Helping Sharp deliver at scale: from multifunctional printer validation to multi-market ecommerce testing

Sharp Europe is a global name in electronics, known for its innovative office tech - from multifunctional printers to smart displays and IT Services. Sharp helps organisations thrive in a rapidly changing working world. Through connecting people and technology, it delivers trusted, tailored solutions for the workplace and public spaces that increase efficiency and enhance performance, while freeing its customers to focus on what they do best.

The challenge:

Sharp was juggling two large, business-critical initiatives simultaneously - each with its own complexity, dependencies, and delivery risk:

• Functional testing and validation of Synappx applications across the Sharp multifunctional printer (MFP) ecosystem, which had previously been handled on an ad hoc basis by internal development and support teams.
• Rebuilding its ecommerce platforms from the ground up, with complex B2B requirements, localisation needs, and delivery across 19 international markets.

With a development team in place but no dedicated internal QA resource, there were gaps in testing, release coordination, and overall visibility. Sharp needed an outsourced QA partner who could bring it all together - providing clarity, structure, and momentum across both work streams.

Bringing structure to Synappx application testing across Sharp’s MFP ecosystem

Sharp’s multifunctional printers are widely used in schools, offices and government organisations. These environments are typically managed by IT administrators who need to onboard devices, manage users, assign permissions, and maintain secure print workflows.

In most cases, customers expect the original equipment manufacturer (OEM) to provide an integrated print management solution as part of an enhanced offering. This is where Sharp provides Synappx Cloud Print - a secure, cloud-based print management platform that allows organisations to manage printing across Sharp multifunctional printers through web and mobile applications.

We worked with Sharp to design and embed a structured, repeatable testing approach that reflected real-world usage and supported consistent, reliable releases across the MFP ecosystem:

• Validating the Synappx Cloud Print MFP application on physical Sharp printers, simulating real-world environments and usage scenarios.
• Testing the Synappx mobile application as part of the Synappx Cloud Print solution, reflecting real user workflows.
• Shaping test cases around Sharp’s user stories, including tasks like creating admin roles, managing access, onboarding devices as part of the Synappx Cloud Print Administrator Web portal.
• Introducing exploratory testing to find issues outside of scripted test cases.
• Building a lightweight regression testing pack, ensuring existing functionality was re-checked with every release.
• Aligning testing sessions with bi-monthly release cycles, replacing last-minute checks with planned sessions.

More recently, we supported Sharp with independent penetration testing of the Synappx Cloud Print. The outcomes of this work were shared publicly in Sharp’s press release: Sharp Advances Security Posture with Independent Assessment of Synappx™ Cloud Print Web and Mobile Applications.

Scaling ecommerce across 19 markets

The ecommerce workstream involved a new platform, multiple customer types, and 19 international markets - all supported by the development team.

Sharp relied on UAT but needed a more structured approach to quality assurance (QA) and delivery readiness testing. This is where an outsourced QA model helped bring consistency and confidence to releases across markets.

We helped Sharp:

• Define ‘ready for UAT’ - including clean builds, stable environments, and detailed release notes.
• Introduce QA checklists and gate criteria to improve development hand-offs.
• Set up structured defect triage sessions with the development team, so bugs were prioritised and resolved efficiently.
• Design a two-phase migration testing strategy:
   
  1. Phase one: Front-end testing - UX, journey flows, and functional checks.
  2. Phase two: CMS and localisation - verifying language, content, and products in each market.
     
     
• Improve release scheduling across all 19 B2B markets, with a central rollout calendar and clearer resource planning.
• Develop reusable templates for test planning, issue tracking, and handovers.
• Strengthen communication channels between Sharp and the development team.

The impact

By embedding scalable QA processes and aligning release testing with real-world use, Sharp was able to:

• Launch its primary ecommerce market on time, despite the complexity of multi-country delivery.
• Improve the visibility and control over releases, supported by structured hand-offs, clear triage processes, and coordinated roll-out plans.
• Reduce bugs and missed functionality, driven by stronger regression coverage and exploratory testing.
• Improve collaboration with development teams, enabled by clearer communication and more realistic planning.
• Increase internal confidence, with assurance that both hardware-integrated and digital products were thoroughly tested and ready for users.