Research Associate

Forrester Total Economic Impact(TM) shows 157% ROI for interviewed Optro users. ON THIS PAGE Forrester's Total Economic Impact(TM) framework is an objective business value justification analysis designed to help organizations understand the financial impact of technology investments. The TEI also helps technology organizations showcase their financial impact. Used by consumers and organizations for over 20 years, the TEI methodology uses four main components to evaluate investment value: * Cost * Benefits * Flexibility * Risk In 2026, Optro commissioned Forrester Consulting to conduct a TEI study and examine the potential return on investment (ROI) that organizations may realize by using its AI-powered GRC Intelligence platform. The study found an ROI of 157% over three years for a composite organization based on interviewed organizations implementing Optro's platform. Here's a closer look at the Forrester TEI methodology and some key takeaways from the study. Methodology: how Forrester determined Optro's Total Economic Impact(TM). Forrester took a multistep approach to identify Optro's costs, benefits, flexibility, and risks and determine its potential impact on an organization. * Due diligence: Forrester interviewed Optro customers to gather data about its company and platform. * Interviews: Forrester interviewed seven decision makers at five companies that already use Optro's tools. * Composite organization: Based on an aggregate of interview responses, Forrester created a singular composite organization to capture the general characteristics of the interviewees. This composite organization comprised a U.S.-headquartered public enterprise with an annual revenue of $10 billion. The enterprise would use Optro to perform 60 audit projects per year, with over 1,500 control tasks. * Financial model framework: Forrester created two financial models: one reflecting the interview responses using the TEI methodology and one that was adjusted for the potential risks, issues, and concerns raised by the interviewees. Results of the Forrester TEI. Prior to implementing Optro, many of the interviewees had a background of fragmented governance, siloed teams, manual reporting processes, and a lack of visibility. This led to difficulties in cross-functional collaboration and struggles with scaling without adding further administrative burdens and complexities. Benefits found by the Forrester TEI. For the composite organization, Forrester determined several quantified benefits: * A 40% increase in risk management efficiency * Eight hours saved per unique compliance control and 15 hours saved per overlapped compliance control, resulting in over $893,000 saved with compliance efficiency * 2,710 hours saved in audit planning, controls management, and control owner coordination, saving $277,000 over three years * A savings of 3,360 hours from avoided audit review and rework, * A 60% reduction in co-sourcing spending, resulting in more than $716,000 in savings over three years * Twenty hours saved per new hire onboarding, resulting in $17,000 saved over three years Unquantified benefits. Along with the above quantified benefits, Forrester found other benefits of the Optro platform that could not be quantified. Using insights from the customer interviews, the study determined: * Stronger collaboration across functions * Enhanced accountability and governance culture * Reduced administrative burden and cognitive load * Improved standardization and adoption of governance best practices Optro's costs determined by the Forrester TEI. Exact costs varied based on the scope, number of audit projects, and number of control tasks for each organization. For the composite organization, Forrester determined a full platform licensing fee of $350,000 per year. For implementation and ongoing maintenance, Forrester accounted for both internal and external support. The composite organization spent over $277,000 on ongoing management over three years. Summarizing the savings, the August 2026 study found that "a composite organization experiences benefits of $3.1M over three years versus costs of $1.2M, adding up to a net present value (NPV) of $1.9M and an ROI of 157%." What the TEI revealed about Optro's flexibility. Forrester defines flexibility as "the strategic value that can be obtained for some future additional investment building on top of the initial investment already made." Flexibility is inherently unique to each customer as they implement Optro and find additional uses or business opportunities. From the TEI, interviewees noted opportunities to build value by increasing stakeholder self-service and expanding enterprise adoption. "[Interviewees suggested] that as adoption expands beyond traditional audit and compliance users, Optro could increasingly function as a collaborative platform for governance activities across the enterprise. This broader participation would allow organizations to improve visibility, reduce administrative overhead, and strengthen accountability throughout risk and compliance processes." The role of AI and automation was another recurring theme as interviewees "consistently described a future state in which automation would further reduce administrative activities and allow professionals to focus on analysis, judgment, and risk advisory work." What this means for Optro. The Forrester Total Economic Impact(TM) study offers immense insight into its current offerings and a benchmark for its own improvement. "Following implementation, interviewees established a centralized governance environment with standardized workflows, shared data, automated processes, and real-time reporting. As a result, organizations improved efficiency, strengthened cross-functional collaboration, increased visibility into risk and compliance activities, enhanced accountability, standardized governance practices, and created a more scalable foundation for managing audit, risk, and compliance programs as business and regulatory demands continued to grow." As organizations face mounting pressure in audit, risk, and governance, Optro's goal has remained steadfast: proactively manage risk in real-time, uncover critical insights, and make smarter decisions. That's GRC Intelligence at work.

Carbon neutral parish loves its future neighbors. September 24, 2026 On October 25, the Rt. Rev. Julia Whitworth of Massachusetts will visit St. Dunstan's Church in Dover, 25 miles southwest of Boston, to offer a special Eucharist celebrating a milestone. In May, the parish named after a 10th-century Archbishop of Canterbury announced that it had become carbon neutral. "This didn't happen overnight. It reflects years of steady effort and shared commitment across our parish," rector Sean Leonard told parishioners. In April 2016, the vestry passed a resolution to reduce the parish's carbon emissions by 50 percent by 2030, with the goal of becoming carbon neutral by 2050, as part of its signing on to a public commitment to reduce its carbon footprint. A newsletter entry from the diocese that year described the parish as "one of the Episcopal Diocese of Massachusetts' standard-bearers for creation care initiatives," and noted its greater ambition. "The resolution passed by the St. Dunstan's vestry in fact has an even shorter timeline than the Paris Pledge, expressing the intention to be carbon neutral by 2025." Ken Gillingham, a professor at the Yale School of Environment, defines carbon neutrality as meaning net-zero carbon. "This means that any actions that lead to emissions would be accompanied by other actions that confidently reduce - or offset - emissions," he explained on the university's website. Gillingham also clarified the difference between "net zero carbon" and "zero carbon," noting that the latter refers to an entity not emitting any carbon at all, something impossible to do today. Carbon dioxide emissions are the primary driver of global warming and are produced largely by burning fossil fuels, including natural gas. On a smaller scale, houses and buildings emit carbon through day-to-day energy use and waste disposal. According to Leonard, since 2015, St. Dunstan's had reduced its carbon emissions by 70 percent. It went from producing 16 metric tons to just 4.6 metric tons, equivalent to a private vehicle's annual carbon emissions. To close the gap and reach net zero, the church partnered with Terrapass to purchase verified carbon offsets, meaning the parish's purchase supports projects that reduce global carbon emissions. The world and the future citizen as neighbor. In an interview with The Living Church, Leonard expressed his gratitude and glee at the accomplishment and noted that their little congregation - with average Sunday attendance of around 25 - "should be proud and happy" as it serves as an example to the rest of the church. Though few, the parishioners' commitment to reaching their environmental goal will have a significant impact, and not only for the present, he said. The rector also spoke about an expanded concept of the term neighbor that the church embraced as it worked toward carbon neutrality. "[St. Dunstan's] understanding of neighbors [is] that our earth is a neighbor," Leonard told TLC. "And that we should love and care for it by all these things that we do to reduce our carbon footprint." The rector also noted that a neighbor extends beyond the immediate community ("we're loving the neighbor around Living Church and all over the world"). And cognizant that their actions today have an impact on the future, they are also motivated by the idea of loving the future neighbor. "We want to steward and leave our future neighbors a better place or the best place we can," Leonard said. Jim Nail, a former analyst at the research firm Forrester Research, leads the interfaith climate action group Massachusetts Interfaith Power and Light (MassIPL). It was MassIPL that spurred St. Dunstan's to sign on to the Paris Pledge ten years ago. Nail has been part of the church for nearly 30 years, serves at the vestry, and leads the Environmental Stewardship Committee. He was in college when he began learning more about environmental issues and knew then that climate change would be the most significant among all environmental concerns. "This is the big one. If we don't get this right, the rest of them aren't really going to matter," Nail told TLC. "We're already seeing the damage that climate change causes. As Americans, as a wealthy country with a very energy intensive lifestyle, we're responsible for a lot of the suffering that we're seeing - wildfires, floods, and droughts and crop failures." He said that reaching a carbon-neutral state, though a necessary scientific response to what's happening in the environment and potentially financially wise for the parish, is also an act of faith. "The faith-based response is to recognize our responsibility for the suffering that's going on now, and repenting [from] and changing our ways. It's certainly for the future, but you don't have to look very far into the future to see people who are suffering because of climate change." Reports have noted that the most recent summer was the hottest on record in the United States. NOAA reported that summer 2026 was the hottest U.S. summer on record, with an average temperature of 74.4 degrees Fahrenheit across the contiguous United States. A report released by the Climate Impact Lab at the University of Chicago projects that more than 451,000 people may die in the coming months from extreme heat associated with a "Super El Niño.". The report's projection concerns heat-related deaths and does not include deaths from droughts, wildfires or flooding associated with the event. The deaths are projected to be concentrated overwhelmingly in the Global South, but North America is not spared from its effects. California Gov. Gavin Newsom proclaimed a state of emergency on September 21 to bolster statewide preparedness for the season, as the state anticipates strong storms, flooding, and coastal impacts associated with the developing El Niño. Both Leonard and Nail said that St. Dunstan's journey to carbon neutrality began with a single step: installing solar panels. People from the parish got the idea when Nail shared with them during the early 2000s that he and his wife wanted to put solar panels in their homes during a remodeling project. MassIPL helped St. Dunstan's acquire the panels in a cost-effective way. Around 80 percent of the parish's electricity is produced by the panels, and with the support of Leonard and the vestry, additional energy-reduction measures were implemented. These include smart thermostat management, transitioning fully to LED lighting, and upgrading to high-efficiency systems such as a heat-pump water heater. Asked what his recommendation would be for parishes seeking to become carbon neutral, Nial brought it back to the original intention that inspired their stewardship and commitment. "I would say tune into that idea of loving your neighbor, current and future," Nail said. He noted that what usually comes up first in such discussions is the financial requirements, as parishes would want to save on their energy bills while also know the cost of going green. He said that knowing the financial piece alone is not enough. At times, not even the concept of caring for creation itself as it could be perceived as "abstract." "What [is] Jesus telling us to do time and time, again? Care for the sick. Look around and if you see suffering, do something to alleviate it." Nail said that such message could cause people to think that what they're doing for the environment through their parish "isn't just a nice to do." "No, this is responding to the words we hear every Sunday from Jesus." Caleb Maglaya Galaraga is The Living Church's Episcopal Church reporter. His work has also appeared in Christianity Today, Broadview Magazine, and Presbyterian Outlook, among other publications. Top headlines. Every Friday.

83 percent of Singapore consumers trust AI to compare loans, Experian-Forrester study finds. Most Singapore respondents in a new Experian study say they trust artificial intelligence to compare loans across providers, but willingness to let AI act autonomously remains much lower as security and fraud concerns rise. The research, conducted by Forrester Consulting for Experian, found 83 percent of 482 credit-active, digitally literate consumers surveyed in Singapore trust AI to compare loans. The findings come as financial institutions across the region prepare for more agent-led customer journeys. Consumers want help comparing, but retain control. The study found 89 percent of Singapore respondents believe an AI agent could compare more options than they could manually, 87 percent believe an agent could help find better prices or rates, and 85 percent say AI could save time by handling research and purchasing tasks. Another 83 percent said an agent could help them avoid missing details such as hidden fees or contract terms. Comfort falls as AI moves from research into making commitments. Experian said 49 percent of Singapore respondents are comfortable with an AI agent applying for a loan or credit card on their behalf. At the same time, 37 percent said they would grant an AI agent no autonomy when applying for credit, while 36 percent would allow it to act only after receiving their approval. The remaining 27 percent would allow conditional or full autonomy. Manipulation and impersonation remain major concerns. The study found 82 percent of Singapore respondents cite AI agent manipulation through fake offers or impersonation by cybercriminals as a top concern. Experian said this was the highest level recorded for that risk across the 13 markets included in the wider survey. More than three-quarters, or 77 percent, said they would feel more comfortable using AI connected to a financial institution they already trust. Experian said those findings point to a need for stronger identity verification, consent management and fraud controls as AI agents become more involved in financial product discovery and applications. Kabir Khanna, General Manager of Experian Credit Services Singapore, said the opportunity is not simply to make financial services faster, but to establish who an AI agent represents, what the consumer has authorized it to do and whether the interaction can be trusted. Singapore results sit within a wider regional study. Experian commissioned Forrester Consulting in July 2026 to survey 6,247 credit-active, digitally literate consumers across 13 EMEA and Asia Pacific markets, including 482 respondents in Singapore. The Singapore sample represented a mix of generations and employment groups and was limited to respondents with recent experience using digital financial services. That means the findings should not be read as representative of every Singapore resident. The broader study found consumers are increasingly comfortable using AI to research and compare financial products, but continue to place limits on how far an agent should be allowed to act without explicit approval. For banks and fintech companies, that creates a dual requirement: make AI useful enough to reduce search and decision friction, while adding enough identity, authorization and fraud controls to keep users confident as software agents take on more of the financial journey.