Contemplate Ltd had serious plans to target investment banks with their cutting-edge product, improving their clients' service, capability and reputation. However, what Contemplate needed was a platform to access that market and drive through their ambition for rapid growth. Scottish Enterprise and Scottish Development International provided that catalyst.
Contemplate Ltd provides leading edge software technology that helps companies identify and avoid expensive, high profile and hugely embarrassing software failures. Testing of Contemplate's cutting edge product, ThreadSafe, which automatically pinpoints software defects in large applications, has proven the effectiveness of their academic research. Large organisations and their customers value accuracy of information within transactions, availability of service, security and ongoing system performance. Threadsafe addresses these issues and helps to resolve them.
Contemplate had an existing relationship with Scottish Enterprise through their £4.3m Software Engineering research and development programme to license highly sophisticated static analysis technology. Their intention was to use this intellectual property to develop a product, targeted initially at investment banks, which would allow software developers to highlight problems during the development process and in doing so improve their key business critical applications.
For this first product development to be a success, Contemplate needed to consider and choose the most commercially viable route to follow.
Richard Beattie, from the Scottish Enterprise High Growth Start Up team quickly recognised Contemplate's potential and the company moved quickly into account management.
A SMART: SCOTLAND Feasibility grant allowed Contemplate to explore potential areas of development. They engaged with a number of clients and used those opportunities to further develop the technology and refine their offering.
Next came a SMART: SCOTLAND Research and Development grant supporting further research based upon market trends highlighted in the feasibility study. This enabled fine tuning such as the introduction of support alongside the detection of software "bugs" in multi-core IT environments, prior to market launch.
Derick James, Director of Contemplate commented, "This support was pivotal in the commercialisation of Contemplate's product offering, enabling us to reach this stage in our evolution much faster than we would have done on our own. The process itself was also helpful as the process of applying for grant funding solidified and structured the thinking behind our business planning."
Beyond the immediate advantages of day-to-day advice and input from their account manager, Contemplate also benefitted from attending a number of seminars, meetings and business events either run or supported by Scottish Enterprise.
Derick James continues, "Richard Beattie's business experience and ability to offer a sense check has been of great value on an on-going basis."
As global opportunities for Contemplate emerged, Scottish Development International provided support. An International Strategy Workshop helped Contemplate plan an effective approach in a new market and attract the attention of an international audience. With goals set, short and mid-term planning could be implemented, research requirements defined, and event attendance identified.
Funding for travel supported a key New York visit. Scottish Development International and GlobalScot provided contacts within investment banks in New York that would otherwise have been outside Contemplate's radar at this stage of their development.
Because of the combination of advice, introductions and financial support, Contemplate not only benefitted from exposure to further contacts, but also received valuable feedback on their product offering and gained an insight into market operations. This support has helped Contemplate to build a growth platform, where product feasibility is established, and a clear market identified. Scottish Enterprise and Scottish Development International have supported Contemplate to maximise the pace at which their growth ambitions can be realised.
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