I've done a few FileMaker -> Servoy conversions - and my overall finding is: LESS time overall - by 25%-50%.
Data Entry Forms: About the same to slightly faster (assuming you make your own style).
Reports: Sort of all over the place - depending if you stick with the "conventional FMP-way" of doing it - or whether you convert to SQL Queries and HTML (50% of my reports are straight HTML using CSS to control the look/feel).
The REAL benefit/timesaver is "coding." You can do a single elements.button.enabled = false and save yourself 1 relationship, 1 calc, 2 graphics and a global repeating container! Not only that - but because of all the event handling - you can create applications that function BETTER, or more smoothly, at least. Hiding/showing/coloring things based on dynamic conditions, using a single "google-type" search field across the solution, having your own controller form, having "real" dialogs and the ability to open forms as dialogs, etc. All the stuff that makes an application an application.
Performance increases on searches - basically zip. Performance increases in sorting, aggregating, and sub-summarizing - UNBELIEVABLE. A single report with 6 calculated columns, sub-summarized based on a calculated field ( Case(acct=2001, "General", acct=2002, "Studio", etc., etc) - over 240,000 records took 54 minutes in FileMaker, and 2 minutes with Servoy/Sybase.
The users - LOVED the Servoy application - because I'm ususally able to do things that really help their productivity (i.e. "when I hit return, can it just do the search?"). Also, for the first version - I try to stick close to the FMP design (where it makes sense) and not change the UI 100%.
Version management is HEAVEN. I can roll out a new rev on a server remotely - and then call up the "inside" team - they load up the new (not activated) build using Developer - and they can do internal testing against the new build while the clients are connected to the current build! I've also worked with customer who (as most of the world does with anything SQL) - set up a staging server with "bogus" data, and they have an install of Servoy Server on that machine as well. This lets me do two things:
1) Connect to that server during development;
2) Deploy a "test" build there and have LOTS of people test it.
Once it's been "OK'd" on the test server - I simply import the solution on to the live server (takes about 30 seconds), and activate the release (again, about 15-30 seconds). Done. This is versus the way I did things with the FileMaker maintenance program - which was 8:00pm - 7:00am or over the weekend (so I didn't have to "kick users out")... etc, etc. We've all been there.
One more thing I should mention - a customer moved from using MS SQL to Sybase - and after the data was moved over (by their IT department) - it took exactly 5 minutes to "migrate" the Servoy solution and get everyone back up using the solution. Try doing THAT in ANYTHING else.
Bob Cusick