Silico FAQs

How will process simulation integrate with ERP and existing systems while keeping the data live in the Digital Twin?

Silico is a member of several partner programs, including ERP vendors such as SAP. Silico facilitates manual and automated data integrations, allowing users to upload the latest data files or create live data integrations with their ERP and other systems. This ensures that the Digital Twin uses the most recent data sources for its simulations.

Have you found any particular sectors that deliver consistently strong yields through the application of process simulation?

We are working with customers in a wide range of industries and sectors, including, for example, telecommunications, financial services, and BPO companies for healthcare providers - all of which derive significant value from Process Simulation. If you have a process that requires experimentation with complex decisions to improve customer, financial, or risk outcomes, Process Simulation can generate significant value.

How does Silico process simulation ensure it uses data that creates a Digital twin which replicates a real business that can monitor and predict?

That's right, one of the key features of having a Digital Twin with simulation capabilities is using the most recent information for forward-looking analysis. To facilitate this, Silico has data integration features enabling us to extract data points from, for example, ERP systems and use them for the simulations in our Digital Twins. This enables, for example, monitoring in real-time and proactively preventing future problems before they impact the business.

What's a typical timeline from starting out to getting an accurate Digital Twin through process simulation?

The exact timeline depends on the specifics and complexities of the project and process the Digital Twin represents. However, we generally aim to get customers to value, including a working and valid Digital Twin, within four weeks.

Can Silico monitor the processes to validate the changes and/or set up the "next state what if"?

Silico allows you to model any number of process variations to your as-is processes and test over unlimited parameter changes. Users can utilise our dashboards to run forward-looking scenarios and quantify the impact of changes. This allows the iterative testing of improvement ideas with the impact of previous ones already incorporated before their implementation without a delay for additional data collection. Real-time data can also be connected to monitor process health.

What KPIs/objects can I connect process simulation to?

Typical process-focused KPIs include lead time, backlog/queue sizes, and FTE requirements. Depending on the process, lots of our customers have also connected more business-focussed KPIs to their processes, including financial outcomes, customer satisfaction (e.g. NPS scores) and ESG metrics.

Is your process simulation based on one system for the end-to-end process? Or are there parts of the process in different systems?

No, our simulations are not restricted to one system type. Silico can use data from multiple sources, spanning different systems. Data from many systems can be combined and represented in a single Digital Twin.

How different is process simulation when compared with process mining/task mining?

Process (and task) mining and process simulation are two different software categories. However, they work incredibly well together. Mining uses your system's event log to discover and analyse your processes retrospectively. Process simulation can use the outputs of mining, like its process graph and data points, to develop a forward-looking Digital Twin of your process. Mining provides transparency about what has happened; simulation allows you to experiment with what will happen to identify the impact of your decisions.

Is Silico a SaaS vendor, and is it available as a locally deployed solution?

Yes, Silico is a cloud-first vendor and was built natively to work in Google Cloud, but is also available in all of the other major cloud providers, including Azure and AWS. Upon delivery, our customers are set up with their own private cloud instance that uses a unique URL and enables value-added security features such as single sign-on.

This enables the high levels of security that our corporate customers require and ensures that we can monitor performance and always seamlessly upgrade the software to the latest version.

Can I integrate data directly from my CRM or ERP system (e.g. SAP) into a Silico model?

Yes, Silico has extensive data integration experience with various technology partners. We are a member of several partner programs, including ERP vendors such as SAP. A key part of the Silico Enterprise software license is our data integration services, with a pre-agreed number of data connectors included in the annual fee.

How is Silico’s software managed?

Silico is typically deployed as a single-tenant managed SaaS application for both pilot and production. Silico also hosts a shared, multi-tenant managed service for use by individuals and smaller organisations. In all deployment models, data is always encrypted both at rest and in transit. In managed service offerings, all services and databases are run in highly available configurations.

What is Silico’s Support Model?

All product and technical support are provided as part of the annual software license. Silico runs a multi-tiered approach which includes a dedicated Customer Success Manager available for product training, classroom training, model-building advice, and data integration advice.

In addition, technical support for any product issues or enhancement requests is handled by our Technical Support team via the Support Portal.

Does Silico integrate with OKTA?

Yes, Silico can integrate with a range of SSO protocols, including OKTA.

What level of expertise is required to use Silico?

Silico is an easy-to-use, no-code, drag-and-drop interface that can be used with no previous expertise or professional qualifications. We also run a comprehensive training programme with all enterprise customers.

Our visual methodology is intuitive, making Silico models highly interpretable and easy to understand by non-expert users or senior decision-makers with no direct product expertise.

How is Silico different to Process Mapping?

Process mapping generally uses a visual interface to document the relationship between process steps without quantifying the relationship. It provides you with an overview of your processes.

Silico uses a mathematical simulation framework to not only document the relationships between process steps but also to develop a Digital Twinof your processes that calculates its future state. Silico can rapidly develop Digital Twins of your processes by leveraging your existing process maps and automatically uploading them into our software to create a Digital Twin. In doing this, Silico moves beyond simple process mapping to process simulation, giving companies a forward-looking view of processes, linking the processes to financial outcomes, and enabling our customers to test decisions in Silico before making them in the real world.

How is Silico different to SAP?

Silico takes a foundational approach to Digital Twins, creating a causal relationship map of your organisation that is underpinned with a mathematical simulation framework. This means that Silico simulates the underlying drivers of performance rather than extrapolating trends from historical data.

Simulation capabilities in other tools, such as SAP, are useful if your future business is expected to continue behaviour broadly similar to the past. If your business environment is changing or you are undergoing transformation projects, Silico provides a window into the future by simulating those underlying changes over time.

What if I don’t have good enough data to run my simulation?

Silico can use a mix of data, human expertise and assumptions to build its models, which means that we can work with incomplete data sets or data from many different sources. Silico simulation models can even be built with no data at all.

Silico is platform agnostic, meaning that data from disparate solutions across the organisation can be included in a single simulation when available, and mixed with qualitative information when data is unavailable.

How do we test and validate our models?

Silico can use out-of-sample and historical data to backtest Digital Twins and establish how accurately and confidently they represent your business processes. Whilst no technology can predict the future with certainty, Silico helps senior decision-makers build more resilient organisations by exploring various scenarios and decisions, all at pace, ensuring they react quickly to changing conditions and make optimal decisions for their processes.

Do you hold any cyber security certifications such as ISO27001 or SOC2?

We are ISO 27001:2022 Certified and in progress on SOC 2 Type 2 Certification.

Is Silico based on System Dynamics?

Silico is building a Business Process Simulation platform. While the core of our simulation engine is based on System Dynamics, we are integrating additional features not traditionally used in System Dynamics to represent business processes and enable our users to optimise their processes.

Assuming this is a SAAS-based solution, can you elaborate on the backend infrastructure and where the solution is hosted (e.g. Azure in EU, or AWS in US)?

Our default hosting is GCP in London. Enterprise deployments are isolated single-tenants managed by Silico and can be located in a region and cloud provider (GCP, AWS or Azure) of the customer's choice.

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Our vision is that one day every business will have the opportunity to make their decisions in Silico and harness the power of AI to optimise outcomes.

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