Unlocking quality at speed: 4 strategic levers to drive QA efficiency

Have you noticed a consistent pattern of large enterprises facing similar roadblocks in quality engineering? We certainly have through our daily work with clients across all major industries. We repeatedly encounter the same challenges: Rising costs, slow delivery cycles, and testing approaches that struggle to keep pace with rapid development.

Many teams attempt to address these challenges through incremental efforts, such as introducing automation tools, outsourcing specific tasks, or tweaking processes. While these steps can bring short-term relief, they often fail to deliver sustainable and scalable gains. So what’s the magic mantra for a long-term solution?

At Nagarro, we take a more structured and holistic approach to drive test efficiency. We’ve identified four high-impact levers that, when applied together, help organizations unlock lasting improvements in quality assurance without compromising speed, stability, or cost efficiency.

1. Automate smarter, not just more

Most organizations embrace automation but struggle to scale it meaningfully.

At Nagarro, we’ve designed a modular automation strategy that combines our A2A.DRIVEN framework with AI-powered tools like the Quality Copilot to make automation both scalable and intelligent.

This enables:

• Rapid identification and selection of relevant test cases
• Automated optimization of regression suites
• Reduced manual effort in both test execution and maintenance

In practice, we've seen up to 65% reduction in testing effort while the speed of execution increases by 25x, especially in systems with large or legacy test suites.

Client example:

At Vienna International Airport, we introduced a custom test automation framework that cut test maintenance efforts by 87%. The solution replaced legacy processes and became the new standard across multiple systems, significantly improving turnaround time and long-term maintainability. Detailed success story

2. Streamline the test portfolio

Over time, test portfolios tend to grow unchecked, leading to redundancy, misaligned coverage, and resource drain.

Our 3R model helps teams take control of their test portfolios:

• Risk-Based Testing: Prioritize effort where failures have the highest impact
• Remove Redundancies: Eliminate obsolete or overlapping test cases
• Redistribute Coverage: Rebalance test distribution across critical areas

This approach can shrink test portfolios by up to 50%, freeing up resources and increasing confidence in releases.

Client example:

For a government-backed education platform with over 300,000 concurrent users, we applied this model to streamline test planning and delivery. Risk-prioritized test coverage ensured high reliability during peak load, allowing the system to pass high-stress thresholds with zero production incidents.

3. Integrate quality across the delivery lifecycle

One of the most impactful shifts we’ve supported involves embedding quality earlier and deeper into the delivery pipeline and moving beyond the traditional "test at the end" approach.

We implement the following key enablers:

• Shift-left practices and BDD to align development and test early
• Performance and non-functional testing integrated into CI/CD pipelines
• Automated quality gates for every stage of development

This integrated model reduces rework, improves feedback loops, shorten release cycles, and improve product stability. In some cases, clients have reported a 50% improvement in pipeline speed and 2x increase in release reliability.

Client example:

ADMIRAL, a major sports betting platform faced recurring late-stage failures and release instability. By embedding shift-left practices and BDD-led automation, we cut their release cycle times from six weeks to just two. Post-sprint critical errors dropped by 70%, which eliminated the need for a dedicated system test phase.

4. Balance cost and collaboration with strategic shoring

Outsourcing QA can lower costs, but often introduces friction, disconnects, or quality concerns.

Our strategic shoring approach is designed to avoid this trade-off. We maintain local leadership and product context while distributing execution across optimized nearshore and offshore teams. The result is a coordinated, cost-effective QA function that scales with business needs.

Benefits include:

• Up to 45% reduction in QA spend
• Round-the-clock delivery coverage
• Seamless collaboration across global teams

Client example:

For a global automotive service provider, we deployed a blended QA team to redesign and automate their development pipeline. This resulted in a 50% reduction in system provisioning time, with no trade-offs in quality or speed despite the geographic spread.

Where to start: From insight to action

Improving QA efficiency requires more than tools or temporary fixes. It calls for a structured, holistic approach that aligns people, processes, and technology.

At Nagarro, we offer a QA efficiency gain analysis to help organizations take that first step. The engagement includes:

• A comprehensive assessment of current QA practices
• Tailored, actionable recommendations
• A roadmap for scaling automation and optimizing effort
• Delivery within one month, with minimal disruption to your ongoing operations.

To learn more or start a conversation, feel free to visit this page: https://www.nagarro.com/en/services/accelerated-quality-and-test-engineering/qa-efficiency-gain-analysis or reach out to aqt@nagarro.com