Impact case study database

Simulation and optimisation can significantly improve the competitive position of companies and public sector organisations by reducing their costs as a result of more efficient development, production, procurement, logistics or financial processes. However, the take up of simulation / optimisation software by SMEs and the public sector has been low due to barriers of entry such as hardware prices, licensing costs and required technical expertise. With Prof Kiss and his team leading the research and technical development efforts, CSSP/CFGP, combined with MiCADO, proved efficient to overcome these barriers and has since generated significant economic impact and further efficiency gains for a large number of organisations in Europe.

Impact on SME clients:

By April 2020, 86 SMEs from over 20 European countries – manufacturing, engineering and technology companies that participated in the CloudSME, COLA and CloudiFacturing projects as beneficiaries or as Third Parties – reported the following estimated economic impact as a direct result of applying either CSSP or CFGP, in tandem with the MiCADO secure autoscaling framework: a cumulative yearly turnover increase of over 100 million Euros, the development of over 550 new / enhanced products or services, contribution to the creation of 650 new jobs, and the establishment of 1,100 new business/commercial partners or customers. This economic impact occurred between 2015 and 2020.

These figures are evidenced in the official project reports/deliverables of the CloudSME, COLA, and CloudiFacturing projects that were provided by executives of the participating companies and approved by the European Commission [a, b, c, d]. This approval affirms the credibility and accuracy of the forecasted economic growth by these 86 companies, as attributable to the CPC’s research across these three projects. Figures 1, 2 and 3, on pages 4 and 5 below, summarise the above detailed numbers.

Figure 1 summarises the impact of CSSP on 24 companies within the CloudSME project. Figure 2 provides details of the economic impact of utilising MiCADO with the CSSP by 10 companies within COLA. Figure 3 encompasses the impact of the CFGP on 52 companies that were supported in three waves during the CloudiFacturing project (please note that due to the very large number of companies, only cumulative figures are shown here, details are available in [c,d]).

Additionally, these companies reported improved business processes, improved business practices, reduction in time to market, and improved customer satisfaction. Two online videos made by Hobsons Brewery [e], a UK-based craft-brewer, and Podoactiva [f], a Spanish manufacturer of tailored foot insoles, provide narrative accounts detailing these impacts.

Beyond the directly reported figures, it is also important to note that significant economic impact has been generated for the clients of the directly supported / involved companies, across a wide range of sectors. For instance, the Managing Director of Saker Solutions, which provides “ a range of 3D simulation and modelling services” to clients within industrial and commercial sectors and is one of the 86 SMEs mentioned above, states the company itself benefitted from “ an increase in turnover of at least £200k pa since 2014 which has allowed us to employ additional staff” and also estimates that “over the last 7 years we have generated some £2 to £3 million of benefit” for their clients: “Primarily this benefit would be in the Nuclear sector but savings will have also been generated within Manufacturing, Defence and Retail” [g]. He concludes that: “ Overall, Prof Kiss has had a major impact on our company” [g].

Impact on CloudSME UG; the commercial service provider:

CSSP/CFGP is primarily marketed and provided by CloudSME UG, a for-profit start-up company that also offers related expertise and consultancy to clients. Established in January 2016, the company’s profits have substantially grown through its continued collaboration with the Westminster researchers, as the Managing Partner confirms: “the product and service portfolio offered by CloudSME UG is based and heavily relying on novel and innovative technologies that were invented, designed and implemented by Prof. Kiss and the Centre for Parallel Computing research team” [h]. The technological and research contribution of the CPC in the creation of CSSP was also acknowledged via the appointment of Kiss as the Chair of the Scientific Advisory Board of the company. In this unpaid role, Kiss acts as their main scientific and technology consultant and helps to define their current and future direction. The company made steady growth on the market between 2016 and 2020 by securing and successfully delivering its commercial contracts. As a result of utilising the CSSP, CloudSME reported 222,701 Euros turnover in 2019, with 39,823 Euros annual profit [h].

As CloudSME’s CEO states, since July 2019, “ the product portfolio of my company [CloudSME] has been further extended and we are now offering fully managed professional cloud-based services utilising MiCADO” [h]. As part of this activity German Data Center HKN, their business partner, is offering fully managed enterprise data clusters based on MiCADO. CloudSME expects an additional contribution of 387,030 Euros to its turnover by the end of 2020 as a direct result of commercialising MiCADO, as evidenced in document [i].

Impact on Government and Charity Sectors:

Within the COLA project public sector organisations, namely the Aragon Local Government (ALG) in Spain and [text removed for publication], a charity organisation funded by the UK Arts Council, have also benefitted from the CSSP coupled with MiCADO [b]. These organisations run data intensive web applications for which resources are managed and optimised by MiCADO.

Applications offered by ALG via its public company SARGA – which “ acts as manager of all public infrastructures and services related to agriculture and environment” – utilise the CSSP and MiCADO, and the technical solutions provided by the CPC team “ *have improved the recommendation engines of the Aragón Government in order to provide better services to the people of Aragón and to result in higher general satisfaction within the people of the region” [j]. SARGA and ALG representatives specify that: “ Based on the technical solution invented and developed by Prof Kiss and his team, the operational organization of our IT infrastructure have improved significantly” such that *“we have achieved more efficient processes related to software development and public services delivery” [j].

By July 2019, [text removed for publication] had achieved an estimated increase of 100 (10%) new business partners/customers, 212K Euros (7.5%) increase in turnover, 20% more efficient business processes, 3% increase in employment, 50% reduction in time to market, 10% increase in customer satisfaction, and 4 (15%) new service offerings as a result of applying MiCADO [b]. The company’s planned exploitation of CSSP and MICADO is expected to have increased, by Jan 2022, to 200 (20%) new business partners/customers, 1.35 million Euros (15%) increase in turnover, 30% more efficient business processes, 6% increase in employment, 50% reduction in time to market, 30% increase in customer satisfaction, and 8 (30%) new service offerings, as a result of applying CSSP and MiCADO [b].

Figure 1 - Reported impact figures by 24 companies in CloudSME on 31/03/2016

Figure 2 - Reported impact figures by 14 partners (10 companies) in COLA on 31/08/2018

Figure 3 - Reported cumulative impact figures by 52 companies in CloudiFacturing on 31/03/2019