What is Testing as a Service (TaaS Model)?

Testing as a Service or TaaS is a process where an organization outsources its testing services from a third party. A business can rent infrastructure, buy testing tools and software on pay per use basis, or handover their entire testing responsibilities to a third-party service provider.

TaaS is generally used for automated testing processes, which requires a massive amount of resources if done manually. The resources could be staff, time, money, or technology.

Classification of TaaS

TaaS is an umbrella covering a wide range of functional and non-functional testing procedures. It helps organizations enjoy customized and comprehensive support of an experienced testing team to upscaling one's technological capabilities and formulating and conducting software testing.

Functional Testing in TaaS

Functional testing focuses on testing the features and functions of an application. This is where the testing team analyzes whether the software program or app functions as intended by the developer. The tester makes sure the app is responding perfectly to input and offering appropriate output.

Some functional testing types include system testing, system testing, unit testing, user acceptance testing, etc.

Non-Functional Testing in TaaS

Non-functional testing focuses on the application's performance, user-friendliness, and security. The test involves processes where vendors make sure the application meets robust security requirements, easy for the users, and complies with other software systems.

The application is executed on a simulated production environment to check its latency and responsiveness to a predefined workload.

Some non-functional testing types include load testing, compatibility testing, usability testing, scalability testing, and so on.

When Can Organizations opt for TaaS?

TaaS covers all the aspects of a sophisticated and state-of-the-art software testing services which was previously enjoyed only by large-scale organizations. Thanks to the TaaS Model, now small and medium scale businesses can avail the same services that’s even at a fragment of cost.

When the organization lacks the resources and skills to conduct in-house testing.
When the requirement is limited and setting up an in-house testing department seems like an overstretch.
When organizations do not want their developers to influence the testing results.
When organizations want to reduce their software development time and speed up the test.

Some Popular Testing Processes in TaaS

There lies a wide range of TaaS that are accommodate different parts of an application or software development lifestyle. Here are some most popular and widely used types of TaaS in organizations across the globe.

Types of TaaS (testing as a Service)	Uses
Cloud Testing	For testing the cloud services of a company
Performance Testing	For testing the overall performance of an app or software system
Regression Testing	To test the new features of an app and ensure it doesn’t affect the app’s old features
Functional Testing	For checking the overall functionality of a product (includes GUI testing, user accepted testing)
QA or Quality Assurance Testing	To ensure the product meets a certain criteria before it releases to the end users
Application Testing	Use to test an application developed by a company
Load Testing	For testing how the app responds to a certain usage volume
Unit Testing	For testing the functionality of certain coding (mostly tested on coding that are suspected as weak)
Penetration testing (PTaaS)	Vendors perform mock attacks for checking the efficacy of a company’s security system against cyberattacks
Disaster Recovery Testing	For checking the company’s responsiveness and recovery system against an incident or outage
GUI testing	Analyzing and evaluating the user-facing side of an application or system software
Service-level Agreement (SLA) adherence	To ensure the SaaS application used by the company adheres to SLA

Features of TaaS

TaaS is a best suited for organizations who lacks the skill, technical resources and investment can avail the same quality services as enjoyed by large-organizations. While the services offered under the TaaS Model are unsurmountable, organizations worldwide often use it for automated regression testing, security testing, RTP software testing, cloud-based app monitoring, and performance testing.

In addition to these, we also have some exceptional features of TaaS, which we will discuss below:

Access to powerful technology

It serves as a powerful platform featuring the latest technology for custom and predefined test cases.

Expert guidance

It provides affordable and quality technology solutions to organizations designing test cases and infrastructure management to meet their business requirements.

A vast set of test libraries

Users get access to a large number of test cases with preconfigured templates and customized user scenarios

Thriving community

TaaS is a prospering community that keeps growing along with vendors and new test cases. Over time, it has showcased immense transformation in providing accuracy and utility.

Public Cloud

It gives access to a pool of data center resources allowing specialists to execute test cases using shared hardware utilization.

Comprehensive testing cycle support

It covers all aspects of software testing, such as planning, implementing, and evaluation. Using application diagnostics tools, the testing team can detect bottlenecks in real-time and manage them efficiently.

Solution to organizations’ infrastructural and operational issues

It is a self-service platform allowing users to execute resource-heavy tests without investing heftily in in-house infrastructure and technology. The vendor takes care of all the management responsibilities.

Flexible model

TaaS comes with an on-demand pricing model as businesses can subscribe to TaaS services on demand. Instead of hiring and investing in a separate team, businesses can use the TaaS services as per their requirement.

Short turnaround

Organizations can avail of the test results within a short duration depending on their workload and resources. It allows developers to run multiple tests, making it an ideal platform for DevOps.

Demand for TaaS Model in SMEs and Large-Scale Organizations

The software testing market has already touched USD 40 Billion in 2019, of which around USD 12.6 billion is accounts for automation testing. Researchers expect the market to grow at a CAGR of around 6 percent between 2020 to 2026. Meanwhile, a whopping growth of 18 percent CAGR is expected in the automation-testing sector.

Looking at the number alone, one can assume the future beholds for Software Testing Industry. The number was not looking so great a few years back when software and application testing was a privilege enjoyed by prominent players. Things started to change when the TaaS model entered the market.

Conclusion

The TaaS Model comes with a pay-as-you-go approach that allows SMEs and even large-scale organizations to conduct agile development and DevOps at a flexible cost. Now organizations don’t have to spend a significant amount of resources creating dedicated test environments as everything, including servers, connectors, and applications, is hosted on the cloud. This not only simplifies the testing process but also facilitates exceptional scalability, flexibility and productivity.