Study shows that OutSystems delivered up to 66% in efficiency gains and paid back its investment in less than six months
OutSystems, a global leader in high-performance low-code development, today announced the results of the new Total Economic Impact™ of OutSystems, a commissioned study from Forrester Consulting on behalf of OutSystems. The study reports that the OutSystems high-performance low-code platform paid for itself in less than six months and delivered a 506-percent return on investment over three years. These findings come on the heels of the Forrester Wave™: Low-Code Development Platforms for Professional Developers, Q2 2021 report recognising OutSystems as a leader in low-code development platforms and the “developers’ choice” platform.
“Companies of all sizes need to deliver business critical apps with tight developer resources and are increasingly turning to low-code application development methods to meet their goals — but not all low-code is created equally,” said Paulo Rosado, CEO of OutSystems. “It’s time for organisations to finally experience the radical productivity, power and speed required to crush their backlog and deliver the software they need to succeed. This new research uncovers the power of OutSystems high-performance low-code development.”
The Total Economic Impact™ of OutSystems examined the benefits achieved by four enterprise organisations that previously relied on traditional frameworks for software development before deploying OutSystems. While OutSystems serves companies of all sizes and industries, the study calculated the financial benefits based on a composite organisation, which represents the value achieved by the organisations Forrester interviewed.
Overall, the study found significant quantifiable cost savings when comparing the time and expense of creating and maintaining internal custom software development versus deploying the OutSystems platform. The analysis revealed a net present value for OutSystems of $14.77 million over three years by calculating the platform’s financial benefits versus costs. This included:
$5.5 million in cost savings for application development as well as continuous changes and maintenance (31% of total benefits)
$4.6 million in incremental income from revenue-generating business initiatives (26% of total benefits)
$6.7 million in cost savings from improved operational efficiency (38% of total benefits)
The study showed that OutSystems improved developer productivity by enabling teams to deliver more applications with the same number of developers and deliver applications in a shorter time frame. Customer findings also revealed that OutSystems simplifies the ongoing maintenance of and changes to those applications, which can make a major impact on the bottom line. A director of software engineering and technology initiatives at a pharmaceutical company noted that OutSystems projects were 25% to 50% less expensive than comparable prior projects, while a director of custom development projects at a manufacturer reported a 2x development time savings in the first year.
Companies also noted that quantifiable benefits are achieved through greater corporate agility, improved security, and fewer bugs from higher-quality code:
“As a result of an acquisition, we needed to make a change to one of our apps. We did that in less than eight hours. Prior to OutSystems that probably would have taken 40 to 50 hours.” – Director of software engineering and technology initiatives, pharmaceutical company
“The OutSystems platform takes care of the nitty-gritty mechanical aspects of creating mobile capabilities in a very smart way, so you can focus on the application’s functionality and business value.” – Director of software development, distribution company
To review the complete findings, download the full economic study here.
About the Study
Based on the interviews, Forrester constructed a TEI framework, a composite company, and an ROI analysis that illustrates the areas financially affected. The composite organization is representative of the four decision-makers that Forrester interviewed and is used to present the aggregate financial analysis. The composite is a global industrial company worth $3 billion with 10,000 employees worldwide.
