Our 2013 revenue announcement went out yesterday: SAS surged past the $3 billion milepost, marking 38 straight years of record revenue.

What a way to wrap up 2013! This, on the heels of last week’s news that we’re #2 on Fortune’s annual “Best Places to Work in the US” list. As a bonus, NBC’s Today Show did a nice feature.

No company breaks such news and gets such attention without doing some things really well. In honor of SAS exceeding the three-billion-dollar mark, I’ll highlight three of them:

SAS^® solutions get the job done. Seriously, y’all, no business problem is too hard for SAS. Check out what these customers do with our stuff:

• Shoe retailer DSW makes sure stores have the right styles and sizes in stock. Doing so delights customers – and boosts profits.
• While global banking giant HSBC keeps you happy by keeping fraudsters out of your wallet, it’s also lowering operating costs.
• Shell, through smarter maintenance, extends the life of its equipment for oil and gas exploration. That means millions of dollars in increased production.

The list of customers doing cool things with SAS goes on and on. Peruse our stash of success stories to learn more.

Customers are satisfied with our software and like working with us. People vote with their feet. If a vendor doesn’t deliver, customers go elsewhere. Almost all of our customers renew their licenses each year. Of North American customers we surveyed last year, 93% said they’re satisfied with our software.

We’re driven to keep customer satisfaction high and other metrics moving up and to the right. We reinvest about 25% of revenue each year into research and development so our products are first rate. We do regular product and satisfaction surveys because we really want to know what customers think and want.

This mindset starts with CEO Jim Goodnight and permeates the place.

SAS employees go the extra mile. I’ve never experienced a work environment where so many bring their best selves to work. The people around me work diligently to their own high standards. Much has been said and written about our corporate culture, which inspires people to do their best and make the most of what they have.

But what does such excellence look like? I offer you software developer Ed Summers. When he began losing his vision years ago, he thought his career prospects might be going dark too.

He chose to make the most of his remaining abilities. What could have been a setback became a set-up for a great future.

Now, besides making SAS solutions accessible to the widest-possible audience, he inspires students to pursue careers in science, technology engineering and math. He recently trained teachers to help visually impaired students use iPads.

Got any anecdotes about our software, customers or employees? Share in the comments!