rather than defect counts alone
- Escaped defects and proposed test-case changes, with the limits of the available production data
- A review with the test lead and your release owner at the agreed cadence
Engagement model
How is QA outsourcing priced?
Actigy BPO prices QA outsourcing per FTE by role and industry, not per test or per project. The test matrix, release frequency, task complexity and time for retesting determine the capacity to propose. Use the cost-to-quality ratio to compare the full testing effort. If you also need technical support, SaaS support or IT operations, scope those responsibilities separately.
The quote should name tester roles, monthly FTE rates, Tech Lead allocation and the testing hours included. For a launch peak, agree training time, availability and scale-down terms before relying on extra capacity. More test cases can require more staffing without changing the pricing unit to a per-test fee.
FAQ
Frequently asked questions
What is QA outsourcing?
QA outsourcing delegates software testing to a trained team: manual and exploratory testing, test-case execution, regression cycles and defect reporting. The team provides dependable QA execution inside your sprints and tools, with clear defect documentation and coverage tracking. Your team keeps the acceptance criteria and the release decision.
Does the team do manual or automated testing?
Actigy BPO's core scope is manual, exploratory and regression testing. Automation maintenance or extension can be agreed after checking your framework, pipeline and the proposed team's skills. You can start a manual QA pilot without automation; building a new automation architecture requires a separate scope.
How does the team integrate with our process?
The testers use your acceptance criteria, tracker and agreed release checkpoints. During setup, name the build source, test environments, defect workflow and person who resolves requirements questions. Defects include reproduction steps and evidence; engineering owns fixes, and your release owner decides whether unresolved issues are acceptable.
Can the team scale QA for a launch?
Additional QA capacity can be scoped for a launch, subject to tester availability and product training. Share the release date, environment matrix and expected workload early. Agree when testers must be ready, what they will cover and how capacity changes afterward; extra headcount alone does not establish release readiness.
How is QA quality and coverage measured?
Agree what counts as coverage: for example, completed checks within a named test plan and browser matrix. The team reports failures, blocked tests, defect-report quality and cycle time alongside that measure. Review escaped defects when production data is available. A higher number of tests or defects does not by itself prove better quality.
How much does QA outsourcing cost?
Actigy BPO quotes a monthly FTE rate by role and industry. Test volume, complexity, supported environments and release frequency affect the number and mix of people, not a per-test price. Confirm tester capacity, supervision, testing hours, tool access and any automation support in the written scope. Managed-team and staff-augmentation options should state who directs the daily work.
Should you outsource QA testing?
Yes, when developers test their own work, regression coverage slips under deadline pressure, or you need to scale for a launch. The team adds that testing capacity inside your sprints. Outsourcing is less suitable if you only need a single senior automation architect to design a framework.
What should you check before a QA pilot?
Before a QA pilot, settle these six points alongside the test plan and release responsibilities.
Start with a paid pilot
Use one product area or release cycle to assess test evidence, coverage gaps and defect-report quality before expanding.
Staffing-based pricing
See tester roles, supervision and FTE rates. Agree capacity changes against the release plan and onboarding needs.
You own the documentation
Keep test cases, defect history and process documentation in agreed tools. Define access and handover rights before the pilot.
Clean exit
Agree how test assets, open defects and pending retests transfer, and when tester access is removed.
Data protection
Approve test-data handling and role permissions before access. ISO 9001 and SOC 2 alignment describes the provider's approach, not certification or an audit report.
Time zones
Match testing hours and defect triage to your release team. Confirm overlap and any evening or weekend roster instead of assuming round-the-clock cover.
Outsource the process. Keep control of the outcome.
Tell us what process you want to outsource. The team will assess scope, complexity, staffing model, and delivery cost.
Check the proposed test scope, capacity and responsibilities before you approve the pilot.
Scope a pilot
What happens next
The team reviews the workflow before proposing a written scope. You decide whether to start a paid pilot after reviewing it.
Thank you. Your request was received. The team will review the workflow before discussing next steps.