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Intelligence without action is meaningless

By Bill Hoggarth
Johannesburg, 20 Apr 2004

Today, groundbreaking analytics are available to enterprises to unearth previously hidden business intelligence (BI). If this intelligence is not used as a basis for action, however, it remains meaningless.

"Any enterprise BI strategy must address the actions to be taken, and processes to be put in place, on the basis of the discovered intelligence," said Bill Hoggarth, managing director of SAS SA, leaders in business intelligence. He was speaking at the launch of SAS 9, an enterprise-wide business intelligence platform and the US-based company's most significant release in its 28-year history.

Hoggarth cited the example of a Europe mobile telecommunications company which made excellent use of BI software and was able to predict, with almost 100% accuracy, which customers would churn. Its marketing department, however, was useless. It was unable to do anything with this information, and churn rates remained unchanged.

"Intelligence must be used as the basis for appropriate actions if it is to be leveraged as an enterprise asset," said Hoggarth. "There is little or no return on an intelligence technology investment without action."

One example of this is the way SAS customers throughout the world are using preventative maintenance processes to fix valuable equipment before it breaks down. The SAS software analyses the point at which equipment has failed in the past. The characteristics of that piece of equipment in the hours or weeks leading up to the fault are thus identified. With this information, processes are put in place to ensure that equipment is fixed before it actually breaks down, thus saving costs and increasing efficiency.

Another example of appropriate, timely action being taken on the basis of intelligence is its use to predict insurance policy lapses. Insurance companies can analyse policy history, using the results to spot patterns or trends that identify the individuals most likely to lapse.

This information can then be built into policy acceptance procedures. If an individual shows a propensity to lapse, appropriate action can be taken, such as refusing the policy, deferring payment to brokers, or loading premiums. In this way, many insurance companies have significantly lowered the cost of lapse rates.

For appropriate action to be taken, or relevant processes put in place, BI has to be available to all relevant users and decision-makers throughout the enterprise, in the way that they require it.

SAS 9 addresses this need by introducing scalability and usability on a previously unknown scale. It is faster, more efficient and easier to use than its predecessors. Its user-friendly foundation extends the reach of intelligence into any organisational level so that more people - from the factory floor to the boardroom - can use predictive analytics and manage data.

"Users need to have interfaces that talk specifically to them," says Hoggarth. "Different consumers have different needs."

SAS 9 therefore features different interfaces throughout the enterprise, bringing productivity into different areas of the organisation. These interfaces all reflect best practices as well as global standards, and are consistent. Users know that the data and intelligence being accessed is appropriate and controlled, and can use it productively.

"Intelligence should not be the sole domain of the CEO, or the order processing clerk," says Hoggarth. "The requirement for intelligence permeates the entire organisation, thus the huge emphasis on usability in SAS 9."

According to Guy Creese, research director of the Aberdeen Group, enterprises have realised that users need personalised interfaces. According to Creese, SAS has recognised this and positioned itself as the enterprise intelligence provider, with more people able to act on the intelligence.

During development of SAS 9, particular emphasis was placed on interfaces, and much field testing was done. People were brought in to 'play' with the interfaces, their reactions tested, and the results fed back into development.

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SAS

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(R).

Editorial contacts

Cathy Lapping
Citigate ICT PR
(011) 804 4900
Michelle Chettoa
SAS Institute
(011) 713 3400