SAS, the leader in business intelligence software and services, has announced that as part of its plans for global expansion and its regional alignment strategy, it has extended the responsibilities of SA country manager Bill Hoggarth to include directly overseeing the Africa and Middle East region with immediate effect.
The decision to extend Hoggarth's responsibilities to include the entire African and Middle Eastern region was made by CEO Jim Goodnight and Mikael Hagstr"om (newly appointed executive vice-president of SAS EMEA and Asia Pacific Operations).
The announcement comes at a time when the company is enhancing its global operations and aiming to better service customers and partners, through stronger regional leadership and global communities of excellence.
SAS's globalisation strategy also comes on the back of the company's drive around a number of large, existing global enterprise customer and alliance engagements, and as more and more of its clients begin adopting enterprise intelligence as part of their business strategies.
Says Hoggarth: "We are entering a phase of our business growth that is going to be challenging, exciting and highly rewarding for SAS and our customers. The demand for our software and services has never been greater. It is important to build appropriate infrastructure to support the growth in Africa and the Middle East and we will be using this expansion as an opportunity to accelerate our transformation imperatives."
Hoggarth has been in the position of managing director of SAS South Africa since 2000, since when SAS's business in South Africa has expanded at a rate of over 30% CAGR. The region now contributes close to 4% of SAS worldwide revenue, and employs 150 full-time staff. Hoggarth will remain based at the South African operation, and sees the potential to create a $100 million business stream over the next three years.
"SAS has had a global presence for more than 25 years but the importance of worldwide integration has never been greater," states Jim Goodnight, CEO of SAS Institute.
"We are driving large global enterprise deals as companies begin to adopt enterprise intelligence platforms for business decision-making. Both direct and indirect channels are increasingly becoming important as SAS continues to expand its footprint in the software market. Bill has my full confidence in bringing our African operations forward," Goodnight says.
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