Forrester TEI Study: How to Reduce Compliance Costs
44% ROI and €145,000 net present value – a recent study by Forrester Consulting shows: implementing a compliance platform pays off.
Growing regulatory requirements and increasing reputational risks are putting compliance professionals under pressure. The EU Whistleblower Directive, for example, requires companies to provide secure internal reporting channels, confirm reports within seven days, and communicate material progress within three months. In practice, however, inefficient processes not only drive up workloads but also create risks of compliance violations and high resulting costs. The daily reputational damage caused by unresolved or unmonitored cases alone equates to around 1% of an organisation’s revenue.
Many companies are now considering implementing a compliance platform to optimise processes and minimise risks. But is it really worth it? Absolutely – as Forrester’s calculations show. Using EQS Compliance Cockpit, a model company achieved a benefit of nearly €478,000 over three years, a net present value of just over €145,000, and a return on investment (ROI) of 44%. The investment paid for itself in less than six months.
Improving Case Management Efficiency
One of the major cost drivers in compliance management is time-intensive case management. Compliance teams typically have to consolidate data from many different systems in order to assess the facts of a case. Communication and coordination processes are also lengthy. At the companies surveyed, the initial case assignment alone took up to a week – for example, to identify the right case managers in the relevant countries. Approvals were delayed because colleagues had to be contacted by phone or in person.
Implementing EQS Compliance Cockpit resulted in significant improvements:
- 43% improvement in speak-up case management efficiency
- 60% improvement in case management efficiency for gifting and conflict of interest disclosures
- €168,000 total present value from improved case management efficiency
“We saved days closing cases, if not weeks … We could easily have knocked off five to 10 days per case of closure time.”
Avoiding Penalty Fees, Reputational Damage, and Legal Costs
Fragmented workflows and a lack of transparency often mean that cases cannot be properly assessed and handled. Without robust measures to prevent the escalation of reported misconduct, organisations risk reputational damage, costly legal proceedings, and regulatory penalties. The Forrester interviewees also reported that their previous systems struggled to adequately protect the identity of reporting persons – a weakness that exposed them to significant penalties under the EU Whistleblower Directive.
With EQS Compliance Cockpit, the model company achieved the following benefits:
- An increase from 125 cases in the first year to 152 cases in the third year. Speak-up culture improved thanks to secure, anonymous procedures.
- Avoided penalty fees, reputational damage, and legal costs with a total present value of approx. €141,000. More efficient compliance management processes prevented case escalations.
- Noncompliance penalty fee avoidance with a total present value of approx. €15,000
“For us, the biggest risk was not knowing what we didn’t know. If a case escalated without controls, the cost could be catastrophic – not just financial, but reputational.”
Audit Cost Reduction
Internal audits are often time-consuming and resource-intensive. When compliance teams store case information in folders, spreadsheets, or emails, auditors must laboriously piece together data. The interviewees also reported being forced to conduct broad sampling and manual checks due to the absence of a central dashboard.
EQS Compliance Cockpit delivered tangible improvements:
- 5–10% audit effort reduction thanks to centralised data management and clear, transparent audit trails
- 100% productivity recapture rate: time saved from manual work is reinvested directly into higher-quality audits
- Audit cost reduction with a total present value of approx. €142,000
How Much Can Your Organisation Save?
The benefits described above are just a few examples of the savings potential a compliance platform can offer. Beyond these, the respondents also achieved efficiency improvements in many other areas. Read the full study now to work through the calculations.
For the study “The Total Economic Impact™ of EQS Compliance Cockpit,” Forrester Consulting interviewed six decision-makers from companies using EQS Compliance Cockpit on behalf of EQS. The findings were applied to a global, publicly listed model company headquartered in Germany, with approximately 25,000 employees and annual revenue of four billion euros.