Forrester Total Economic Impact™ shows 157% ROI for interviewed Optro users

Forrester’s Total Economic Impact™ framework is an objective business value justification analysis designed to help organizations understand the financial impact of technology investments. The TEI also helps technology organizations showcase their financial impact.

Used by consumers and organizations for over 20 years, the TEI methodology uses four main components to evaluate investment value:

• Cost
• Benefits
• Flexibility
• Risk

In 2026, Optro commissioned Forrester Consulting to conduct a TEI study and examine the potential return on investment (ROI) that organizations may realize by using our AI-powered GRC Intelligence platform. The study found an ROI of 157% over three years for a composite organization based on interviewed organizations implementing Optro’s platform. Here’s a closer look at the Forrester TEI methodology and some key takeaways from the study.

Methodology: How Forrester determined Optro’s Total Economic Impact™

Forrester took a multistep approach to identify Optro’s costs, benefits, flexibility, and risks and determine our potential impact on an organization.

• Due diligence: Forrester interviewed Optro customers to gather data about our company and platform.
• Interviews: Forrester interviewed seven decision makers at five companies that already use Optro’s tools.
• Composite organization: Based on an aggregate of interview responses, Forrester created a singular composite organization to capture the general characteristics of the interviewees. This composite organization comprised a U.S.-headquartered public enterprise with an annual revenue of $10 billion. The enterprise would use Optro to perform 60 audit projects per year, with over 1,500 control tasks.
• Financial model framework: Forrester created two financial models: one reflecting the interview responses using the TEI methodology and one that was adjusted for the potential risks, issues, and concerns raised by the interviewees.

Results of the Forrester TEI

Prior to implementing Optro, many of the interviewees had a background of fragmented governance, siloed teams, manual reporting processes, and a lack of visibility. This led to difficulties in cross-functional collaboration and struggles with scaling without adding further administrative burdens and complexities.

Benefits found by the Forrester TEI

For the composite organization, Forrester determined several quantified benefits:

• A 40% increase in risk management efficiency
• Eight hours saved per unique compliance control and 15 hours saved per overlapped compliance control, resulting in over $893,000 saved with compliance efficiency
• 2,710 hours saved in audit planning, controls management, and control owner coordination, saving $277,000 over three years
• A savings of 3,360 hours from avoided audit review and rework,
• A 60% reduction in co-sourcing spending, resulting in more than $716,000 in savings over three years
• Twenty hours saved per new hire onboarding, resulting in $17,000 saved over three years

Unquantified benefits

Along with the above quantified benefits, Forrester found other benefits of the Optro platform that could not be quantified. Using insights from the customer interviews, the study determined:

• Stronger collaboration across functions
• Enhanced accountability and governance culture
• Reduced administrative burden and cognitive load
• Improved standardization and adoption of governance best practices

Optro’s costs determined by the Forrester TEI

Exact costs varied based on the scope, number of audit projects, and number of control tasks for each organization. For the composite organization, Forrester determined a full platform licensing fee of $350,000 per year.

For implementation and ongoing maintenance, Forrester accounted for both internal and external support. The composite organization spent over $277,000 on ongoing management over three years.

Summarizing the savings, the August 2026 study found that “a composite organization experiences benefits of $3.1M over three years versus costs of $1.2M, adding up to a net present value (NPV) of $1.9M and an ROI of 157%.”

What the TEI revealed about Optro’s flexibility

Forrester defines flexibility as “the strategic value that can be obtained for some future additional investment building on top of the initial investment already made.”

Flexibility is inherently unique to each customer as they implement Optro and find additional uses or business opportunities.

From the TEI, interviewees noted opportunities to build value by increasing stakeholder self-service and expanding enterprise adoption.

“[Interviewees suggested] that as adoption expands beyond traditional audit and compliance users, Optro could increasingly function as a collaborative platform for governance activities across the enterprise. This broader participation would allow organizations to improve visibility, reduce administrative overhead, and strengthen accountability throughout risk and compliance processes.”

The role of AI and automation was another recurring theme as interviewees “consistently described a future state in which automation would further reduce administrative activities and allow professionals to focus on analysis, judgment, and risk advisory work.”

What this means for Optro

The Forrester Total Economic Impact™ study offers immense insight into our current offerings and a benchmark for our own improvement.

“Following implementation, interviewees established a centralized governance environment with standardized workflows, shared data, automated processes, and real-time reporting. As a result, organizations improved efficiency, strengthened cross-functional collaboration, increased visibility into risk and compliance activities, enhanced accountability, standardized governance practices, and created a more scalable foundation for managing audit, risk, and compliance programs as business and regulatory demands continued to grow.”

As organizations face mounting pressure in audit, risk, and governance, Optro’s goal has remained steadfast: proactively manage risk in real-time, uncover critical insights, and make smarter decisions.

That’s GRC Intelligence at work.

Learn more about our AI-powered GRC Intelligence Platform or get in touch with our team to see our tools in action.