One of our readers asked if we could explain some of the thinking behind SAS’ recent decision to modify its support for US regional users groups.
Over the past five to ten years, users have been telling SAS they need more targeted, more local and more immediate types of support, especially technical content. Many of you can’t travel long distances, have tighter training budgets or have trouble being away from the office for extended periods. During the same timeframe, requests for in-house, local and special interest groups have risen sharply, and participation in virtual activities like Webinars continues to grow.
In response, SAS is shifting its focus and resources to getting closer to users—to making speakers, training and other support activities more accessible and more local. Beginning in 2014, we are increasing our investment in these kinds of activities across the board. Besides the changes in SAS user groups focus, you will see more options like the ones offered this year, for example SAS Education taking its training on the road or SAS Books ramping up its e-book and online offerings. Our ultimate goal in all these changes is to reach as many users as possible, as often as possible and as conveniently as possible.
Those of us who’ve been at SAS a long time remember when the yearly SUGI was the only opportunity for getting to know SAS users. Now folks like Chris Hemedinger, Margaret Crevar and many others interact with you almost daily. And like us, you’ve seen changes in your roles and skills and opportunities to work with SAS.
Regional user groups played an important part in that transition, helping bring SAS users together more often. Although the format and focus of the regionals may change, we hope they continue their role as key sources of technical content and opportunities to network with peers.
So, what’s going to happen to the four remaining regionals?
That’s unclear today, but we will do our best to keep you informed. Because each regional group is separate from SAS, it’s up to the leadership of that group to decide how to move forward. The SAS user support team is having conversations with the regional leaders, and we’re hopeful they can find ways to continue as active SAS communities.
Please share your comments and suggestions in the comment area on this blog or by contacting user support at ugsupport@sas.com.
4 Comments
Still confused by what this means. I am *guessing* that it means SAS will no longer provide financial support to the regional users groups. Having been to a number of regional meetings as well as local ones, the latter clearly draw a much smaller group. There are other differences, though. Given the shorter time frame - a day or half-day - the presentations are limited in scope. I'd go if I was interested in the topic. With local groups, the odds of serendipitously discovering something new are limited, I'm not going to just wander into a session on, say, new graphics features, just because it came between the two statistics sections I planned to attend. Also, because I'm always in a rush to get back to my office, there is a lot less opportunity for networking.
AnnMaria
I can see from some of the responses that parts of this post were unclear. I apologize to readers for that.
SAS is reducing, but is NOT totally eliminating, financial support for regional users groups. Like you, we see great value in the regional conferences and intend to continue our support for all types of user conferences while increasing support for locals. Our ultimate goal in these changes is to try and reach as many SAS users as possible.
We’re working closely with user group leadership to evaluate what support options work best for each region and how we can help implement any changes over the next three years, starting in 2014.
Thanks for asking for clarification! Having a user community that's so passionate about working with the software and with other users has always been one of SAS' greatest assets. I hope to meet you at WUSS in November.
Christina
While I understand the response to the concerns about travel budgets - as a state employee, few have felt the tightening of travel budgets more than I - I wonder if this is a short-sighted reaction to a temporary condition. As the economy slowly starts to improve, many employers, even mine, are starting to release travel funds again. And after years of freezes on training budgets, they are finding that there is a huge backlog of unmet needs that they are now trying to meet. Cutting a significant training opportunity during this may be bad timing.
I am also concerned about the implication that the cuts in RUGs will result in growth of LUG budgets. While there has been a slight increase in offering for LUGs, as a LUG leader I face a much more significant cut in resources if my RUG were to disappear. Many regionals offer grants and other support to keep the LUGs afloat. If the RUGs disappear, will SAS make up the difference. Everything I've seen so far indicates no.
Hi Tasha - thanks for the feedback. SAS plans to strengthen the in-house and local users groups throughout the US. I'm happy to work with you personally on making sure that PUGSUG (PUGET SOUND SUG) gets what it needs to thrive and grow. Please email me your comments directly or you can email ugsupport@sas.com. Regards, Michael