Independent Study Reveals that Software Development Frameworks Can Deliver More Than 2X ROI to Enterprises

Qt Group Plc  Press release  15th October 2018

Cross-Industry Study Underscores the Significant Business Value of Platform-Agnostic Embedded Software Development Frameworks

Espoo, Finland – October 15, 2018 – The Qt Company today announced the results of a new Forrester study revealed that investments in software development frameworks such as Qt can deliver an ROI of more than 250 percent.

In today’s hyper-connected world, the concept of real-time delivery of products and services is increasingly becoming a standard practice across a wide range of industries. While this creates countless opportunities for enterprises to gain a competitive advantage and bolster customer loyalty, it has also resulted in skyrocketing customer expectations. As evidence, Forrester recently found that customers’ expectations will soon outpace companies’ ability to evolve, and that in 2018, 30% of companies will see further declines in [customer experience] performance, and those declines will translate to a net loss of a point of growth .

As a result of these escalating customer demands, enterprises such as industrial manufacturers, automakers and medical device manufacturers are facing tremendous pressure to streamline the embedded device software development process, so they can deliver innovative devices and applications as close to real-time as possible. Complicating this goal further is the fact that the number of embedded devices in circulation is rising exponentially, while the number of developers available to build those devices remains stagnant. For enterprises to thrive in their respective markets, their products need to be cheaper and more powerful than their competitors’ offerings, while delivering a superior user experience.

To underscore the crucial role technology tools play in enterprises’ ability to deliver a stellar customer experience, Qt commissioned Forrester to conduct a study of the ROI potential of Qt’s cross-platform embedded software development framework. The results of the study, “The Total Economic Impact of Qt for Device Creation,” were based on in-depth interviews with four customers – across the industrial automation, automotive, hi-tech and marine electronics industries – with years of experience using Qt for Device Creation.
The study revealed the following findings:

• On average, customers saved 30 percent on their software development costs by using Qt.
Since Qt’s framework is platform-agnostic, multiple, natively-developed code stacks or complex toolchains no longer require support, which saves development resources. Furthermore, it is much easier to move from one platform or embedded operating system to another, also saving development time. The device creation process is also facilitated because there is only one development environment, and libraries of user interface components avoid replication and creating them from scratch. Present value (PV) benefits totaled $325,000.

• High performance software lowers hardware requirements. For a given level of device performance and capability, applications developed on Qt require significantly less processing power and other associated hardware elements, resulting in savings of $50 per device. This provided PV benefits of $244,000.

• Device innovations and improvements arrive to market sooner. Because the development process is simpler and faster, new and improved products can become available to customers sooner, resulting in an edge over competitors.

• The Qt platform is mature, stable and well supported. The software framework has been in existence for more than 20 years and is standardized, available as open-source, and supported by a strong ecosystem.

• After accounting for risk-adjusted costs (developer seat licensing and distribution licensing costs amounted to $111,000 in present value, and operational costs totaled $35,200 in present value), Forrester found that an organization based on these interviewed organizations would experience present value benefits of $569,000 over three years versus present value costs of $146,200 adding up to a net present value of over $422,000 and an ROI of 289 percent and a payback period of 3 months.

“In a mature and highly competitive market such as industrial manufacturing or the automotive sector, software becomes the main way for an enterprise to differentiate a product and open new revenue streams,” said Juha Varelius, CEO of Qt. “In my view, the results of this study validate that the right development framework can create more efficient software, streamline workflows and minimize the effort of developing and maintaining software for multiple platforms. This provides significant ROI benefits to the enterprise, as well as the opportunity for developers to become more productive and increase their own value to their organizations.”

Qt’s cross-platform software development framework offers advanced development tools for embedded customers, and with Qt for Device Creation, these customers can develop and deploy embedded device user interfaces faster and easier than ever before.

To learn more about Qt for Device Creation, please visit here.
To download your copy of the study, visit here.
To estimate your enterprises’ ROI, visit here.

Media Contacts
10Fold for The Qt Company
Webbo Chen, qt@10fold.com
(415) 800-5367

The Qt Company
Virpi Raski, Virpi.Raski@qt.io
+358 45 106 5363

About The Qt Company
Qt Group (Nasdaq Helsinki: QTCOM) is a global software company with a strong presence in more than 70 industries and is the leading independent technology behind millions of devices and applications. Qt is used by major global companies and developers worldwide, and the technology enables its customers to deliver exceptional user experiences and advance their digital transformation initiatives. The company's net sales in year 2017 totaled 36,3 MEUR and it employs some 300 people. To learn more, visit http://qt.io.

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