The Total Economic Impact™ Of Superside
Cost Savings And Business Benefits Enabled By Superside’s Creative Services
A FORRESTER TOTAL ECONOMIC IMPACT™ STUDY COMMISSIONED BY SUPERSIDE, APRIL 2025
Marketing and creative teams are under increasing pressure to deliver high-quality assets fast. Traditional agencies, freelancers, and in-house teams often struggle to keep up due to slow turnaround times, resource constraints, and inconsistent quality. Superside provides a scalable, AI-powered creative solution that helps enterprise teams deliver high-performing ads, videos, and branded content quickly and efficiently and without the overhead of hiring or managing multiple vendors.
Superside is an AI-powered creative service that can enhance and extend an organization’s creative capabilities. Superside fills expertise and resource gaps by providing a diverse range of content design services to deliver high-quality, innovative assets that are delivered on time and can help improve campaign performance.
Superside commissioned Forrester Consulting to conduct a Total Economic Impact™ (TEI) study and examine the potential return on investment (ROI) enterprises may realize by leveraging its creative service.1 The purpose of this study is to provide readers with a framework to evaluate the potential financial impact of Superside on their organizations.
Return on investment (ROI)
94%
Net present value (NPV)
$2.01M
To better understand the benefits, costs, and risks associated with this investment, Forrester interviewed four decision-makers with experience using Superside’s creative services at their organizations. For the purposes of this study, Forrester aggregated the interviewees’ experiences and combined the results into a single composite organization that is a global, enterprise-sized technology company with annual revenues of $5 billion.
Interviewees said that prior to using Superside, their organizations relied on various agencies and freelancers for asset creation, particularly at busy times. However, this approach resulted in a number of challenges including subpar content quality, slow turnaround times, inefficiencies, and a lack of creative and strategic innovation.
After the investment in Superside, the interviewees’ organizations improved content quality and creativity, increased campaign performance, gained the ability to deliver more content and leverage new platforms (e.g., make use of previously unused social media channels), accelerated projection completion times, and became readily able to scale content production.
Key Findings
Quantified benefits. Three-year, risk-adjusted present value (PV) quantified benefits for the composite organization include:
- Improved campaign performance amounting to $1.1 million. Superside provides the composite organization with highly creative and innovative content. Furthermore, content is delivered faster and deadlines are consistently met, setting the stage for campaigns with higher engagement, improved performance, and increased profit.
- Agency fees avoided amounting to $1.9 million. The adoption of Superside — first by one business line and subsequently by other teams — directly resulted in the avoidance of agency fees the composite organization would have incurred.
- Internal labor savings amounting to $1.2 million. By using Superside, the composite organization reduces the need to hire internal content designers and specialists and/or contract freelancers. Furthermore, Superside saves agency management time for the organization, particularly during the content review process, with more than 60% of feedback rounds avoided.
Flexibility and unquantified benefits. Benefits that provide value for the composite organization but are not quantified for this study include:
- Improved employee experience. By providing an efficient and flexible service, Superside allows the composite organization to avoid the need for overtime. This relieves pressure on lean internal teams — particularly during busy periods —as Superside acts as an in-house creative agency. Improving the employee experience reduces stress and leads to better morale that, in turn, can reduce the organization’s staff turnover and absenteeism.
- Scalability. The composite organization can easily scale up and down Superside’s usage based on demand. At peak demand periods, the organization can increase its subscription allocation, eliminating the need to hire additional staff or seek freelancers; at quieter times allocations can be retained and used as and when required.
Costs. Three-year, risk-adjusted PV costs for the composite organization include:
- Service fees amounting to $2.1 million. Superside charges a monthly subscription fee that covers all aspects of work delivery, and this is based on the organization’s budget spend for creative projects. The composite organization pays $35,000 per month in Year 1, and this increases to $70,000 per month in Year 2 and to $100,000 per month in Year 3.
- Onboarding and usage costs amounting to $69,000. The composite pays onboarding and usage costs that reflect the internal effort required to use Superside. Onboarding a new user at the composite takes 2 hours, and it takes a user 2 hours to oversee a Superside project.
The representative interviews and financial analysis found that a composite organization experiences benefits of $4.16 million over three years versus costs of $2.15 million, adding up to a net present value (NPV) of $2.01 million and an ROI of 94%.
Key Statistics
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Return on investment (ROI)
94%
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Benefits PV
$4.16M
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Net present value (NPV)
$2.01M
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Payback
<6 months
Benefits (Three-Year)
Improved campaign performance Agency fees avoided Internal labour savings
TEI Framework And Methodology
From the information provided in the interviews, Forrester constructed a Total Economic Impact™ framework for those organizations considering an investment in Superside.
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 Superside can have on an organization.
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Due Diligence
Interviewed Superside stakeholders and Forrester analysts to gather data relative to the use of their creative services.
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Interviews
Interviewed four people at organizations using Superside to obtain data about costs, benefits, and risks.
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Composite Organization
Designed a composite organization based on characteristics of the interviewees’ organizations.
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Financial Model Framework
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.
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Case Study
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.
Disclosures
Readers should be aware of the following:
This study is commissioned by Superside 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 Superside.
Superside 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.
Superside provided the customer names for the interviews but did not participate in the interviews.
Consulting Team:
Jan Sythoff
Salma Hamdani
Drivers leading to the Superside investment
Interviews
| Role | Industry | Region | Key content | Revenue | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Social media manager | Technology | Global | Social media, creative ideation | ~$8B | |
| Head of creative | Online content provision | Global | Social media, custom illustrations, display ads, decks | ~$1B | |
| Director of brand and communications | Travel experience | Global | Video, creative concepting | N/A | |
| Producer | Technology | Global | Video editing, motion design, digital ads | N/A | |
Key Challenges
Before adopting Superside, interviewees’ organizations relied on traditional, retainer-based agencies, freelancers, and/or internal teams for their creative needs. The interviewees noted their organizations struggled with common challenges, including:
- Subpar content quality. Interviewees said agencies and freelancers didn’t consistently meet their organizations’ standards or expectations. They also said they did not always respect brand guidelines or sensibilities for different audiences across different touchpoints and sometimes did not adequately follow briefs.
- Multiple review cycles resulting in slow turnaround times and inefficiencies. Interviewees said their organizations had to go through multiple content review rounds with agency-delivered content. They explained that traditional agencies and freelancers were slow to respond to feedback, did not always respond adequately, and/or did not follow brand guidelines, so it could take multiple weeks — up to eight weeks in some instances — to finalize assets. As a result, content creation processes took too long, which meant the organizations risked missing deadlines. Review processes were also inefficient and took too much reviewer time.
- Lack of creative and strategic innovation. Interviewees said their organizations lacked internal resources to focus on content creativity and innovation at a strategic level. As a result, campaign performance was impacted, meaning that engagement and conversion rates were too low. There was often a one-size fits all approach that did not consider regional specificities.
Composite Organization
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 composite organization is a global, enterprise-sized technology company with annual revenue of $5 billion. Prior to using Superside, the organization relied on internal resources, various agencies, and freelancers for creating marketing assets, and it needed to reach out for more external resources during busy campaign periods. It was often challenging to find sufficient resources to cover a range of content types, which also took time to onboard and brief, resulting in challenging deadlines and stressed teams.
Deployment characteristics. The composite organization starts using Superside in one line of business and then expands use with a growing number of users to other areas and corporate marketing. In Year 1, there are four Superside users for creative output, and each averages 23 projects. The number of users grows to eight in Year 2 and 12 in Year 3, with the number of projects per user staying constant. In Year 1, the composite organization spends an average of $35,000 per month for Superside’s creative services. This increases to $70,000 per month in Year 2 and $100,000 per month in Year 3. The composite initially uses Superside for social media campaigns and then expands use to other types of content (e.g., decks, social media strategy, events, video).
Quantified benefit data as applied to the composite
Total Benefits
| Ref. | Benefit | Year 1 | Year 2 | Year 3 | Total | Present Value |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Atr | Improved campaign performance | $226,800 | $453,600 | $648,000 | $1,328,400 | $1,067,910 |
| Btr | Agency fees avoided | $399,000 | $798,000 | $1,140,000 | $2,337,000 | $1,878,730 |
| Ctr | Internal labor savings | $236,844 | $504,738 | $769,662 | $1,511,244 | $1,210,710 |
| Total benefits (risk-adjusted) | $862,644 | $1,756,338 | $2,557,662 | $5,176,644 | $4,157,350 |
Improved Campaign Performance
Evidence and data. Interviewees shared that Superside helps their organizations deliver more creative and innovative content. The director of brand and communications at the travel experience organization declared: “We share our assets with Superside because we know it’s going to get done right. ... The videos that are coming out of Superside are much better than what we are able to create internally. Their creative concepting is just awesome. It’s so great to be able to work with the team to come up with ideas that we wouldn’t have seen internally.”
Interviewees also said asset delivery is more timely, resulting in faster turnaround times, and that this along with improvements to content quality leads to higher engagement, increased conversion, and improved performance.
Modeling and assumptions. Based on the interviews, Forrester assumes the following about the composite organization:
- The composite’s production value corresponds to what it spent on agencies prior to using Superside. It spends the same amount on Superside: $420,000 in Year 1, $840,000 in Year 2, and $1.2 million in Year 3.
- The composite’s campaigns powered by Superside generate eight times the production investment, compared to three times without it. This means that for every dollar spent, Superside delivers significantly higher returns for the composite organization while unlocking additional revenue and marketing impact.
- Forrester applied a 12% profit margin to this incremental revenue.
Risks. The degree to which an organization may realize this benefit will vary based on the quality and creativity of the content and campaigns prior to adopting Superside.
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.
Improved Campaign Performance
| Ref. | Metric | Source | Year 1 | Year 2 | Year 3 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| A1 | Production value | Composite | $420,000 | $840,000 | $1,200,000 | |
| A2 | Value driven from campaigns with Superside | A1*8 | $3,360,000 | $6,720,000 | $9,600,000 | |
| A3 | Value driven from campaigns without Superside | A1*3 | $1,260,000 | $2,520,000 | $3,600,000 | |
| A4 | Additional revenue from Superside campaigns | A2-A3 | $2,100,000 | $4,200,000 | $6,000,000 | |
| A5 | Profit margin | TEI methodology | 12% | 12% | 12% | |
| At | Improved campaign performance | A4*A5 | $252,000 | $504,000 | $720,000 | |
| Risk adjustment | ↓10% | |||||
| Atr | Improved campaign performance (risk-adjusted) | $226,800 | $453,600 | $648,000 | ||
| Three-year total: $1,328,400 | Three-year present value: $1,067,910 | |||||
Agency Fees Avoided
Evidence and data. Interviewees noted that adopting Superside first in one business line and then expanding use to other teams directly resulted in the avoidance of agency fees their organizations previously paid. They said the agency fees exactly correspond to Superside’s service fees; in other words, Superside replaces that spend. One interviewee noted that if their organization wanted to create the same amount of content with its previous agency, it would have to spend four times the amount. The head of creative for an online content provision platform said: “We have seen an increase of asset delivery by threefold to fourfold compared to [with] our previous agency that used to deliver four decks a year. Now it’s around four decks per quarter.” The interviewee said by moving this spend to Superside, there was a significant increase in delivery.
Modeling and assumptions. Based on the interviews, Forrester assumes the following about the composite organization:
- In Year 1, the composite organization avoids $420,000 in agency fees.
- This amount increases to $840,000 in Year 2 and to $1.2 million in Year 3
- The spend directly shifts from agencies to Superside.
Risks. The degree to which an organization may realize this benefit will vary depending on the following:
- The amount the organization spends on agencies.
- The relative rates and efficiency of those agencies.
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 $1.9 million.
Agency Fees Avoided
| Ref. | Metric | Source | Year 1 | Year 2 | Year 3 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| B1 | Agency fees avoided | Composite | $420,000 | $840,000 | $1,200,000 | |
| Bt | Agency fees avoided | B1 | $420,000 | $840,000 | $1,200,000 | |
| Risk adjustment | ↓5% | |||||
| Btr | Agency fees avoided (risk-adjusted) | $399,000 | $798,000 | $1,140,000 | ||
| Three-year total: $2,337,000 | Three-year present value: $1,878,730 | |||||
Internal Labor Savings
Evidence and data. Each interviewee said adopting Superside is equivalent to scaling their organization’s in-house creative team, which therefore reduced the need to hire internal creatives or contract freelancers. A producer at a technology organization shared: “When we need to scale up the work and maybe scale it down periodically, it just helps to have an external partner that can pivot with us, go through the business cycles, and catch the overflow of work. Having Superside is great because we have the ability to scale down and be more flexible than full-time employees are.”
Interviewees also said using Superside led to time savings from managing agencies, which represented approximately 10% of average project times. They explained that prior to adopting Superside, their organizations worked with agencies and freelancers that had slower turnaround times and required more feedback and review iterations.
The head of creative at an online content provision platform declared: “With Superside, the feedback rounds were very few; they obeyed brand guidelines. Whereas there was one deck that went through eight feedback rounds with our previous agency, the feedback rounds with Superside were much fewer. ... Superside really took our brand seriously and looked at the guidelines. They were communicative, and the quality was so much better.”
Modeling and assumptions. Based on the interviews, Forrester assumes the following about the composite organization:
- By using Superside, the composite avoids hiring an increasing number of internal content creation FTEs and freelancers.
- The fully loaded annual salary for an internal FTE or freelancer is $150,000.
- Prior to using Superside, the composite organization relied on agencies for creative projects (which totaled a third of the projects completed with Superside).
- The composite’s internal FTEs dedicated approximately 5 hours to each project.
- The hourly rate for an FTE who manages agency projects is $72.
Risks. The degree to which an organization may realize this benefit will vary depending on the following:
- The efficiency of the internal FTEs/freelancers avoided.
- The salary rates for internal FTEs/freelancers.
- The number and quality of agency projects.
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 $1.2 million.
Internal Labor Savings
| Ref. | Metric | Source | Year 1 | Year 2 | Year 3 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| C1 | Content FTEs/freelancers avoided | interviews | 1.68 | 3.59 | 5.49 | |
| C2 | Fully loaded annual salary for a content FTE/freelancer | Research data | $150,000 | $150,000 | $150,000 | |
| C3 | Content FTE savings | C1*C2 | $252,000 | $538,500 | $823,500 | |
| C4 | Agency projects | Composite | 31 | 62 | 88 | |
| C5 | Agency management time per project (hours) | Interviews | 5 | 5 | 5 | |
| C6 | Agency management time saved (hours) | C4*C5 | 155 | 310 | 440 | |
| C7 | Hourly rate for an FTE who manages agency projects | Research data | $72 | $72 | $72 | |
| C8 | Agency management efficiency savings | C6*C7 | $11,160 | $22,320 | $31,680 | |
| Ct | Internal labor savings | C3+C8 | $263,160 | $560,820 | $855,180 | |
| Risk adjustment | ↓10% | |||||
| Ctr | Internal labor savings (risk-adjusted) | $236,844 | $504,738 | $769,662 | ||
| Three-year total: $1,511,244 | Three-year present value: $1,210,710 | |||||
Unquantified Benefits
Interviewees mentioned the following additional benefits that their organizations experienced but were not able to quantify:
- Improved employee experience. Interviewees said that prior to adopting Superside, content designers at their organizations sometimes had to work overtime and were under pressure to deliver, especially around important campaign times. They said that with Superside, employees avoid very busy periods and trust that deadlines will be met. One interviewee said, “We don’t have a ton of overhead internally, and having Superside helps to get the work done without stressing and burning out our internal team.”
- Scalability. Interviewees said that with the use of Superside, their organizations can easily scale up and down their usage based on demand. At peak demand times, they avoid the need to find freelancers or hire extra people to meet that demand at short notice. One interviewee said: “Having the scalability and flexibility of Superside is really important when you know that surprises come about often. If I had to onboard a freelancer with our new vendor onboarding system, it could take me four to six weeks.”
Flexibility
The value of flexibility is unique to each customer. There are different scenarios in which a customer might implement Superside’s creative services and later realize additional uses and business opportunities, including:
- Streamlined workflows and enhanced creative output through use of AI. Interviewees said Superside integrates AI-powered workflows to accelerate creative production while maintaining high-quality human-led design. AI-certified experts leverage these tools to enhance creativity, which streamlines workflows, improves efficiency, and delivers faster and more cost-effective results. Customers can opt in through a contract addendum that allows them to scale creative work easily.
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Broad portfolio of creative
services. Interviewees said Superside offers a large
range of creative services and that a customer might start with deck
template creation, then move up in complexity to splash pages, social media,
digital ads and video creation. The head of creative at an online content
provision platform explained: “I needed a new agency. I needed them to be
able to start immediately, and I needed them to be able to handle a lot of
different things: digital out of home display ads, videos, and spaces decks.
I needed something that was pretty diverse in.”
The interviewee added that Superside can provide more strategic content services, such as adding a new social media platform. They said: “[Superside has] provided us with [our] new Instagram strategy. … So, we’ve definitely used some of their services beyond making single creatives.”
Flexibility would also be quantified when evaluated as part of a specific project (described in more detail in Appendix A).
Quantified cost data as applied to the composite
Total Costs
| Ref. | Cost | Initial | Year 1 | Year 2 | Year 3 | Total | Present Value |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dtr | Service fees | $0 | $441,000 | $882,000 | $1,260,000 | $2,583,000 | $2,076,491 |
| Etr | Onboarding and usage costs | $605 | $14,515 | $28,426 | $41,731 | $85,277 | $68,646 |
| Total costs (risk-adjusted) | $605 | $455,515 | $910,426 | $1,301,731 | $2,668,277 | $2,145,137 |
Service Fees
Evidence and data. Interviewees said Superside charges their organizations a monthly subscription fee based on the budget spend on creative projects and that these fees cover all aspects of work delivery (e.g., project complexity, content type, time spent producing the work, specialized expertise, and hard costs such as hiring a film location for videos).
Modeling and assumptions. Based on the interviews, Forrester assumes the following about the composite organization:
- During the first few weeks of its Superside adoption, the composite starts with a limited number of subscriptions.
- Over time, the composite expands the use of Superside to new teams and users.
- The composite spends $35,000 per month in service fees in Year 1, $70,000 per month in Year 2, and $100,000 per month in Year 3.
Risks. The degree to which this cost impacts an organization will vary based on the following:
- The company’s use cases and use of credits.
- Pricing variations based on region, timing, and other factors.
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.
Service Fees
| Ref. | Metric | Source | Initial | Year 1 | Year 2 | Year 3 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| D1 | Average monthly service fees | Composite | $0 | $35,000 | $70,000 | $100,000 | |
| Dt | Service fees | D1*12 | $0 | $420,000 | $840,000 | $1,200,000 | |
| Risk adjustment | ↑5% | ||||||
| Dtr | Service fees (risk-adjusted) | $0 | $441,000 | $882,000 | $1,260,000 | ||
| Three-year total: $2,583,000 | Three-year present value: $2,076,491 | ||||||
Onboarding And Usage Costs
Evidence and data. Interviewees said onboarding and usage costs are reflective of the internal effort required to use Superside and that onboarding hours are limited because Superside’s Superspace portal is intuitive and easy to use. The director of brand and communications for a travel experience organization said, “It took just a week for Superside to be fully functional.”
Modeling and assumptions. Based on the interviews, Forrester assumes the following about the composite organization:
- Onboarding takes 2 hours per new user.
- Initially and during Year 1 and Year 2, the composite onboards four new users are onboarded.
- The average hourly rate for a user is $72.
- Each user oversees 23 Superside projects and spends 2 hours per project for briefing and reviewing.
Risks. The degree to which this cost impacts an organization will vary based on the following:
- The number of new users.
- The salaries of FTEs, which may vary by region.
- The number of projects per user.
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 $69,000.
Onboarding And Usage Costs
| Ref. | Metric | Source | Initial | Year 1 | Year 2 | Year 3 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| E1 | Cumulative users | Composite | 0 | 4 | 8 | 12 | |
| E2 | New users | Composite | 4 | 4 | 4 | 0 | |
| E3 | Onboarding time per new user (hours) | Interviews | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | |
| E4 | Average fully loaded salary for a user | Research data | $150,000 | $150,000 | $150,000 | $150,000 | |
| E5 | Hourly rate for a user | E4/2,080 | $72 | $72 | $72 | $72 | |
| E6 | Subtotal: Onboarding costs | E2*E3*E5 | $576 | $576 | $576 | $0 | |
| E7 | Average projects per user | Interviews | 0 | 23 | 23 | 23 | |
| E8 | Average time per project (hours) | Interviews | $0 | 2 | 2 | 2 | |
| E9 | Total user project time (hours) | E1*E7*E8 | 0 | 184 | 368 | 552 | |
| E10 | Subtotal: Total user project time costs | E5*E9 | $0 | $13,248 | $26,496 | $39,744 | |
| Et | Training and usage costs | E6+E10 | $576 | $13,824 | $27,072 | $39,744 | |
| Risk adjustment | ↑5% | ||||||
| Etr | Training and usage costs (risk-adjusted) | $605 | $14,515 | $28,426 | $41,731 | ||
| Three-year total: $85,277 | Three-year present value: $68,646 | ||||||
Consolidated Three-Year, Risk-Adjusted Metrics
Cash Flow Chart (Risk-Adjusted)
Total costs Total benefits Cumulative net benefits Initial Year 1 Year 2 Year 3-
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.
Cash Flow Analysis (Risk-Adjusted Estimates)
| Initial | Year 1 | Year 2 | Year 3 | Total | Present Value | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Total costs | ($605) | ($455,515) | ($910,426) | ($1,301,731) | ($2,668,277) | ($2,145,137) |
| Total benefits | $0 | $862,644 | $1,756,338 | $2,557,662 | $5,176,644 | $4,157,350 |
| Net benefits | ($605) | $407,129 | $845,912 | $1,255,931 | $2,508,367 | $2,012,213 |
| ROI | 94% | |||||
| Payback | <6 months |
Appendix A: Total Economic Impact
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.
Total Economic Impact Approach
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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 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.
Appendix B: Supplemental Material
Related Forrester Research
The Marketing Creative And Content Services Landscape, Q4 2024, Forrester Research, Inc., October 28, 2024.
Five Key Trends That Will Shape Your Content Services Strategy In 2024, Forrester Research, Inc., April 29, 2024.
Appendix C: Endnotes
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.
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