Cutting costs without compromising on quality? It is possible

Everyone wants to reduce costs, but no one wants to sacrifice quality. In today’s economic climate, budgets are under pressure everywhere. We hear the same messages again and again in conversations with organizations: “We need to cut costs and work more efficiently”, “Developers are taking on more testing”, “AI will help us move faster.”

And QA? QA is expected to become cheaper while quality must remain untouched. Because by now, everyone understands the real cost of bugs in production: lost time, lost money, and lost trust.

The challenge, then, isn’t about testing less but about testing smarter. By making the right choices at the right moments in the testing process, organizations of any size can reduce costs without compromising quality. So, here are four practical ways to make that happen.

1. BrightScan: a strong start makes all the difference

Every successful initiative starts with a clear and well-thought-out plan. A BrightScan gives you fast, transparent insight into your current QA maturity, across the entire development lifecycle.

This isn’t documentation for the sake of documentation. It’s about actionable insights into:

• existing ways of working and processes
• bottlenecks and inefficiencies

Those insights are translated into a practical, prioritized roadmap you can immediately work with, independently or with support.

By applying context-aware recommendations and proven best practices, structural cost savings start to emerge. Think of clearer requirements, earlier defect detection (shift-left), smarter test coordination, and maximum reuse.

The result?
Less rework, faster time-to-value and cost savings that don’t disappear after one release but continue to pay off over time.

2. Flexible testing: capacity that adapts to reality

Testing is rarely a constant activity. It happens in phases, and not every phase requires the same level of intensity. For small and mid-sized organizations especially, a full-time tester isn’t always the most logical or cost-effective choice.

Sometimes you need extra focus around a release, a testing phase, or a critical change. Flexible testing is built around that reality: test support when you need it, without fixed costs when you don’t.

Test capacity can be scaled up or down per half day, fully aligned with the actual needs of your project. This helps you avoid:

• overcapacity during quieter periods
• structural costs for temporary needs

You deploy capacity exactly where it delivers the most value. Smart, agile, and cost-conscious.

3. Test automation: less repetition, more predictability

Manually executing the same regression tests for every release is part of the job, but it rarely feels efficient. What you test today, you’ll test again in the next release, with the same effort, the same time pressure, and the same cost.

Well-targeted test automation breaks that cycle. Not by automating everything blindly, but by applying automation in a risk- and value-driven way where it truly pays off.

Repetitive and time-consuming test activities are structurally taken over, resulting in:

• shorter test cycles
• faster defect detection
• a drastic reduction in duplicate work

In the medium and long term, this leads to lower testing costs per release and much greater predictability in delivery. Less stress, more control over both quality and planning.

4. SQAI Suite: testers as directors, not executors

Test automation reduces manual repetition and increases predictability. But it still requires preparation: test analysis, scenario definition, test data creation, and maintenance of automation. These are essential tasks but often very time-consuming.

With SQAI Suite, AI supports test teams precisely in those repetitive, preparatory activities. Test preparation and automation become smarter and more efficient, while the role of the test team shifts toward quality oversight and risk-based decision-making.

SQAI Suite complements existing test automation and test management tools. It strengthens what’s already in place, lowers the barrier to entry, and makes broad test coverage achievable even for smaller teams without putting extra pressure on budget or capacity.

The outcome is faster feedback, higher test coverage, and better control over quality without costs scaling along with it.

The bigger picture

Reducing testing costs isn’t about doing less, it’s about doing things smarter.

By analyzing sharply from the start, using capacity flexibly, automating with intent, and applying AI where it truly adds value, QA becomes an approach that grows along with your organization. And that may well be the biggest win of all.