External Consultant

Another option is to hire an external consultant. Many human factors, industrial design, market research, and usability engineering firms now offer usability testing as one of their services, including the use of their test

laboratories. You may simply want to outsource the usability test to such a firm, or use such a firm to "kick off" a testing program in your organization. 

Using an external consulting company guarantees the objectivity that testing requires. Even some organizations that employ internal human factors specialists to work on the design and development of products still outsource the testing work for the greater sense of impartiality it provides.

If you know your organization is committed to eventually forming a long-term testing program on site, then seek out a consulting company that will work with you to transfer the knowledge of testing into your organization.

Even if you are unsure about the long-term prospects /or testing in your company, it still might be easier to have outside help with an initial test Just make sure that if you conduct the test off-site, its location is physically close enough to allow development team members to attend the test sessions. Do not simply farm out the test to a remote location. (Although, in a pinch, team members could observe tests from their remote locations via Morae, Camtasia, or other electronic monitoring tools.) Viewing tests in person is much more

effective than watching or listening to a recording, especially /or those who are skeptical about the value of testing.