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Total Economic Impact
Cost Savings And Business Benefits Enabled By Q4
A FORRESTER TOTAL ECONOMIC IMPACT STUDY COMMISSIONED BY Q4, June 2025
Total Economic Impact
A FORRESTER TOTAL ECONOMIC IMPACT STUDY COMMISSIONED BY Q4, June 2025
Investor relations officers (IROs) face multiple challenges: from targeting and attracting new investors, to responding to changing market conditions, to conducting peer-to-peer research, to seamlessly organizing and managing the communication of their company’s quarterly earnings — all while adhering to securities regulations. With increased pressure on performance, IROs need data and insights to help drive decisions, as well as tools to help them do their jobs more efficiently. They can achieve this by investing in a platform that provides a single place to manage their company’s relationships with investors in a secure environment.
The Q4 Platform is an all‑in‑one solution that integrates investor relations tools. From this platform, IROs plan, manage, and execute earnings releases; manage the content on their website; and use Q, an AI agent purpose‑built for investor relations professionals, to accelerate tasks such as writing the first draft of an earnings script. In addition, Q can ingest and analyze client data, compare analyst reports, prepare board‑level reports, and unearth actionable insights — empowering IROs to surface trends and tailor messaging with far greater precision. As an IRO‑centric agent, it delivers real‑time recommendations to enhance strategic decision‑making. The platform also generates engagement analytics data on investor website activity and earnings call data that IROs use to plan their investor outreach activity.
Q4 commissioned Forrester Consulting to conduct a Total Economic Impact™ (TEI) study and examine the potential return on investment (ROI) enterprises may realize by deploying Q4.1 The purpose of this study is to provide readers with a framework to evaluate the potential financial impact of Q4 on their organizations.
To better understand the benefits, costs, and risks associated with this investment, Forrester interviewed a decision-maker who has experience using the Q4 Platform at their organization. Forrester used this experience to project a three-year financial analysis.
Prior to using the Q4 Platform, the company used a limited offering of tools fully subsidized by a reputable stock exchange institution: a website and an earnings event tool. However, these tools lacked innovative capabilities and were underutilized. The company primarily relied on manual efforts including handwritten notes for documenting investor interactions and email for sending sensitive information and communication. The company’s approach to investor outreach was primarily guided by intuition rather than empirical evidence, resulting in a strategy that lacked supporting data.
After it began using Q4, the company adopted a more investor centric and insight led approach to investor relations. They used engagement analytics data to understand how specific investors were approaching them which allowed them to tailor their outreach efforts. The investor relations (IR) team used the platform as a central hub to manage earnings events, handle sensitive documentation, and keep their website up to date. These improvements helped the company automate manual tasks, mitigate risk through a secure SOC2 compliant environment, and act more strategically.
Quantified benefits. Three-year, risk-adjusted present value (PV) quantified benefits for the interviewee’s organization include:
Improved IRO team efficiency for earnings lifecycle and website management saves $77,000. Q4 helps the company become more efficient in managing its earnings cycles. This includes efficiencies in setting up earnings calls, writing the first draft of an earnings script, generating summaries of peers’ earnings calls, and making changes to the website.
Improved IRO team efficiency due to engagement analytics, CRM, and AI saves $169,000. Q4’s engagement analytics data and the ability to mine the CRM using Q, Q4’s IRO Agent, helps the company understand investor behavior. The engagement analytics data and AI save the company time and provides deeper insights that help teams prepare for weekly executive meetings, monthly board meetings, and investor meetings.
Decreased risk of technical disclosure violation prevents $178,000 in costs. Because the Q4 Platform allows the company to stage and schedule the release of earnings, it decreases the risk and fallout of an accidental early disclosure of earnings. This prevents the company from spending time cleaning up after such an incident, paying attorneys for legal defense, and paying Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) fines.
Unquantified benefits. Benefits that are not quantified for this study include:
The value of an integrated platform. Q4 integrates several investor relations tools in a single platform, making it easy for IROs to manage events, earnings, and websites from a single dashboard. The interviewee says this allows them to follow investors through their lifecycle.
Improved investor sentiment due to platform reliability. The technical reliability of the Q4 Platform increases the trust and confidence investors have in the company because it decreases the risk of an impaired event.
Activist alerts provide heads-up. The Q4 Platform gives notifications when activists visit the company’s website or open emails. This gives the IR team early warning to prepare for a response.
Reduced reputational risk. Because of the timely, accurate investor communications and centralized workflows, the Q4 Platform helps prevent public-facing errors and misalignment.
Costs. Three-year, risk-adjusted PV costs for the interviewee’s organization include:
Subscription fees of $131,000. Q4 subscription fees are based on product and packaging type within the Q4 Platform.
Integration and training costs totaling $5,000. In addition to fees paid to Q4 for the license, the company incurs internal costs related to the implementation of and training on the solution.
The financial analysis that is based on the interview found that the decision-maker’s organization experiences benefits of $424,000 over three years versus costs of $136,000, adding up to a net present value (NPV) of $288,000 and an ROI of 212%.
Return on investment (ROI)
Benefits PV
Net present value (NPV)
Payback
Forrester interviewed a decision-maker who has experience using Q4 at their organization. Their organization is a US-based firm in the energy industry. Its annual revenue is $20 billion, with a $10 billion market cap (midcap). It has 10,000 employees and 2.5 IRO FTEs.
The organization had access to a limited set of investor relations tools, but these tools were underutilized. The IR team relied primarily on manual efforts and were without a data-driven strategy.
The interviewee noted how their organization struggled with challenges, including:
Inefficiency due to manual processes. The investor relations team was using handwritten notes for documenting investor interactions. They were not utilizing the Q4 Platform’s CRM or other tools, relying instead on email communications and manual tracking. The director of investor relations said: “When I came into the investor relations seat, the team was relying on handwritten notes. Interactions were not going through the Q4 system. One of the first things I did was go through the notes we had from last year to get up to speed, and there was just a ton of handwritten notes in a pile.”
Risk of mishandling sensitive information. Prior to implementing the Q4 Platform, sensitive documents like 10-K filings and earnings releases were sent via email, which risked exposing material nonpublic information. This method lacked the security and confirmation provided by a dedicated platform.
Lack of strategic use of data. The team was making decisions based on instinct and prior conversations without leveraging data analytics. This approach led to inefficiencies and missed opportunities to effectively address recurring questions from investors. The director of investor relations said: “We historically based all of our planning on who to meet with on gut feelings and notes from prior conversations. We weren’t utilizing the Q4 Platform to leverage that information and say, ‘We’ve talked to this person seven times over the last three years, and each time they’ve asked these three questions.’”
Ineffective use of executives’ time. Insufficient meeting preparations and lack of organized data meant that executive time was not always used effectively. Meetings between executives and investors were wasted because the two groups were not aligned on a common agenda. The director of investor relations said: “We were wasting our executives’ time by meeting with investors who aren’t getting our story. We were trying to talk about the next level, but they were back at step one.”
Faced with the need to strengthen its investor relations function and align it more closely with strategic objectives, the interviewee’s organization identified a gap in its existing approach and appointed a new director of investor relations who was charged with instilling a more strategic mindset and leveraging analytics to drive meaningful outcomes. He said: “I was brought in to make the IR team more strategic, data-driven, efficient, and effective. This was the driving force behind adopting and fully utilizing the Q4 Platform.”
For this scenario, Forrester has modeled benefits and costs over three years.
| Ref. | Benefit | Year 1 | Year 2 | Year 3 | Total | Present Value |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Atr | IRO team efficiency for earnings lifecycle and website management | $30,776 | $30,776 | $30,776 | $92,329 | $76,536 |
| Btr | IRO team efficiency due to engagement analytics and CRM AI | $67,978 | $67,978 | $67,978 | $203,935 | $169,052 |
| Ctr | Decreased risk of technical disclosure violation | $0 | $0 | $237,231 | $237,231 | $178,235 |
| Total benefits (risk-adjusted) | $98,754 | $98,754 | $335,985 | $533,494 | $423,823 |
Evidence and data. Q4 helped the company become more efficient in managing its earnings cycles. This included the following:
Streamlined process setting up earnings calls. With Q4, standing up an earnings call is a streamlined, secure, step-by-step digital process that the organization said saved time and reduced risk. The director of investor relations said: “One of the reasons we moved to Q4 was for the earnings call. Previously, we spent days prepping for the call.”
He described the process as follows: “From the event management side, standing up a new earnings call is 100% a computer flow that feels like a shopping cart. You choose the date and time, whether you want to add a prerecording, whether you want to repeat your last call, and you are done.”
The director said he uses the platform to sync the timing of the earnings release with a press release: “When I push out our earnings release with material nonpublic information, I want it to go out in tandem with a press release at a specific time. To do that on the Q4 site takes 30 seconds.”
Efficiency in writing the first draft of an earnings script. Q4’s AI innovation, Earnings Co-Pilot, allowed the company to reduce the amount of time it took to generate the first draft of its earnings script. The director of investor relations said: “This past quarter, it took just an hour to produce the first draft — compared to what used to be a drawn-out, three-day process. That’s because the most challenging part of earnings each quarter comes after gathering the numbers: taking the next step and actually writing.”
He described how the Earnings Co-Pilot tool works in a step-by-step manner: “This tool allows us to upload our earnings release and upload past transcripts to build out the flow and tone of the call. Then you go into each section of the script and change the sentiment and say what stories to emphasize. In the end, you’ve spent a few hours, and you have your first draft.”
AI-generated earnings call summaries. Q4’s IRO Agent Q helped the company reduce the amount of time spent summarizing earnings calls from peers in preparation for their own earnings calls. The director of investor relations said: “Before, we summarized the notes manually. Now, we get the summary in a matter of minutes. We can see what questions the analysts asked, which helps us prepare for our call.”
Faster IR website updates. The organization saved time making changes to its investor relations portal because IROs could make the change directly in the platform, eliminating the need for back-and-forth emails and consultation with the previous website vendor. The director of investor relations said: “Making changes to the website is completely seamless through the Q4 Platform. Yesterday, we had a board member change their committee. I hadn’t made this change before, but I logged into the website management tool, and within 15 minutes, the change was live.”
Modeling and assumptions. Based on the interview, Forrester assumes the following:
The company saves 7 hours each quarter setting up its earnings call.
The company saves 32 hours each quarter writing the first draft of an earnings script by using Q4’s AI Earnings Co-Pilot capability.
The company saves 40 hours each quarter summarizing peers’ earnings calls by using Q4’s IRO Agent Q.
The company saves 48 hours each year making changes to its investor relations portal.
The fully burdened hourly rate for an investor relations FTE is $89.2
Risks. Forrester recognizes that these results may not be representative of all experiences. The following factors may impact this benefit:
A company’s practices and policies for using AI tools.
The number of peer summaries generated, which may vary depending on competitive landscape.
Results. To account for these risks, Forrester adjusted this benefit downward by 5%, yielding a three-year, risk-adjusted total PV (discounted at 10%) of $77,000.
IRO hours saved each quarter
| Ref. | Metric | Source | Year 1 | Year 2 | Year 3 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| A1 | Earnings calls per year | Interview | 4 | 4 | 4 | |
| A2 | Fully burdened hourly rate for an investor relations FTE | Interview | $89 | $89 | $89 | |
| A3 | Hours spent setting up earnings call before Q4 | Interview | 8 | 8 | 8 | |
| A4 | Hours spent setting up earnings call with Q4 | Interview | 1 | 1 | 1 | |
| A5 | Hours saved setting up earnings call | A3-A4 | 7 | 7 | 7 | |
| A6 | Subtotal: Savings setting up earnings calls | A1*A2*A5 | $2,492 | $2,492 | $2,492 | |
| A7 | Hours spent writing first draft of earnings call script before AI Earnings Co-Pilot | Interview | 36 | 36 | 36 | |
| A8 | Hours spent writing first draft of earnings call script with AI Earnings Co-Pilot | Interview | 4 | 4 | 4 | |
| A9 | Hours saved writing first draft of earnings call script | A7-A8 | 32 | 32 | 32 | |
| A10 | Subtotal: Savings writing first draft of earnings script | A1*A2*A9 | $11,392 | $11,392 | $11,392 | |
| A11 | Peer earnings calls summarized per quarter | Interview | 5 | 5 | 5 | |
| A12 | Hours spent summarizing peer earnings calls before AI Earnings Call tool | Interview | 10 | 10 | 10 | |
| A13 | Hours spent summarizing peer earnings calls with AI Earnings Call tool | Interview | 2 | 2 | 2 | |
| A14 | Hours saved summarizing peer earning calls | A12-A13 | 8 | 8 | 8 | |
| A15 | Subtotal: Savings summarizing peer earnings calls | A1*A2*A11*A14 | $14,240 | $14,240 | $14,240 | |
| A16 | Changes to website per year | Interview | 24 | 24 | 24 | |
| A17 | Hours spent making changes to website before Q4 per change | Interview | 3 | 3 | 3 | |
| A18 | Hours spent making changes to website with Q4 per change | Interview | 1 | 1 | 1 | |
| A19 | Hours saved making each change to website | A17-A18 | 2 | 2 | 2 | |
| A20 | Subtotal: Savings making changes to website | A2*A16*A19 | $4,272 | $4,272 | $4,272 | |
| At | IRO team efficiency for earnings lifecycle and website management | A6+A10+A15+A20 | $32,396 | $32,396 | $32,396 | |
| Risk adjustment | ↓5% | |||||
| Atr | IRO team efficiency for earnings lifecycle and website management (risk-adjusted) | $30,776 | $30,776 | $30,776 | ||
| Three-year total: $92,329 | Three-year present value: $76,536 | |||||
Evidence and data. Q4’s engagement analytics data and the ability to mine the CRM using Q4’s AI IRO Agent, Q, enhanced the company’s understanding of investor behavior. Q4 enabled the team to track investor activity, summarize meetings, and plan more effectively for future engagements. The result was both time savings and deeper insights in the following areas:
Executive team meetings. The IROs held internal weekly meetings with the executive team and used data from a weekly engagement analytics report and AI-generated investor meeting summaries to prepare for these meetings. The summaries included interactions they’d had with investors over the course of the week and engagement analytics data outlining website traffic to an announcement or press release. The Q4 Platform saved the company time in these preparation efforts.
Board meetings. Similar to executive team meetings, the company said it used data from engagement analytics reports and AI-generated investor meeting summaries to prepare for monthly board meetings. These summaries included key themes identified across all investor meetings in a given month and updates on the impact of any large press release to drive traffic to their website. The IRO Agent, Q, summarized key themes, significantly reducing the time needed for manual review and analysis.
Investor meetings. Q4 helped the company more efficiently prepare for investor meetings. The interviewee reported using Q to mine its CRM to generate detailed investor profiles, including their personal background, and to summarize prior meeting notes. With this data, they created briefing books to prepare executives for upcoming investor meetings. The director of investor relations said: “We build briefing books. For every investor we meet with, their books contain notes on prior conversations and their personal background. Going into an investor meeting, we hand our executives this book. All of that comes out of the Q4 Platform.”
Modeling and assumptions. Based on the interview, Forrester assumes the following:
The company saves 186 hours per year preparing for executive team meetings. In addition to the 52 weekly executive team meetings, the company prepares for 10 additional meetings per year.
The company saves 168 hours per year preparing for board meetings.
The company saves 450 hours per year preparing for investor meetings.
Risks. Forrester recognizes that these results may not be representative of all experiences. The following factors may impact this benefit:
The number of executive team meetings, board meetings, and investor meetings per year may vary.
Results. To account for these risks, Forrester adjusted this benefit downward by 5%, yielding a three-year, risk-adjusted total PV (discounted at 10%) of $169,000.
| Ref. | Metric | Source | Year 1 | Year 2 | Year 3 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| B1 | Executive meetings per year | Interview | 62 | 62 | 62 | |
| B2 | Fully burdened hourly rate for an investor relations FTE | A2 | $89 | $89 | $89 | |
| B3 | Hours spent preparing for executive team meetings before engagement analytics, CRM, and AI | Interview | 4 | 4 | 4 | |
| B4 | Hours spent preparing for executive team meetings with engagement analytics, CRM, and AI | Interview | 1 | 1 | 1 | |
| B5 | Hours saved summarizing investor interactions | B3-B4 | 3 | 3 | 3 | |
| B6 | Subtotal: Savings summarizing investor data for executive meetings | B1*B2*B5 | $16,554 | $16,554 | $16,554 | |
| B7 | Board meetings per year | Interview | 12 | 12 | 12 | |
| B8 | Hours spent preparing for board meetings before engagement analytics, CRM, and AI | Interview | 16 | 16 | 16 | |
| B9 | Hours spent preparing for board meetings with engagement analytics, CRM, and AI | Interview | 2 | 2 | 2 | |
| B10 | Hours saved preparing for board meetings | B8-B9 | 14 | 14 | 14 | |
| B11 | Subtotal: Savings summarizing investor data for board meetings | B2*B7*B10 | $14,952 | $14,952 | $14,952 | |
| B12 | Investor briefing books prepared per year | Interview | 150 | 150 | 150 | |
| B13 | Hours spent creating investor briefing books before engagement analytics, CRM, and AI | Interview | 4 | 4 | 4 | |
| B14 | Hours spent summarizing preparing briefing books with engagement analytics, CRM, and AI | Interview | 1 | 1 | 1 | |
| B15 | Hours saved preparing briefing books | B13-B14 | 3 | 3 | 3 | |
| B16 | Subtotal: Savings summarizing data for briefing books | B2*B12*B15 | $40,050 | $40,050 | $40,050 | |
| Bt | IRO team efficiency due to engagement analytics, CRM, and AI | B6+B11+B16 | $71,556 | $71,556 | $71,556 | |
| Risk adjustment | ↓5% | |||||
| Btr | IRO team efficiency due to engagement analytics, CRM, and AI (risk-adjusted) | $67,978 | $67,978 | $67,978 | ||
| Three-year total: $203,935 | Three-year present value: $169,052 | |||||
Evidence and data. The interviewee said the Q4 Platform let them seamlessly manage their earnings lifecycles. Because the Q4 Platform allowed them to stage and schedule earnings announcements, it reduced the risk and fallout associated with an accidental early disclosure of earnings.
Modeling and assumptions. Based on the interview, Forrester assumes the following:
On average, the Q4 Platform prevents an accidental early disclosure of earnings once every three years.
Executives spend significant time over the course of the investigation and settlement process. This includes meetings with lawyers, reviewing SEC correspondence, and internal discussions on compliance and disclosure controls.
IROs spend significant time acting as a liaison between the company, investors, and the SEC. They manage communications, prepare disclosures, and coordinate internally and externally
The company retains external lawyers to lead the investigations and negotiations.
The SEC fine is relatively minor due to the company’s decision to own the error early and cooperate with the SEC.
Risks. Forrester recognizes that these results may not be representative of all experiences. The following factors may impact this benefit:
The severity of an accidental early earnings disclosure.
The extent to which the company owns up to the error.
The level of cooperation with the SEC.
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 $178,000.
| Ref. | Metric | Source | Year 1 | Year 2 | Year 3 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| C1 | Annual instances of Q4 preventing accidental early disclosure of earnings | Interview | 0 | 0 | 1 | |
| C2 | Fully burdened hourly rate for an executive FTE | Interview | $0 | $0 | $165 | |
| C3 | Fully burdened hourly rate for an investor relations FTE | A2 | $0 | $0 | $89 | |
| C4 | Hours spent by executives to manage fallout from accidental early disclosure of earnings | Assumption | 0 | 0 | 50 | |
| C5 | Hours spent by investor relations resource to manage fallout from accidental early disclosure of earnings | Assumption | 0 | 0 | 60 | |
| C6 | External legal fees | Assumption | $0 | $0 | $150,000 | |
| C7 | SEC fine | Assumption | $0 | $0 | $100,000 | |
| Ct | Decreased risk of technical disclosure violation | C1*((C2*C4)+(C3*C5)+C6+C7) | $0 | $0 | $263,590 | |
| Risk adjustment | ↓10% | |||||
| Ctr | Decreased risk of technical disclosure violation (risk-adjusted) | $0 | $0 | $237,231 | ||
| Three-year total: $237,231 | Three-year present value: $178,235 | |||||
The interviewee mentioned the following additional benefits that the organization experienced but was not able to quantify:
Integrated platform provides value. The investor relations director said: “Q4 integrates several investor relations tools into a single platform, making it easy for IROs to manage events, earnings, and websites from one dashboard. The company says this allows them to follow investors through their lifecycle — from targeting, to meeting with them, to seeing them attend a webcast, to tracking their activity on the company’s website.”
High platform reliability reduces the risk of jeopardizing positive investor sentiment. The interviewee said the technical reliability of the Q4 Platform increases investors’ trust and confidence in the company. They feared an impaired event would break this trust and confidence. Because of the high reliability of the Q4 Platform, investor sentiment toward the company remains high, and the company attracts investors who otherwise would have been deterred due to an impaired event. The director of investor relations said: “You may have an investor sitting on the call who has the ability to buy 500,000 shares, and if it doesn’t go well, they may say they’re not going to take a chance. The risk is that people say, ‘I’m not going to put my money with someone who can’t even run their earnings call.’ It’s a trust issue, and it could be huge from a shareholder value perspective.”
Proactive alerts of activist engagement. The Q4 Platform gives notifications when activist investors visit the company’s website or open emails. The director of investor relations said: “We’ve had activists visit the site, and immediately, we get an alert. We’re able to see who the person is and take action.”
The value of flexibility is unique to each customer. There are multiple scenarios in which a customer might implement Q4 and later realize additional uses and business opportunities, including:
Ability to be more strategic. Q4 frees up IROs to focus on more strategic work. The director of investor relations said: “We can take more strategic views of the business. That’s where the briefing books came from; that’s where the targeting activities come from. We can be more strategic because I’m not caught up doing the recurring or more tedious work. We can take a step back and ask how we can impact the business and actually drive higher shareholder returns.”
Ability to target specific investors. The company uses data from Q4 to identify specific investors to contact. The director of investor relations said: “Now, we’re doing targeting for the first time ever. In the past, we just met with whoever sales told us to meet with, but now, we have bandwidth opened up to make sure we are meeting with the right people. We can hand our executives a target list and tell them what to do.”
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dtr | Subscription fees | $0 | $52,500 | $52,500 | $52,500 | $157,500 | $130,560 |
| Etr | Internal labor | $5,455 | $0 | $0 | $0 | $5,455 | $5,455 |
| Total costs (risk-adjusted) | $5,455 | $52,500 | $52,500 | $52,500 | $162,955 | $136,015 |
Evidence and data. The interviewed director of investor relations described his company’s investment in Q4, the cost of which is based on the product and packaging type within the Q4 Platform. The Q4 Platform includes websites, events, CRM, AI, services, and platform enhancements. The company offers a three-tier packaging and pricing model.
Modeling and assumptions. Based on the interview, Forrester assumes the following:
Pricing may vary. Contact Q4 for additional details.
Risks. Forrester recognizes that these results may not be representative of all experiences. The following factors may impact the costs:
An organization’s subscription model and the number of platform components deployed.
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 $131,000.
| Ref. | Metric | Source | Initial | Year 1 | Year 2 | Year 3 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| D1 | Subscription fees | Interview | $50,000 | $50,000 | $50,000 | |
| Dt | Subscription fees | D1 | $50,000 | $50,000 | $50,000 | |
| Risk adjustment | ↑5% | |||||
| Dtr | Subscription fees (risk-adjusted) | $0 | $52,500 | $52,500 | $52,500 | |
| Three-year total: $157,500 | Three-year present value: $130,560 | |||||
Evidence and data. In addition to fees paid to Q4 for the license, the interviewee described internal costs related to the implementation and training of the solution.
Implementation efforts included conducting a security review, launching a website, and onboarding single sign-on.
The company also invested time in manually inputting notes into the platform from prior investor meetings.
The training process included a dedicated session with Q4, followed by a few additional hours of hands-on use to become proficient with the platform.
Modeling and assumptions. Based on the interview, Forrester assumes the following:
One technical FTE is involved in the implementation.
Three investor relations team members are involved in a total of 5 hours each for training and onboarding.
Risks. Forrester recognizes that these results may not be representative of all experiences. The following factors may impact the costs:
IROs’ prior experience using investor relations tools.
The number of previous notes to manually input in the platform.
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 $5,000.
| Ref. | Metric | Source | Initial | Year 1 | Year 2 | Year 3 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| E1 | Total hours of technical deployment | Interview | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| E2 | Fully burdened hourly rate for a technical resource | Composite | $60 | $0 | $0 | $0 |
| E3 | Investor relations resources involved in training | Interview | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| E4 | Hours of training per investor relations resource | Interview | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| E5 | Hours to manually input notes into the Q4 Platform | Interview | 40 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| E6 | Fully burdened hourly rate for an investor relations FTE | A2 | $89 | $0 | $0 | $0 |
| Et | Internal labor | ((E1*E2)+(E3*E4))*E6+(E5*E6) | $5,195 | $0 | $0 | $0 |
| Risk adjustment | ↑5% | |||||
| Etr | Internal labor (risk-adjusted) | $5,455 | $0 | $0 | $0 | |
| Three-year total: $5,455 | Three-year present value: $5,455 | |||||
| Initial | Year 1 | Year 2 | Year 3 | Total | Present Value | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Total costs | ($5,455) | ($52,500) | ($52,500) | ($52,500) | ($162,955) | ($136,015) |
| Total benefits | $0 | $98,754 | $98,754 | $335,985 | $533,494 | $423,823 |
| Net benefits | ($5,455) | $46,254 | $46,254 | $283,485 | $370,539 | $287,808 |
| ROI | 212% | |||||
| 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 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 interview, Forrester constructed a Total Economic Impact™ framework for those organizations considering an investment in Q4.
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 Q4 can have on an organization.
Interviewed Q4 stakeholders and Forrester analysts to gather data relative to Q4.
Interviewed a decision-maker with experience using Q4 at their organization to obtain data about costs, benefits, and risks.
Constructed a financial model representative of the interview using the TEI methodology and risk-adjusted the financial model based on issues and concerns of the interviewee.
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: US Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Readers should be aware of the following:
This study is commissioned by Q4 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 Q4.
Q4 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.
Q4 provided the customer name for the interview but did not participate in the interview.
Lori Heckmann
July 2025
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