Executive Summary
A top-tier entertainment company running a billion‑dollar, globally distributed product needed to replace an incumbent India-based QA vendor. Quality risk, release delays, and time‑zone friction were undermining growth. TeamStation AI stood up a nearshore LATAM QA squad of 10+ engineers in under 30 days, delivering secure devices, insurance-backed coverage, and a modern, automation‑first test program. Outcome: stabilized releases, faster feedback cycles, and measurable reduction in defect leakage to production.
The Challenge
- Vendor replacement without downtime: Transition from a large offshore (India) provider while maintaining release cadence.
- Real‑time collaboration: Need for same-day iteration with product and engineering in the Americas.
- Scale & specialization: More than 10 QA resources across functional, automation, performance, and test‑ops.
- Security & compliance: Enterprise‑grade access controls, device governance, and insurance coverage, with auditability for global stakeholders.
Why TeamStation AI
- Speed to value: AI‑assisted matching and calibrated vetting enabled a full squad in <30 days across LATAM.
- Time‑zone alignment: Real‑time stand‑ups, pairing, and triage in U.S. business hours.
- Assured security posture: End‑to-end encryption, MFA/SSO, least‑privilege access, background checks, and regular pen‑tests.
- Devices & coverage: Company‑issued devices with MDM, secure network baselines, and cybersecurity insurance coverage—a level of protection many far‑shore vendors typically do not provide.
- Integrated delivery: Employer‑of-Record (EOR), localized payroll/benefits, onboarding, governance, and ongoing performance management through the TeamStation platform.
Solution Overview
Team: 1 QA Lead, SDETs (automation), Functional QA, Performance/Load, and TestOps (CI/CD & environments). Footprint: Distributed across multiple LATAM countries for resiliency and talent depth. Engagement model: Dedicated squad with elastic bench capacity and SLAs for coverage.
Stand‑Up (Days 0–30)
- Discovery & risk map: Scope critical user journeys (web, mobile, OTT), enumerate high‑risk modules, and define NFRs (non‑functional requirements).
- AI‑guided selection: Transformer‑based parsing and linguistic pattern analysis identify candidates with verified automation depth and entertainment‑domain QA experience.
- Validation & controls: Practical assessments, code exercises, pair‑tests, reference checks, and compliance gates.
- Secure onboarding: Provision MDM‑managed devices, identity/access policies, VPN baselines, and data handling SOPs.
- Parallel shadowing: Replace the incumbent with zero‑downtime by shadowing for two sprints, then assume ownership with a controlled cut‑over.
Operating System for Quality
- Automation‑first: Shift‑left test design; scalable suites across UI/API; contract tests to protect integrations.
- Release guardrails: CI/CD hooks (pre‑merge checks, smoke/perf gates), feature-flag probing, and rollback playbooks.
- Data‑driven triage: Defect taxonomy, severity SLAs, MTTR tracking, and weekly quality councils with product/engineering.
- Environment reliability: TestOps ensures steady non‑prod environments, seeded data, and ephemeral test runs for parallelization.
- Security woven in: Secrets hygiene, least‑privilege test data access, and periodic secure‑SDLC audits.
Security & Compliance
- Encryption & access: End‑to-end encryption, MFA/SSO, role‑based access controls, and quarterly access reviews.
- Certifications & testing: Alignment with SOC 2 and ISO 27001 practices; regular internal and third‑party penetration testing.
- Device governance: Corporate‑owned, MDM‑enforced devices with patch compliance and remote wipe.
- Insurance: Cybersecurity insurance covering client workstreams and device operations.
- Auditability: Immutable activity logs and incident response runbooks.
Results
- Squad live in <30 days with zero missed releases during transition.
- Stabilized release cadence through automation gates and tighter CI/CD feedback.
- Measurable reduction in defect leakage to production (tracked via severity mix and escape rate).
- Faster MTTR and clearer RCA through standardized triage rituals.
- Lower coordination overhead thanks to same‑day collaboration and cultural alignment.
Detailed metrics and the client’s identity are available under NDA following a TeamStation AI demo call.
Why Nearshore LATAM vs. Far‑Shore
- Working‑hour overlap: Real‑time iteration beats 12‑hour delays for agile teams.
- Communication fidelity: Shared working rhythms reduce rework and ambiguity.
- Operational assurance: Device provisioning, governance, and insurance coverage packaged into the engagement—capabilities that far‑shore vendors frequently cannot match at parity.
Governance & Collaboration
- Rituals: Daily stand‑ups, embedded QA in planning/refinement, weekly quality council, and monthly risk reviews.
- Reporting: Executive dashboards for coverage, flake rate, escape rate, MTTR, and readiness to ship.