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Total Economic Impact
Cost Savings And Business Benefits Enabled By ChromeOS
A FORRESTER TOTAL ECONOMIC IMPACT STUDY COMMISSIONED BY Google, SEPTEMBER 2025
Total Economic Impact
A FORRESTER TOTAL ECONOMIC IMPACT STUDY COMMISSIONED BY Google, SEPTEMBER 2025
IT decision-makers trying to provide the most productive and flexible work environment possible often encounter increased productivity and security challenges — or at least increased concerns about these challenges. Addressing these concerns can often lead them to invest in additional security and management solutions and to devote more human IT resources to supporting employee productivity. At the same time, these decision-makers face constant demands to do more with less to help ease economic pressures on their organizations’ bottom lines.
ChromeOS is a cloud-first operating system that can help businesses improve security and employee productivity while also reducing IT costs. Google commissioned Forrester Consulting to conduct a Total Economic Impact™ (TEI) study and examine the potential return on investment (ROI) enterprises may realize by deploying ChromeOS.1 The purpose of this study is to provide readers with a framework to evaluate the potential financial impact of ChromeOS on their organizations.
To better understand the benefits, costs, and risks associated with this investment, Forrester interviewed six decision-makers with experience using ChromeOS. For the purposes of this study, Forrester aggregated the experiences of the interviewees and combined the results into a single composite organization, which is a multinational corporation with $5 billion in annual revenue and 40,000 employees working in multiple corporate locations worldwide.
Interviewees said that prior to using ChromeOS, their organizations relied on devices that primarily ran other operating systems on their hard drives. These devices were relatively expensive, especially when deployed in shared environments or spaces that exposed them to damage, where they needed to be replaced more often than in desk-based environments. They also required upfront provisioning, additional endpoint management, and extra security protections and were prone to service tickets that could be time consuming to resolve.
After the investment in ChromeOS, the interviewees reported that they could retire add-on security licenses, manage devices centrally from a browser-based dashboard, and keep their employees working more consistently and productively. They also experienced significantly fewer service tickets, which their teams resolved more quickly than on their previous operating systems. Moreover, interviewees’ investments in Chrome devices saved their organizations money due to the hardware price and longer lifecycles.
Quantified benefits. Three-year, risk-adjusted present value (PV) quantified benefits for the composite organization include:
Increased end-user productivity that delivers 90,000 hours per year and $6.5 million in total present value. Improving the end-user experience is a top goal for the organization in deploying ChromeOS, so it is unsurprising that it contributed significantly to the resulting financial benefits. End users gain time with faster logins, spend less time waiting for IT interventions, experience quicker onboarding and speedier device response, and have cleaner inboxes with less spam.
Lowered device and license costs that save the composite $1.3 million over three years. With savings of $300 per device on hardware and $200 per device in avoided licenses for security and other endpoint management software, the composite experiences direct cost reductions in capital and operational expenditures.
Strengthened security that provides $1.2 million in financial benefit to the composite organization. The organization experiences fewer security breaches as a result of ChromeOS’s browser-based operation and avoids the internal and external costs of recovering from those breaches.
Reduced IT support needs that deliver at least $1.1 million in savings over three years. The composite’s IT team spends less time managing Chrome endpoints and supporting user issues with associated hardware and software. They can set users up more quickly, get fewer tickets, and can resolve the tickets they do get more easily.
Unquantified benefits. Benefits that provide value for the composite organization but are not quantified for this study include:
Increased value of additional completed projects due to IT time savings. In addition to the quantifiable savings the composite gains by saving IT team time with ChromeOS, it also benefits from the additional — often higher-value — tasks and projects the team can complete because technicians have more time available.
Improved employee experience for end users and IT employees. End users report less frustration with the technology they use for their jobs and more appreciation for the ability to be productive wherever they are working. IT professionals get greater satisfaction from spending proportionally more of their time on challenging projects that make use of and develop their skills.
Costs. Three-year, risk-adjusted PV costs for the composite organization include:
Hardware and license costs for ChromeOS that total $2.1 million over three years. The composite organization purchases Chrome devices for employees using ChromeOS, as well as Chrome Enterprise Upgrades for each of those devices.
Change management expenses of $763,000. As part of the shift to ChromeOS from other operating systems, the composite invests in 1 hour of training for affected employees and delivers ongoing communications to showcase its ease of use and potential to streamline employees’ workloads.
Implementation and ongoing management internal costs that total $413,000. A small group of IT team members at the composite conduct upfront testing to ensure everything works in the Chrome environment and also plan the rollout process. In addition, the organization employs one FTE to manage the included endpoints.
The financial analysis that is based on the interviews found that a composite organization experiences benefits of $10.1 million over three years versus costs of $3.3 million, adding up to a net present value (NPV) of $6.8 million and an ROI of 208%.
Return on investment (ROI)
Benefits PV
Net present value (NPV)
Payback
| Role | Industry | Region | Total Employees |
|---|---|---|---|
| IT Director | Telecommunications | Canada | 60,000 |
| Enterprise IT director | Manufacturing |
Global US headquarters |
40,000 |
| Manager, digital workplace | Manufacturing |
Global US headquarters |
40,000 |
| Head of IT security | Financial services |
Global US headquarters |
22,000 |
| Senior vice president, associate CIO, CTO | Healthcare | United States | 36,000 |
| President, Infrastructure | Healthcare | United States | 36,000 |
Before deploying ChromeOS, interviewees said that their organizations’ employees used shared and individual devices running on other major operating systems. In some cases, they used a mix of different systems for different employees or uses; in other cases, they depended on only one.
Most interviewees considered themselves responsible for providing their organization’s employees with the ability to work productively anywhere and anytime, and they noted how their organizations struggled with common challenges associated with this objective before engaging with ChromeOS:
Security risk and endpoint security protection costs. Interviewees were aware that the realities of their modern workplace initiatives had the potential to expose their organizations to security issues. Employees were increasingly working from remote locations, working from personal devices, and sharing devices in the workplace. As the CTO at a healthcare organization related, “We were not really architected to support a full mobile workforce outside of our four walls.” As a result, the organizations had invested in endpoint management and security solutions to provide the enhanced protection they needed; these solutions were often expensive and, in the opinion of many interviewees, still left vulnerability gaps that bad actors could exploit.
High IT support costs. Although the added security solutions provided protection, they also increased the IT team’s endpoint management burden. Interviewees explained that the operating systems their employees were using already required considerable management, involving patching, updates, service ticket support, upfront imaging, and other provisioning routines.
Day-to-day productivity delay frustrations. Complex management issues not only affected the IT team’s productivity but they also impacted end-user efficiency. The head of IT security at a financial services company explained: “When you’re deploying in [non-Chrome] devices, even today, it can take several hours from when someone gets the device to them actually being productive and able to use it. And if the computer is not working as you would expect, most organizations just reimage it and rebuild the machine from scratch, which could be a 1- or 2-hour endeavor.”
Considering their organizations’ challenges, the interviewees searched for a solution that could improve:
Security. Interviewees explained that they looked for a solution with secure-by-default architecture, especially in regulated industries like healthcare and finance and in use cases involving shared devices or remote access.
Cost efficiency. Key objectives for most interviewees were to lower device and licensing costs, reduce IT overhead, and decrease endpoint operating costs, as their teams were increasingly expected to do more with less.
Operational agility. IT decision-makers demanded faster onboarding, easier device replacement, and better support for remote and hybrid work.
Sustainability. Several interviewees specified that their teams were interested in reducing e-waste by lengthening their fleets’ device lifespan beyond the usual three-year expectation and contributing to their organizations’ sustainability commitment by decreasing power usage.
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 interviewees’ organizations, and it is used to present the aggregate financial analysis in the next section. The composite organization has the following characteristics:
Description of composite. The multinational corporation has $5 billion in annual revenue and 40,000 employees working in multiple corporate locations worldwide. Many of its employees work a hybrid schedule. The company employs approximately 10,000 people in frontline positions where they either have direct contact with customers and the public or they produce and distribute its products. In many cases, including in call centers, nursing stations, factory floors, and warehouses, these employees share devices, sometimes on a shift basis (e.g., three call center employees sharing a device over three, 8-hour shifts) and sometimes during the same shift (e.g., 10 employees sharing a device in a warehouse).
Deployment characteristics. After testing and piloting ChromeOS, the composite organization deploys it for 10,000 frontline employees and invests in 3,000 Chrome devices which multiple employees will share. Since ChromeOS is a browser-based operating system, the composite does not need to invest in new devices. It could have purchased Chrome Enterprise Upgrades for affected devices to start managing them in the Chrome browser dashboard and leveraging Google Workspace to enhance end-user productivity However, it prioritizes the immediate accumulation of benefits associated with the larger upfront investment.
$5 billion revenue
40,000 employees
10,000 employees using ChromeOS
3,000 Chrome devices and 19,500 other devices
| Ref. | Benefit | Year 1 | Year 2 | Year 3 | Total | Present Value |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Atr | Increased end-user productivity | $2,601,000 | $2,601,000 | $2,601,000 | $7,803,000 | $6,468,302 |
| Btr | Lowered device and license costs | $1,350,000 | $45,000 | $45,000 | $1,440,000 | $1,298,272 |
| Ctr | Strengthened security | $493,714 | $493,714 | $493,714 | $1,481,142 | $1,227,794 |
| Dtr | Reduced IT support needs | $439,767 | $439,767 | $439,767 | $1,319,301 | $1,093,635 |
| Total benefits (risk-adjusted) | $4,884,481 | $3,579,481 | $3,579,481 | $12,043,443 | $10,088,003 |
Evidence and data. Interviewees told Forrester that a key objective for their role was to enable a productive work environment for the organization’s employees, no matter when or where they worked. They identified several ways in which deploying ChromeOS helped them achieve this goal.
Chrome devices did not call for the upfront imaging and provisioning that their organization’s previous devices required, resulting in accelerated time to productivity. Employees receiving new devices became productive almost immediately. The head of IT security at a financial services company put it into perspective: “When you’re deploying [on non-Chrome devices], even today, it can take several hours from when you get the device to when it’s ready for someone to use it and be productive. With ChromeOS, it’s minutes.” The CTO at a healthcare company agreed: “We reduced costs, but more importantly, we reduced the time it took to get a user up and running. We can accomplish that now in under 10 minutes. That’s a huge win for us.”
An important contributor to the overall productivity improvement was a measurable reduction in the time it took employees to log in to their accounts and applications at the start of their day or shift. The IT director at a telecommunications organization told Forrester, “We measured a 6-minute drop in login time per employee.” Other interviewees pointed to the accelerated login process and noted savings of 10% or more in startup time.
Because ChromeOS is a cloud OS, interviewees noted fewer power and processing demands on the endpoint, resulting in a more responsive experience for the end user. The head of IT security at a financial services firm explained, “The device doesn’t need to do as much, so the subjective slowdown that you tend to see [with non-Chrome devices] is not as evident on ChromeOS.” As a bonus, interviewees noted that some of their end users experienced fewer distractions as a result of ChromeOS’ built-in security features. The president of infrastructure at a healthcare provider stated, “We had an immediate 30% drop in spam.”
Interviewees agreed their employees experienced a significant reduction in issues that required service tickets and IT assistance and that those issues were more easily resolved, often without IT intervention. The manager of digital workplace at a manufacturing company claimed, “Our average user saw over 12 hours less downtime per year with ChromeOS.” The IT director at a telecommunications company added, “A team member can essentially power wash and wipe the device themselves in 10 or 12 seconds, then do a backup login and their profile comes back right away.”
Modeling and assumptions. Based on the interviews, Forrester assumes the following about the composite organization:
Ten thousand employees switch to using Chrome devices and ChromeOS.
Each employee saves 18 hours per year as a result of a faster login, better responsiveness, and less disruption from malfunctions and IT ticket resolution delays.
The organization recaptures 50% of this time in productive work from the employees.
The fully burdened hourly rate for an employee using ChromeOS is $34.2
Risks. Factors influencing the likelihood that any given organization will experience these benefits as detailed in the model include:
The number of employees using ChromeOS.
The employees’ average rate of pay.
The time saved as a result of switching to ChromeOS.
Results. To account for these risks, Forrester adjusted this benefit downward by 15%, yielding a three-year, risk-adjusted total PV (discounted at 10%) of $6.5 million.
Productive time returned to the organization each year
| Ref. | Metric | Source | Year 1 | Year 2 | Year 3 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| A1 | Employees using ChromeOS | Composite | 10,000 | 10,000 | 10,000 | |
| A2 | Downtime saved per employee per year with ChromeOS (hours) | Interviews | 18.0 | 18.0 | 18.0 | |
| A3 | Productivity recapture | TEI standard | 50% | 50% | 50% | |
| A4 | Subtotal: Total productive end-user time saved (hours) | A1*A2*A3 | 90,000 | 90,000 | 90,000 | |
| A5 | Fully burdened hourly rate for an employee | Research data | $34 | $34 | $34 | |
| At | Increased end-user productivity | A4*A5 | $3,060,000 | $3,060,000 | $3,060,000 | |
| Risk adjustment | ↓15% | |||||
| Atr | Increased end-user productivity (risk-adjusted) | $2,601,000 | $2,601,000 | $2,601,000 | ||
| Three-year total: $7,803,000 | Three-year present value: $6,468,302 | |||||
Evidence and data. The IT professionals with whom Forrester spoke for this study all agreed that their organizations enjoyed direct cost savings on hardware and on avoided endpoint software when they switched to ChromeOS. The Chrome devices they were using were generally less expensive than the non-Chrome devices they replaced. Interviewees estimated that, on average, they saved $300 per device on the upfront purchase price. In addition, they expected Chromebooks to have a longer lifecycle than the typical three-year horizon of other laptops, so they believed the Chrome devices would continue saving them money after that three-year mark.
The savings were not limited to the hardware, however: Interviewees explained that ChromeOS’ built-in security features and browser-based admin dashboard allowed them to sunset one or more licenses associated with the non-Chrome devices. This resulted in annual savings of approximately $200 per device that, over three years, saved their organizations even more than the initial hardware purchase. The CTO at a healthcare organization opined: “The [non-Chrome] devices were costly to manage and support. They were not cheap, and the prices kept going up every year. We were able to reduce our licensing costs, our support costs, and our device costs with Chrome devices.”
Modeling and assumptions. Based on the interviews, Forrester assumes the following about the composite organization:
The organization purchases 3,000 Chrome devices as part of its deployment plan in Year 1, and it purchases 100 devices per year in Years 2 and 3 due to damage from the (often hostile) environments in which they operate.
Each device costs $300 less than its comparable non-Chrome counterpart.
The organization’s IT decision-makers decide that these devices no longer require the security and endpoint management licenses they previously held for the devices replaced by Chrome devices, saving $200 per year per device.
Risks. Factors that influence the likelihood that any given organization will experience these benefits as detailed in the model include:
The number of Chrome devices an organization purchases and the rate at which it replaces competitive devices.
The price the organization pays for Chrome and non-Chrome devices.
The number and cost of retired endpoint management and security solutions.
Results. To account for these risks, Forrester adjusted this benefit downward by 10%, yielding a three-year, risk-adjusted total PV (discounted at 10%) of $1.3 million.
Total savings per device
| Ref. | Metric | Source | Year 1 | Year 2 | Year 3 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| B1 | ChromeOS devices purchased | Composite | 3,000 | 100 | 100 | |
| B2 | Savings on per-device price | Interviews | $300 | $300 | $300 | |
| B3 | Savings on endpoint support software per device | Interviews | $200 | $200 | $200 | |
| Bt | Lowered device and license costs | (B2+B3)*B1 | $1,500,000 | $50,000 | $50,000 | |
| Risk adjustment | ↓10% | |||||
| Btr | Lowered device and license costs (risk-adjusted) | $1,350,000 | $45,000 | $45,000 | ||
| Three-year total: $1,440,000 | Three-year present value: $1,298,272 | |||||
Evidence and data. Interviewees universally agreed that running ChromeOS provided incremental security benefits for their organizations. Because it is browser-based and easy to configure centrally, interviewees told Forrester that ChromeOS improved their organizations’ security position without additional security solutions running on the endpoints.
According to the head of IT security at a financial services company: “ChromeOS is just a lot better defender against malware. You don’t need antivirus, for example, because you can configure the device by default not to allow users to install anything. They can only run the Chrome browser. It’s very much secure by default. We are using ChromeOS in our customer service call centers, and it substantially reduces our information security risk because customer service agents are really on the front line of defense.”
Modeling and assumptions. Based on the interviews and proprietary Forrester research into security risks, Forrester assumes the following about the composite organization and its exposure to a security breach:
Given the composite organization’s size, the likely average internal and external cost of a security breach is $3,853,000.3
The likelihood that the composite organization will experience a breach in any given year is 67%.4
Using ChromeOS can address 100% of the composite organization’s attack vectors.5
The penetration of ChromeOS use as a percentage of all employees in the composite organization is 25%, and those devices will provide incremental protection against security threats 90% of the time.
Risks. Factors that influence the likelihood that any given organization will experience these benefits as detailed in the model include:
The size of the organization and its associated risk of a security breach.
The total internal and external costs of remediating security breaches.
The penetration of ChromeOS use among the organization’s employees.
Results. To account for these risks, Forrester adjusted this benefit downward by 15%, yielding a three-year, risk-adjusted total PV (discounted at 10%) of $1.2 million.
Incremental security risk reduction
| Ref. | Metric | Source | Year 1 | Year 2 | Year 3 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| C1 | Cumulative cost of breaches | Forrester research | $3,853,000 | $3,853,000 | $3,853,000 | |
| C2 | Likelihood of experiencing one or more breaches | Forrester research | 67% | 67% | 67% | |
| C3 | Percentage of attack vectors addressable by ChromeOS | Forrester research | 100% | 100% | 100% | |
| C4 | Penetration of ChromeOS use among employees | Interviews | 25% | 25% | 25% | |
| C5 | Annual risk exposure addressable with ChromeOS | C1*C2*C3*C4 | $645,378 | $645,378 | $645,378 | |
| C6 | Incremental reduction in risk of breach with ChromeOS | Interviews | 90% | 90% | 90% | |
| Ct | Strengthened security | C5*C6 | $580,840 | $580,840 | $580,840 | |
| Risk adjustment | 15% | |||||
| Ctr | Strengthened security (risk-adjusted) | $493,714 | $493,714 | $493,714 | ||
| Three-year total: $1,481,142 | Three-year present value: $1,227,794 | |||||
Evidence and data. The flip side of the end-user productivity increase described earlier is a reduction in the time the organizations’ technicians needed to spend working on end-user problems. Quicker initial setup got end users to work more quickly and also saved time for technicians who no longer needed to do the provisioning associated with many non-Chrome devices.
In addition to the upfront time savings, interviewees also reported that their teams spent much less time managing the system and the endpoints. The enterprise IT director at a manufacturing company told Forrester: “ChromeOS is a simpler operating system. It’s simpler to manage, and all the upgrades and patching processes happen in the background, so that means much less downtime or support time. We don’t spend support time, basically, at all on Chrome devices.” The head of IT security at a financial services company added, “Evidence collection is a lot easier on ChromeOS, just because it’s all managed with the Google Admin console.”
Finally, just as end users benefited from quick service ticket resolution, technicians on the IT team were also relieved of much of this burden, freeing up their time to contribute to other, often higher-value, tasks and projects. As the manager of digital workplace at a manufacturing organization explained: “Replacing a device is easy. If we have a hardware failure, we just put in another device and, in minutes, we are back in operation.”
Modeling and assumptions. Based on the interviews, Forrester assumes the following about the composite organization:
The organization installs 3,000 Chrome devices per year in Years 1, 2, and 3 to replace devices previously running on other operating systems.
Before switching to ChromeOS, these devices generated service tickets at an average rate of 8% per month (2,880 total per year), with an average ticket resolution time of 2 hours.
The Chrome devices generate tickets at a rate of 2% per month (1,080 total per year), and the average resolution time is 15 minutes.
IT team members set up accounts for 1,500 new employees each year due to normal turnover, and they save 1 hour on each account they set up after implementing ChromeOS.
The fully burdened hourly rate for an IT team member is $74.6
The composite organization requires two fewer endpoint managers after the switch to ChromeOS.
The average fully burdened annual salary for an endpoint manager is $115,000.7
Risks. Factors that influence the likelihood that any given organization will experience these benefits as detailed in the model include:
The number of devices that Chrome devices replace.
The rate and complexity of service tickets associated with non-Chrome devices.
The rate of employee turnover, which affects the number of new accounts that need to be set up each year.
The number of endpoint managers assigned to non-Chrome devices before their replacement.
The pay rate of endpoint managers and other IT team members.
Results. To account for these risks, Forrester adjusted this benefit downward by 10%, yielding a three-year, risk-adjusted total PV (discounted at 10%) of $1.1 million.
Reduction in tickets with Chrome
| Ref. | Metric | Source | Year 1 | Year 2 | Year 3 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| D1 | Chrome devices | Composite | 3,000 | 3,000 | 3,000 | |
| D2 | Tickets before ChromeOS | Interviews | 2,880 | 2,880 | 2,880 | |
| D3 | Tickets after ChromeOS | Interviews | 1,080 | 1,080 | 1,080 | |
| D4 | Average time to resolve a ticket before ChromeOS (hours) | Interviews | 2 | 2 | 2 | |
| D5 | Average time to resolve a ticket after ChromeOS (hours) | Interviews | 0.25 | 0.25 | 0.25 | |
| D6 | Productivity recapture | TEI standard | 50% | 50% | 50% | |
| D7 | Subtotal: Time saved on tickets (hours) | (D2*D4-D3*D5)*D6 | 2,745 | 2,745 | 2,745 | |
| D8 | New accounts set up due to employee turnover | Composite | 1,500 | 1,500 | 1,500 | |
| D9 | Time saved per device on account setup (hours) | Interviews | 1 | 1 | 1 | |
| D10 | Productivity recapture | TEI standard | 50% | 50% | 50% | |
| D11 | Subtotal: Time saved on provisioning devices (hours) | D8*D9*D10 | 750 | 750 | 750 | |
| D12 | Fully burdened hourly rate for an IT team member | Research data | $74 | $74 | $74 | |
| D13 | Endpoint management FTEs saved | Interviews | 2 | 2 | 2 | |
| D14 | Fully burdened annual salary for an endpoint manager | Research data | $115,000 | $115,000 | $115,000 | |
| Dt | Reduced IT support needs | (D7+D11)*D12+D13*D14 | $488,630 | $488,630 | $488,630 | |
| Risk adjustment | ↓10% | |||||
| Dtr | Reduced IT support needs (risk-adjusted) | $439,767 | $439,767 | $439,767 | ||
| Three-year total: $1,319,301 | Three-year present value: $1,093,635 | |||||
Interviewees mentioned the following additional benefits that their organizations experienced but were not able to quantify:
The value of additional projects completed due to IT time ChromeOS frees up. Interviewees pointed out that not only did their organizations benefit from the time IT employees saved on endpoint support activities but they also benefited from the value of other (usually higher-value) tasks and projects those IT professionals undertook. Since the number and type of those projects could change from week to week, interviewees were unable to cite a dollar value for the additional work, but they were clear that they did not intend to use the productivity savings to shrink the size of their IT teams. Instead, they planned to use that additional time to tackle high-value projects that would otherwise go undone or be delayed.
An improved employee experience for end users and IT employees. Although interviewees were unable to quantify the value of improved employee experience, it was a phenomenon they saw clearly in their organizations. The enterprise IT director in the manufacturing sector enthused: “People are happy. They don’t have to wait for IT to install software or fix things. They just log in and everything is there.” The head of IT security at a financial services company agreed and said: “We’ve had really good feedback from users. They like how fast it is, how easy it is to use, and how they can just get to work without waiting.”
The value of flexibility is unique to each customer. There are multiple scenarios in which a customer might implement ChromeOS and later realize additional uses and business opportunities, including:
Expanded access to knowledge workers and nonshared devices. The IT professionals interviewed planned to expand access to ChromeOS within their organizations. Several had already seen significant organic growth as employees who started using ChromeOS and Chrome devices shared their positive experiences with colleagues. The interviewees expected to see similar benefits extend to knowledge workers and other employees who did not share devices.
Improved functionality to run legacy applications on ChromeOS with Cameyo. Several interviewees’ hopes for broader ChromeOS expansion within their organizations were hampered by legacy application incompatibility with the ChromeOS environment. The IT director in telecommunications relayed: “For a company like us, it means we have a ton of legacy applications. There are still some applications people need to use for some day-to-day functions that are blocking our ability to unlock this Chromebook ecosystem for them.” Interviewees explained that Google’s acquisition of Cameyo, an application virtualization product that aims to virtualize operating system applications so they can run on browsers, would help them solve those issues and expand ChromeOS availability to additional teams in their organization.
Flexibility would also be quantified when evaluated as part of a specific project (described in more detail in Total Economic Impact Approach).
| Ref. | Cost | Initial | Year 1 | Year 2 | Year 3 | Total | Present Value |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Etr | Hardware and software costs | $1,575,000 | $210,000 | $210,000 | $210,000 | $2,205,000 | $2,097,239 |
| Ftr | Change management | $374,000 | $221,100 | $138,600 | $97,350 | $831,050 | $762,686 |
| Gtr | Implementation and management | $98,766 | $126,500 | $126,500 | $126,500 | $478,266 | $413,352 |
| Total costs (risk-adjusted) | $2,047,766 | $557,600 | $475,100 | $433,850 | $3,514,316 | $3,273,277 |
Evidence and data. The core investment to deploy ChromeOS is the Chrome Enterprise Upgrade license, which costs $50 per year per device. Adding Chrome devices to the deployment provided interviewees’ organizations an opportunity to save on device costs for the upfront investment and on the extended device lifecycle beyond the three-year replacement cycle associated with other devices.
Modeling and assumptions. Based on the interviews, Forrester assumes the following about the composite organization:
The organization purchases Chrome Enterprise Upgrades for each of the 3,000 devices it distributes at the list price of $50 per year per device.
It also purchases 3,000 Chrome devices in advance of the rollout of the program. These devices cost, on average, $500 each.
Although the devices generally remain in use longer than the three years of the financial analysis, a small number are lost or damaged in the (often adverse) environments in which employees share them. Forrester assumes a replacement rate of 3% per year.
Risks. Factors that influence the likelihood that any given organization will experience the costs in this model include:
The number and mix of devices the organization purchases, as well as any discounts from list pricing it receives.
The replacement rate of those devices.
Results. To account for these risks, Forrester adjusted this cost upward by 5%, yielding a three-year, risk-adjusted total PV (discounted at 10%) of $2.1 million.
| Ref. | Metric | Source | Initial | Year 1 | Year 2 | Year 3 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| E1 | Chrome Enterprise Upgrade fees | Interviews | $0 | $50 | $50 | $50 |
| E2 | Chrome devices purchased | Composite | 3,000 | 100 | 100 | 100 |
| E3 | Average Chrome device cost | Composite | $500 | $500 | $500 | $500 |
| E4 | Chrome devices in operation | Composite | 3,000 | 3,000 | 3,000 | 3,000 |
| Et | Hardware and software costs | (E1*E4)+(E2*E3) | $1,500,000 | $200,000 | $200,000 | $200,000 |
| Risk adjustment | ↑5% | |||||
| Etr | Hardware and software costs (risk-adjusted) | $1,575,000 | $210,000 | $210,000 | $210,000 | |
| Three-year total: $2,205,000 | Three-year present value: $2,097,239 | |||||
Evidence and data. Because the switch to ChromeOS represents a slightly different way of working for many users, interviewees provided a training session that covered how to log in, access applications, handle shortcuts, and more. In addition, most interviewees’ organizations invested in a communications program to provide reminders about how to use ChromeOS, share how to get the most out of it, describe how to access infrequently used features, and showcase success stories and positive feedback about the change. The enterprise IT director at a manufacturing company explained: “We trained people how to use Google Workspace and access their apps through the browser. But once they saw how simple it was, adoption was easy.” The CTO at a healthcare provider added, “We did a lot of internal marketing and training to show people how easy it was to use and how it could make their jobs easier.” The IT director in telecommunications agreed and said, “We did enablement and education around what it means to work in a browser-based environment and how to use the tools effectively.”
Modeling and assumptions. Based on the interviews, Forrester assumes the following about the composite organization:
Just before rolling out ChromeOS across the teams who would use it first, all 10,000 users receive 1 hour of training to introduce them to the environment and highlight differences from operating systems they may have used in the past.
On an ongoing basis, new employees joining the organization through normal turnover will also receive the 1-hour training. Forrester assumes a 15% turnover rate per year.
The fully burdened hourly rate for an employee using ChromeOS is $34.8
The organization invests in a communications program beginning in Year 1 to share tips, success stories, and other supportive communications highlighting the benefits of ChromeOS to users. This program scales back in Years 2 and 3.
Risks. Factors that influence the likelihood that any given organization will experience the costs in this model include:
The amount of training required for employees who are new to using ChromeOS.
The employee turnover and salaries of ChromeOS users.
The amount the organization chooses to invest, if any, in a change management communications program.
Results. To account for these risks, Forrester adjusted this cost upward by 10%, yielding a three-year, risk-adjusted total PV (discounted at 10%) of $763,000.
| Ref. | Metric | Source | Initial | Year 1 | Year 2 | Year 3 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| F1 | Employees receiving training | Composite | 10,000 | 1,500 | 1,500 | 1,500 |
| F2 | Training time per employee (hours) | Interviews | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| F3 | Fully burdened hourly rate for an employee | Research data | $34 | $34 | $34 | $34 |
| F4 | Communications and support | Composite | $150,000 | $75,000 | $37,500 | |
| Ft | Change management | F1*F2*F3+F4 | $340,000 | $201,000 | $126,000 | $88,500 |
| Ftr | Change management (risk-adjusted) | $374,000 | $221,100 | $138,600 | $97,350 | |
| Three-year total: $831,050 | Three-year present value: $762,686 | |||||
Evidence and data. Although interviewees found their ChromeOS deployment to be smooth, there was some planning, piloting, and testing that contributed to that positive outcome. Most deployments began with a small team of IT professionals who spent a few months determining which employees and use cases would benefit most from switching to ChromeOS, planning how to make the transition, and testing to ensure that key applications worked well in the Chrome environment. The IT director in the telecommunications sector recalled: “We started with a pilot group of about 100 team members who were already working in a browser-based environment. That helped us validate the experience for scaling.”
Once they had a validated plan, the organizations rolled out the new operating system relatively smoothly to the employees initially targeted. According to the head of IT security in the financial services industry: “We used zero-touch enrollment, so devices were shipped directly to users and automatically enrolled when they connected to the internet. That made the rollout incredibly smooth.” He added, “We didn’t need to set up imaging stations or have IT physically touch the devices, and that saved us a ton of time.” Once ChromeOS was in place, interviewees found ongoing system and device management less demanding than the operating systems they replaced and reported that they required no more than one full-time employee to manage all the endpoints in the program.
Modeling and assumptions. Based on the interviews, Forrester assumes the following about the composite organization:
A team of five IT professionals spends approximately 35% of their time over four months planning the implementation and launch and testing that the organization’s applications function appropriately in the Chrome environment.
The fully burdened hourly rate for an IT professional is $749.
After the launch and rollout of ChromeOS in the enterprise, managing the 3,000 Chrome endpoints requires only one FTE with an average fully burdened annual salary of $115,000.10
Risks. Factors that influence the likelihood that any given organization will experience the costs in this model include:
The size of the organization and its ChromeOS implementation project.
The salaries of the personnel involved in the environment launch and maintenance.
Results. To account for these risks, Forrester adjusted this cost upward by 10%, yielding a three-year, risk-adjusted total PV (discounted at 10%) of $413,000.
| Ref. | Metric | Source | Initial | Year 1 | Year 2 | Year 3 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| G1 | IT team members involved in testing and planning | Interviews | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| G2 | Time to test and plan for launch (months) | Interviews | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| G3 | Percentage of time per IT member devoted to implementation | Interviews | 35% | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| G4 | Fully burdened hourly rate for an IT team member | Research data | $74 | |||
| G5 | Endpoint manager FTEs | Interviews | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| G6 | Average fully burdened annual salary for an endpoint manager | Research data | $115,000 | $115,000 | $115,000 | $115,000 |
| Gt | Implementation and management | G1*G2*(2,080/12)*G3*G4+G5*G6 | $89,787 | $115,000 | $115,000 | $115,000 |
| Risk adjustment | ↑10% | |||||
| Gtr | Implementation and management (risk-adjusted) | $98,766 | $126,500 | $126,500 | $126,500 | |
| Three-year total: $478,266 | Three-year present value: $413,352 | |||||
| Initial | Year 1 | Year 2 | Year 3 | Total | Present Value | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Total costs | ($2,047,766) | ($557,600) | ($475,100) | ($433,850) | ($3,514,316) | ($3,273,277) |
| Total benefits | $0 | $4,884,481 | $3,579,481 | $3,579,481 | $12,043,443 | $10,088,003 |
| Net benefits | ($2,047,766) | $4,326,881 | $3,104,381 | $3,145,631 | $8,529,127 | $6,814,726 |
| ROI | 208% | |||||
| Payback | <6 months |
The financial results calculated in the Benefits and Costs sections can be used to determine the ROI, NPV, and payback period for the composite organization’s investment. Forrester assumes a yearly discount rate of 10% for this analysis.
These risk-adjusted ROI, NPV, and payback period values are determined by applying risk-adjustment factors to the unadjusted results in each Benefit and Cost section.
The initial investment column contains costs incurred at “time 0” or at the beginning of Year 1 that are not discounted. All other cash flows are discounted using the discount rate at the end of the year. PV calculations are calculated for each total cost and benefit estimate. NPV calculations in the summary tables are the sum of the initial investment and the discounted cash flows in each year. Sums and present value calculations of the Total Benefits, Total Costs, and Cash Flow tables may not exactly add up, as some rounding may occur.
From the information provided in the interviews, Forrester constructed a Total Economic Impact™ framework for those organizations considering an investment in ChromeOS.
The objective of the framework is to identify the cost, benefit, flexibility, and risk factors that affect the investment decision. Forrester took a multistep approach to evaluate the impact that ChromeOS can have on an organization.
Interviewed Google stakeholders and Forrester analysts to gather data relative to ChromeOS.
Interviewed six decision-makers at organizations using ChromeOS to obtain data about costs, benefits, and risks.
Designed a composite organization based on characteristics of the interviewees’ organizations.
Constructed a financial model representative of the interviews using the TEI methodology and risk-adjusted the financial model based on issues and concerns of the interviewees.
Employed four fundamental elements of TEI in modeling the investment impact: benefits, costs, flexibility, and risks. Given the increasing sophistication of ROI analyses related to IT investments, Forrester’s TEI methodology provides a complete picture of the total economic impact of purchase decisions. Please see Appendix A for additional information on the TEI methodology.
Benefits represent the value the solution delivers to the business. The TEI methodology places equal weight on the measure of benefits and costs, allowing for a full examination of the solution’s effect on the entire organization.
Costs comprise all expenses necessary to deliver the proposed value, or benefits, of the solution. The methodology captures implementation and ongoing costs associated with the solution.
Flexibility represents the strategic value that can be obtained for some future additional investment building on top of the initial investment already made. The ability to capture that benefit has a PV that can be estimated.
Risks measure the uncertainty of benefit and cost estimates given: 1) the likelihood that estimates will meet original projections and 2) the likelihood that estimates will be tracked over time. TEI risk factors are based on “triangular distribution.”
The present or current value of (discounted) cost and benefit estimates given at an interest rate (the discount rate). The PV of costs and benefits feed into the total NPV of cash flows.
The present or current value of (discounted) future net cash flows given an interest rate (the discount rate). A positive project NPV normally indicates that the investment should be made unless other projects have higher NPVs.
A project’s expected return in percentage terms. ROI is calculated by dividing net benefits (benefits less costs) by costs.
The interest rate used in cash flow analysis to take into account the time value of money. Organizations typically use discount rates between 8% and 16%.
The breakeven point for an investment. This is the point in time at which net benefits (benefits minus costs) equal initial investment or cost.
Total Economic Impact is a methodology developed by Forrester Research that enhances a company’s technology decision-making processes and assists solution providers in communicating their value proposition to clients. The TEI methodology helps companies demonstrate, justify, and realize the tangible value of business and technology initiatives to both senior management and other key stakeholders.
1 Total Economic Impact is a methodology developed by Forrester Research that enhances a company’s technology decision-making processes and assists solution providers in communicating their value proposition to clients. The TEI methodology helps companies demonstrate, justify, and realize the tangible value of business and technology initiatives to both senior management and other key stakeholders.
2 Source: Modeled Wage Estimates, US Bureau of Labor Statistics.
3 Regression analysis of the reported total cumulative costs of all breaches experienced by security decision-makers’ organizations in the past 12 months. The composite organization’s revenue is used as the input to the regression formula. Source: Forrester’s Security Survey, 2024, “Using your best estimate, what was the total cumulative cost of all breaches experienced by your organization in the past 12 months?” Base: 1,660 global security decision-makers who have experienced a breach in the past 12 months.
4 Regression analysis of the likelihood of experiencing one or more breaches, using the frequency that organizations experienced breaches in the past 12 months as reported by security decision-makers. The composite organization’s revenue is used as the input to the regression formula. Source: Forrester’s Security Survey, 2024, “How many times do you estimate that your organization’s sensitive data was potentially compromised or breached in the past 12 months?” Base: 2,769 global security decision-makers.
5 Percentage of breaches by primary attack vector for breaches, as reported by security decision-makers whose organizations experienced at least one breach in the last 12 months. Source: Forrester’s Security Survey, 2024, “Of the times that your organization’s sensitive data was potentially compromised or breached in the past 12 months, please indicate how many of each fall into the categories below.” Base: 1,542 global security decision-makers who have experienced a breach in the past 12 months.
6 Source: Modeled Wage Estimates, US Bureau of Labor Statistics.
7 Source: Modeled Wage Estimates, US Bureau of Labor Statistics.
8 Source: Modeled Wage Estimates, US Bureau of Labor Statistics.
9 Source: Modeled Wage Estimates, US Bureau of Labor Statistics.
10 Source: Modeled Wage Estimates, US Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Readers should be aware of the following:
This study is commissioned by Google and delivered by Forrester Consulting. It is not meant to be used as a competitive analysis.
Forrester makes no assumptions as to the potential ROI that other organizations will receive. Forrester strongly advises that readers use their own estimates within the framework provided in the study to determine the appropriateness of an investment in ChromeOS. For any interactive functionality, the intent is for the questions to solicit inputs specific to a prospect’s business. Forrester believes that this analysis is representative of what companies may achieve with ChromeOS based on the inputs provided and any assumptions made. Forrester does not endorse Google or its offerings. Although great care has been taken to ensure the accuracy and completeness of this model, Google and Forrester Research are unable to accept any legal responsibility for any actions taken on the basis of the information contained herein. The interactive tool is provided ‘AS IS,’ and Forrester and Google make no warranties of any kind.
Google reviewed and provided feedback to Forrester, but Forrester maintains editorial control over the study and its findings and does not accept changes to the study that contradict Forrester’s findings or obscure the meaning of the study.
Google provided the customer names for the interviews but did not participate in the interviews.
Kim Finnerty
September 2025
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