• Salary costs (regular salary, employer contribution (FUTA, Medicare, SUI), employer tax,  vacation and sick leave, 401(k) plan, workers' compensation insurance).
• Employee benefits (medical and dental care, life insurance).
• IT and infrastructure costs (computer, fax, software (incl. licenses), Internet, network infrastructure, help desk, repairs, phone lines, long distance calls, email and web hosting, voice mail, etc.)
• Training costs (internal, external training, tuition reimbursement).
• Office costs (office space, common areas, parking, furniture, personal property tax, personal property insurance, liability insurance, refreshments, office supplies, paper, toner, etc.)

A1QA's rates prove to be more competitive, as you only pay for the actual work, while A1QA covers everything else!

Independent QA dominates

There are two natural options to implement the software quality assurance (SQA) function - to have it independent from the development team (when the independent QA team reports directly to the customer), or to run it as a part of the existing development team (in this case, the QA team reports to the development project manager, who has the final say on all questions).

Industry experience clearly indicates that independent QA teams deliver better results and that the customer always gets an accurate software quality picture. In addition, independent QA is clearly focused on revealing all issues as early as possible, in contrast to the dependent QA scenario, when the development project manager may be overly optimistic about the current status of the project. This results in hidden problems, which may be revealed only at final stages of product development or even after product release.

If you have never tried independent QA, working with the team of professionals at A1QA is the easiest way to start and to evaluate the possible benefits for your business.

How to achieve better results?

SQA is a complex discipline that requires proper process organization and experience. First of all, the right people should be involved. To think that the same people, who are skilled at developing software, are also good at performing QA activities is a common mistake that will cost dearly. The development and QA processes are totally different and require different skills and competencies, which are usually not held by a single person.

Moreover, only an independent QA team has the capability to develop all of the necessary skills and competencies. It is achieved by the testing of many products, by the continuous improvement of QA processes and procedures and acquiring relevant tools. Such an approach allows one to get the best results from the very beginning of the project, with no need to wait for the development and growth of an internal team.

A1QA continuously invests in process improvement and personnel training and selects the best tools available on the market in order to provide the highest quality of service and to maintain our company's reputation of a reliable testing and QA vendor.