New SAS platform for BI

Today's slow growth economy, coupled with regulatory changes, is forcing companies to improve the timeliness and value - not merely the volume - of the data processed by its IT systems.

At the same time, the lack of clear return on investment (ROI) from previous IT investments has reduced spending on business intelligence tools and related technologies.

As a result, companies which recognise the imperative for an enterprise-wide business intelligence strategy are more thoroughly researching the plethora of offerings in the marketplace before spending money on BI.

"Customers will increasingly demand justification for business analytics software purchases in terms of ROI, proof-of-concept as well as reference accounts within the same industry," says Bill Hoggarth, managing director of SAS Institute SA. "They should continue to scrutinise all investments, spending more time analysing not only the technologies but also the organisation, vision and financials of the vendors."

In a move aimed at fulfilling the new requirements for BI investments, SAS Institute, leaders in BI, is set to announce (30 March 2004) a new version of its leading BI platform, SAS 9.

"Not only is the new version technologically superior, but it is offered by a company that bears close scrutiny," says Hoggarth. "Our customers often choose us not only because of the leading technology we offer, but because they know we make a good strategic business intelligence partner. Our relationships with customers usually go far beyond a customer-vendor relationship: we are increasingly involved in their key strategic planning."

SAS is also in a position to offer prospective customers accurate ROI calculations. Because of its leading global status, it has referencable customers using its software in innovative ways all over the world.

Hoggarth believes SAS 9 represents a major technology breakthrough. "It is a revolutionary new architecture for SAS," he explains. "It features a true multi-tier architecture. That means leveraging the power of multi-threaded servers that exploit the latest hardware developments and support hundreds of concurrent users with a number of user-friendly client tools. These include a brand new query and reporting infrastructure and new central metadata administration which are directly tailored to the needs of distinct types of users.

"We believe that our new offering exceeds current demands and will meet future demands on any enterprise business intelligence system."

According to Hoggarth, the new solution delivers unprecedented performance, openness and simplicity that give more people access to the power of SAS.

"It provides the ability to manage a company's business with confidence, by enabling it to target the most profitable customers, predict customer churn, optimise the supply chain, reduce risk and maximise potential," he says.

SAS 9 provides a transparent view of the company, enabling decision-makers to lead with confidence. It provides:

* Data integration products that simplify and speed data movement and sharing with superior quality;
* Enterprise-wide query and reporting capabilities for geographically dispersed users at all skill levels; and
* The widest available portfolio of analytics that can be applied to a large number of business problems, enabling confident decision-making.