SAS launches new division

In a bid to place increased emphasis on its public sector business, SAS Institute South Africa has formalised the establishment of a dedicated public sector business unit, and has appointed Desan Naidoo at the helm of the division.

With growing interest from the public sector for business intelligence solutions, the goal of the division is to provide a specialist function for government departments that understands their needs, and is able to tailor the SAS solutions to their exact requirements.

"The public sector is a critical component of the global SAS model, but it is a part of our business that requires a different type of attention, as the demands made by governments are not the same than those of our commercial and private sector customers," says Riad Gydien, country manager at SAS Institute, South Africa. "I believe the formation of this unit, and the appointment of Desan will assist us in better servicing the government sector, and significantly bolster our capabilities in this area."

Naidoo joins the SAS team as general manager public sector division, from his previous position as sales director of Novell South Africa, where he had extensive experience dealing with government departments as well as many of the countries top blue chip companies. He was recently awarded "Director of the year" for 2008 at Novell, and worked his way up through the ranks in the company, fulfilling both senior technical and sales roles.

Prior to his almost ten year tenure at Novell, Naidoo held various positions at energy utility Eskom, again working his way up into a position as a senior analyst. He brings with him strong leadership, people and management skills, and a keen understanding of government business.

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"SAS is a dynamic company with a very strong technical and business value proposition for customers," states Naidoo. "From my experience in government, I believe that business intelligence tools can provide public sector departments with the differentiator between providing good services, and being able to provide great services."

Naidoo will report directly to country manager Riad Gydien. The new division will be based in dedicated public sector offices in Pretoria, strategically based in the hub of the head offices of many of the major government departments.

"Our first goal within the new division, will be to ensure that we connect with our existing government clients, and SAS partners that service these clients, and ensure that all of their needs are being met. While at the same time demonstrating to them the new value proposition that the SAS public sector business unit will provide them. After which we will start aggressively identifying new business opportunities within the sector," adds Naidoo.

SAS currently provides business intelligence tools to a number of local and international government agencies, offering them solutions to unlock better value from the reams of data they currently have on each of their citizens. Government solutions from SAS include Identity Validation, Fraud Detection and Minimisation, Audit and Compliance, Budgeting for Performance, Performance Management and many more, including a number of tools to assist governments in achieving their vision of becoming e-government centric businesses.