Quantifying the ROI of Low-Code Platforms: Is it too good to be true?

There's a lot of talk today about low-code platforms, and the role they play in unlocking digital transformation through rapid application development. At OutSystems, we have seen first-hand the benefits low-code application development brings to our customers in terms of speed, time-to-market, and competitive advantage. And although these benefits are exciting, we wanted to quantify the real impact faster development times have in terms of cost, benefits, payback, and real return on investment (ROI).

So, a few months ago we set out to find a third party to conduct ROI research with real customers. Our goal was to provide unbiased and completely objective reports on the quantitative benefits of OutSystems. Boston-based Nucleus Research has published more ROI case studies than any other technology research firm. They conduct in-depth assessments of actual deployments to quantify the value a customer received and to tell the story of how they selected, deployed, and adopted a solution. So they were the obvious choice for this project.

At this point, you may feel the need to jump to the end of the story, because as you can imagine, the results are quite positive. (The punchline: It’s NOT too good to be true!)

The Methodology

As with any technology investment there is a desire to understand the potential ROI and build a business case. Every industry and business has a wide variety of factors that influence a business outcome and provide tangible and intangible benefits. But to get a consistent view of what a low-code development platform can bring to an organization, Nucleus took a methodical and uniform look across several OutSystems customers.

To do so, they interviewed each customer about the digital transformation projects they were working on. They carefully assessed all of the costs incurred along the way against the benefits they’ve derived. That includes capturing financial metrics, like: ROI, payback, net present value (NPV), and total cost of ownership (TCO), and a variety of other data points around things like productivity gains and other benefits.

This process created an unbiased, objective picture of the ROI that each company got from working with OutSystems. So far, they’ve completed their work with two of our customers. And we’re excited to share the high-level findings here and the detailed findings in a webinar.

The Punchline: Nucleus Research – ROI Findings

Breaking Down Data Silos at Ricoh (Singapore) Pte Ltd.

Ricoh (Singapore) Pte Ltd., a global provider of image-processing equipment, is a company with many departments, each of which had its own custom-built applications. Unfortunately, since there were no APIs, those applications couldn’t talk to each other, which led to a lot of siloed information.

When Ricoh partnered with OutSystems to replace several of its disjointed applications, it did more than just break down its siloed data stream. According to Nucleus Research, the company was able to avoid additional software costs, reduce its hardware costs, and increase developer productivity. Not only that, the company achieved an ROI of 253 percent, while also racking up annual savings of $131,967.

Worcestershire County Council Goes Digital

Worcestershire County Council is a local government organization that delivers services based on priorities set by the county’s residents and businesses. It was tasked with improving the customer experience as cost-effectively as possible, while also replacing its legacy CRM solution. WCC ultimately chose to build a new digital solution with OutSystems because it was agile and flexible enough to meet its diverse needs.

In the end, Nucleus Research found that the company enjoyed a variety of benefits thanks to its partnership with OutSystems. These benefits included better technology management and service as well as faster development speeds. Not only that, it was able to save £367,547 a year, which translated into an ROI of an astounding 442 percent.

Results like these may sound too good to be true, but with the right low-code platform they’re not. We’ve helped hundreds of companies achieve amazing results over the years and we can help yours do the same. I hope these results captured your interest and you want to learn more about calculating the ROI of low-code platforms like OutSystems.