FAQ

What Is the ROI of AI-Assisted Software Development?

AI Economics

Key Takeaways
  • Forrester's Total Economic Impact (TEI) methodology measures ROI by comparing the total cost of an initiative against the quantified benefits over a defined period.
  • Traditional ROI models assume linear cost scaling: 10 products cost roughly 10x one product.

The audited ROI of AI-assisted development under Stealth Labz's Compounding Execution Model is 23.1x to 84.1x, measured against a $34,473 direct support investment that produced $795K-$2.9M in market replacement value across 10 production systems in 116 calendar days.

How ROI Is Calculated

Forrester's Total Economic Impact (TEI) methodology measures ROI by comparing the total cost of an initiative against the quantified benefits over a defined period. The standard benchmark for enterprise software investments is 3x-5x ROI over three years. AI-assisted development under CEM delivered 23.1x-84.1x ROI in under four months -- exceeding Forrester's typical enterprise benchmark by 5x-17x in a fraction of the time.

The investment basis is $34,473 in direct external sweep support (contractor costs for targeted problem-solving sprints). The return is benchmarked against what a mid-market US firm would charge to rebuild the same portfolio: $795K-$2.9M based on industry rate cards for the equivalent scope (operations platform, insurance cluster, e-commerce, quoting engines, reporting, and legal services platforms).

Where the ROI Compounds

The return is not a one-time event. It compounds through three mechanisms:

Cost displacement: $82,640 in annual SaaS subscriptions and contractor fees were permanently eliminated when 6 vendor platforms were replaced by owned infrastructure. That is recurring savings every year.

Build cost compression: External support costs fell from $7,995 per project to $0 by the ninth system. Monthly operating burn dropped from $8,367 to $825 -- a 90% reduction. Each new product added replacement value with near-zero marginal cost.

Quality retention under acceleration: The portfolio maintained a 12.1% product defect rate against an industry norm of 20-50%, even as velocity increased 4.6x. Cheaper and faster did not mean lower quality -- it meant the operator stopped paying to rebuild the same infrastructure from scratch each time.

What This Means for Decision-Makers

Traditional ROI models assume linear cost scaling: 10 products cost roughly 10x one product. CEM breaks that assumption. With 95%+ template reuse at maturity, the actual cost ratio is closer to 3x for 10 products. The ROI on the second through tenth systems is effectively infinite relative to their marginal build cost.

For operators evaluating whether AI-assisted development is worth the investment: the data shows returns that exceed standard enterprise benchmarks by an order of magnitude, with the additional advantage of 100% equity retention and zero vendor dependency.

Related: [FAQ #67 — Cost of Custom Software With AI]

References

  1. Forrester Research. "Total Economic Impact (TEI) ROI Benchmarks." Technology investment return methodology.
  2. Keating, M.G. (2026). "Case Study: The Cost Inversion." Stealth Labz. Read case study