SAS, the leader in business intelligence, and its data management technology provider and subsidiary DataFlux, now offer the best data quality software on the market.
This is according to an annual independent survey conducted by the Gantry Group between May and July 2003. Survey participants were invited to rank companies for product excellence, quality and overall value to the enterprise in a number of categories.
Apart from data quality, SAS was also ranked high in business intelligence, analytics, data administration and data stores, and data integration.
Participants were asked to select products being used in their organisations and then rate the companies that produce the selected products. The top companies were identified based on those ratings.
Annemarie Cronje, solution architect at SAS Institute SA, says the SAS data quality solution improves the quality of information in an enterprise data warehouse, thereby enhancing critical business decisions around resource allocations, price changes, marketing campaigns and daily operations that are based on that information.
"The SAS solution incorporates a user benefit called ETL (extraction, transformation and loading) which is the process of exponentially enhancing the power of ETL with data quality," she explains.
Since its acquisition of DataFlux in 2000, SAS has pioneered the concept of merging data integration and data quality to increase consistency, accuracy and reliability of enterprise data assets.
Cronje says SAS has the ability to provide quality products that effectively meet enterprise needs.
"Selected companies have developed strategic and tactical solutions that provide true value in today's business environment, and demonstrate a strong commitment to customer satisfaction. SAS recognised early on how critical data quality is in helping executives trust the data they are using to make business decisions and lead with confidence," she adds.
"The SAS Data Quality Solution recognises that data stewards, responsible for data quality, are typically not IT specialists, but rather business experts in the utilisation of data. The SAS Data Quality interfaces are thus intuitive and focused towards the business end-user. The data steward decides what needs to be done and according to which standards. His/her plans are then imbedded in the ETL process via the IT specialist. This differentiation of responsibility leads to faster, more appropriate data quality improvement.
"SAS is unique in that it offers the industry's first fully integrated solution - one that unites data quality and the ETL process, thereby transforming cleansed and integrated data into strategic intelligence. Being recognised as the top data quality company is testimony to how much our customers appreciate our data quality offering and also how well the industry recognises the value of data quality," she says.
Studies have shown how the effects of poor data quality adversely impact businesses, which is why data quality is a critical component for any company's business intelligence infrastructure.
"Better data provides a solid information asset that can help companies identify and reduce inefficiencies, create tighter customer relationships and respond immediately to changing market conditions," Cronje concludes.
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SAS is the market leader in providing a new generation of business intelligence software and services that create true enterprise intelligence. SAS solutions are used at more than 40 000 sites - including 96 of the top 100 of the 2003 Fortune Global 500 - to develop more profitable relationships with customers and suppliers; to enable better, more accurate and informed decisions; and to drive organisations forward. SAS is the only vendor that completely integrates leading data warehousing, analytics and traditional BI applications to create intelligence from massive amounts of data. For nearly three decades, SAS has been giving customers around the world The Power to Know.