It’s that time of year again when we look back and consider how accurately and extensively the SAS story was covered in the media over the past year. It’s not always a simple or predictable story, but it is usually interesting. Consider some of these threads:
- How did companies or other enterprises begin their analytic efforts and what were the challenges along the way?
- Sure, analytics are used by many large banks, retailers and manufacturers use analytics to help them become more successful, but what can be learned from those whose analytics use might be surprising? Small companies? Sports teams? Nonprofits?
- What data frontiers are customers now exploring with analytics? Text? New energy sources? Others?
- How does such important software used at 93 of the top companies come to be? Is it the unique SAS corporate culture?
I’ve collected below some of the more notable and illustrative media coverage about SAS in the media. Is shows the surprising diversity of how analytics are employed. In no particular order, the stories are:
What 3 Small Businesses Learned from Big Data, Inc. magazine, 7/1/2014
North Carolina Outer Banks firm Twiddy & Co. describes its use of analytics to propel its vacation home rental business. Says marketing director Ross Twiddy: "There's truth in numbers, and this (SAS Analytics) software helps you find it. When we saw that happen for us, it was like tasting ice cream for the first time. It's something you never forget."
Big Data Sparks Corporate Turf Fights, Wall Street Journal 3/3/2014
Using SAS-sponsored research and citing SAS CIO Keith Collins, the nation’s business paper pf record discusses the topic of big data ownership within corporations. The topic was hot in 2014 because big data is now known to contain valuable insight that can only be uncovered with advanced analytics.
Mets Partner with SAS Analytics to Better Understand and Engage Their Fans, Sport Techie, 10/28/2014
SAS was chosen by the NY Mets to help with fan engagement, on the heels of a similar agreement with the Toronto Maple Leafs, generated a lot of interest from publications and people that didn’t realize SAS has a sports industry focus.
Retailers look to tech to trim holiday merchandise returns, Bloomberg/BusinessWeek, 10/20/2014
This story about how retailers use analytics to deal with the problem of return – especially during the holidays - features a heavy dose of the way SAS customer Stage Stores addresses the challenge across its 866 retail locations.
How phone calls, tweets could help tackle Ebola, CNBC, 11/1/2014
A SAS UK executive describes how advanced analytics used against Twitter data can help discover early indicators of infection whether the disease is Ebola or SARS. The more insight provided on such diseases helps anticipate their spread and maximizes preventative measures.
Oil, Gas Industry Focuses on Predictive Analytics, Exploration & Production magazine, 10/6/2014
This energy journal used interviews with two SAS customers to explain how they employed an analytics workflow approach to identify key geologic and engineering parameters associated with economic well performance, a growing trend in the exploration segment of the industry
How Global Companies Use Analytics to Grow the Bottom Line, Bloomberg/Business Week, 9/22/2014
Danish e-book seller, and SAS customer, Mofibo describes how it is turning “everyday data into dollars.” The recent start-up uses analytics and machine learning to optimize e-book sales with spot-on recommendations and control publishing costs.
Text Analytics 2014: Q&A with Fiona McNeill, Huffington Post, 6/14/2014
Text analytics expert Seth Grimes posted an early 2014 interview with SAS’s Fiona McNeill for her perspective of how the market for text technologies, and text-analytics-reliant solutions, changed in the past year. McNeill says that text analysis has become a mainstream technologies as more enterprises have been able to quantify their ROI.
SAS: Workplace Wonderland, Today Show, 1/16/2014
This in-depth report by NBC’s Today Show explores the unique corporate culture of SAS and why it is consistently ranked among the best workplaces in the world and the US. The show delves into the company’s human-centric policies and benefits that combine to yield powerful analytic software.
I’m biased, but still think we’ve told a multifaceted tale of how our analytics technology helps various customers meet their goals. Wouldn’t you agree? I hope you also had a great 2014, and here’s to an even better 2015!
To read more stories about SAS in the news, check out this broader list of recent SAS media coverage. Or you can subscribe to the SAS media coverage rss feed.
