Organizations increase reliance on advanced analytics, looking to SAS to meet that need

CARY, NC . – Voting with their IT budgets, organizations choose SAS Analytics far more often than any other analytics supplier. And even as technology budgets tighten in current tough economic conditions, business leaders are increasing their investment in analytics to remain competitive and position themselves for an eventual turnaround.

Query and reporting tools were once considered enough to answer basic business questions such as “What happened?” or “What is happening?” The more useful answers are from advanced analytics which answer questions such as “What will happen?” or “What’s the best that could happen?”

“Basic query and reporting is necessary, but insufficient. Advanced analytics are required for continuous learning and improvement, leading to real insight and sustained competitive advantage in a tumultuous economic environment,” said Jim Davis, SAS Senior Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer.

A new report, IDC’s Worldwide Business Intelligence Tools 2008 Vendor Shares1 , validates the growth of advanced analytics and SAS leadership. The research says SAS is the “overwhelming leader in advanced analytics" with a 33 percent market share, more than twice the sales of the next closest supplier and more than the next 16 vendors on the list combined.

“For the last three years in the BI tools market, the advanced analytics segment grew faster than the query, reporting and analysis segment,” said Dan Vesset, IDC Program Vice President for Business Analytics Research and co-author of the report. “We believe that this trend will continue even as economic conditions remain a challenge.”

IDC also notes that SAS was No. 2 in the overall Business Intelligence tools market and among the top five suppliers of query, reporting and analysis tools segment.

SAS offers targeted business solutions that help uncover insights that are often hidden in data. This information can then assist organizations solve complex business problems, reach difficult decisions, manage for performance, achieve measurable business objectives, drive sustainable growth through innovation, and anticipate and manage change.

“Global businesses, non-profits, government agencies and universities use SAS to deal with diverse issues, a wider range of regulations and tough economic conditions. There has never been a greater need for proactive, evidence-based decisions and agile strategies. The value and sustained demand for our technologies and solutions is clearly validated by IDC’s research,” said Davis of SAS.