The Total Economic Impact™ of Qt for Device Creation: A Forrester Total Economic Impact™ Study

Qt for Device Creation is a complete development framework that enables organizations to build applications and user interfaces for embedded devices. The Qt Company commissioned Forrester Consulting to conduct a Total Economic Impact™ (TEI) study and examine the potential return on investment (ROI) businesses may realize with Qt for Device Creation. The purpose of this study is to provide readers with a framework to evaluate the potential financial impact of Qt for Device Creation on their organizations.

To better understand the benefits, costs, and risks associated with this investment, Forrester interviewed four customers with extensive experience of using Qt for Device Creation. The data gained from these interviews was aggregated into a model or composite organization, which originally had seven developers dedicated to embedded device creation. By using Qt, this composite organization enabled significant savings in terms of development and device hardware costs.

Prior to using Qt, interviewed customers supported either multiple versions of their applications across different platforms or complex toolchains to create software for embedded devices. Either approach requires more manpower, specific skill sets, and the means to coordinate these resources, incurring much higher costs. Some of the interviewees also provided feedback from tests they had conducted using web technologies such as hypertext markup language (HTML), but these approaches incurred additional development costs and required much costlier and more powerful hardware.