Fun fact: A consultancy’s primary objective is to generate services revenue. They want you to spend your money on consultancy days, not on labour-saving tools.
Therefore, it’s no surprise that they often lead customers down the open-source software route.
Consultancies will dress it up in one way or another, but free tools mean more days for them.
Testing software is my area of expertise, and the over-promotion of open-source tools is a problem I often see.
They Sell An Impossible Dream
Many of the companies I speak with are being sold a dream of free, dynamic, project-based tooling.
They’re being promised the holy grail of speed, cost and quality.
Unsurprisingly, the reality is often very different to the sales pitch. The open-source route could well lead to laborious processes and a reliance on costly experts.
If you have been on a management course, you’ll have seen an image like the one below. It’s a universal truth across projects, you can never have all 3.
People Are The Real Cost – Especially Expensive Experts
As I’ve talked about before. When it comes to software, people are the real cost.
You should always focus on software that reduces human effort.
Not only do open-source tools require more effort than many paid tools, but they are also dependent on experts throughout their entire lifecycle – through configuration, execution and maintenance.
Open-source plays perfectly for consultancies.
Instead of buying professional tools, they’d prefer you invest your budget in their services.
Often, consultancies develop elaborate open-source frameworks – that only deliver a fraction of the functionality of enterprise-grade tools.
That way, they get a bigger slice of the initial pie and you’re tied into using their resources on an ongoing basis.
Over the long term, open-source will likely cost you more money and effort.
I have seen several companies replace well-used tools with open-source tools. They’ve then spent a considerable amount of time and money getting the open source solutions to work.
I always ask the test managers a couple of questions:
- Are the open source tools as good as the old solution – the answer is almost always “no”.
- Have you saved any money overall – the answer is usually “we don’t know”.
Enterprise-Grade Professional Tools Aren’t as Expensive as You Might Think
Buying software reminds me of the old Fairy Liquid adverts – A few more pence makes a lot more sense.
Proper test tools really aren’t that expensive. SaaS and term licensing have introduced flexible options and project-level purchasing decisions. These minimise your initial investment while providing instant productivity improvements and long-term savings.
I’ve done a number of test tool comparisons and paid tools typically come out on top. I’ve included a few articles here:
- Jira – Great For Developers, Not Ideal For Testers
- The Selenium Myth: It’s Not As Free As You Think
- JMeter? LoadRunner Cloud is Better and Costs Less
Good News – There is a Way Out
What consultancies don’t want you to know, is that you can maximise your open-source scripts within efficient professional test tools.
Nowadays, affordable tools like LoadRunner Cloud (performance testing) and UFT One(functional test automation) can run most open-source scripts.
This makes it incredibly easy to switch to easier, more powerful tools and free yourself from perpetual consultancy fees.
Learn More About The Benefits of Professional Test Tools Today
