Recently, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella joined SAS CEO and founder Jim Goodnight for a fireside chat to announce the latest release of the cloud-native SAS® Viya® platform on Microsoft Azure. This new launch was a significant milestone to mark the progress that has been made in our extensive technology and go-to-market strategic partnership with Microsoft.

When we announced the partnership last summer, I highlighted three phases of analytic enhancement and innovation that customers would enjoy, as a result of our joining forces.

Today, many of our joint customers are already realizing tremendous benefits. With SAS Viya now deeply integrated into Microsoft Azure services and available on the Microsoft Azure Marketplace, we look forward to offering easier cloud migration and strategic management of analytics workloads.

This is how SAS and Microsoft are partnering to shape the future of AI in the Cloud.

Empowering retail, health care, government and more – in the cloud

What are customers saying about the Empowered Cloud? Here is a brief glimpse into some of their experiences, so far.

• Town of Cary, NC innovates flood prediction with SAS® Analytics for IoT and Azure IoT.
  

  Using sensors, weather data, SAS® Analytics for IoT and the Azure IoT platform, the Town of Cary, NC expects to increase situational awareness of rising stream levels, predict where flooding may occur, and improve emergency response through automation. "Localized flooding is something all communities experience, and ours is no exception,” said Nicole Raimundo, Chief Information Cary, Town of Cary. “Cary is also proud to be able to share this data with our neighboring communities to help them better serve their citizens." Learn how cloud-based analytics helps the Town of Cary weather the storm.

• Mercy looks to improve performance and cost-efficiency by migrating SAS analytic workloads to Azure.
  

  Working with SAS and Microsoft, Mercy can capitalize on analytics software and the Azure cloud platform to strengthen its ability to harness real-world evidence for improved outcomes and more informed care. "At Mercy, we’re focused on how to continuously improve patient care and outcomes and realize the role of data analytics, machine learning in bringing that focus to light,” said Curtis Dudley, Vice President of Data Analytics, Mercy. “We’re excited about the potential for increased speed, scalability and an expanded catalog of analytics solutions the SAS and Microsoft partnership brings in helping us deliver a new care model."

• Gavilon reduces workloads and operational costs by migrating to SAS® Cloud on Azure.
  

  A comprehensive understanding of risk is critical for monitoring and managing exposure during volatile times. “To serve our stakeholders, we need to manage large volumes of data and risk calculations in real time, as well as adapt to new use cases over time,” said Tony Vojslavek, Chief Risk Officer, Gavilon Group. “We've had a long collaborative partnership with SAS. To position ourselves for the future and reduce our workload and operational costs, we migrated to the SAS Cloud on Azure. It’s a no-brainer for Gavilon to make the switch – we are transitioning support, server upgrades and application monitoring to SAS, and we can take advantage of new features and enhancements in SAS Viya."

• Hanesbrands is transforming its data science processes by deploying SAS Viya on Azure.

  As a result, this is enabling faster decisions at scale to unlock hidden value across its enterprise. Learn more about Hanesbrands reimagining the future.

• Qualitas leverages cloud analytics to identify possible fraudulent claims.

  As one of the largest car insurers in Mexico, Qualitas is constantly looking for innovation. The company understands the power that data and analytics can bring to its business and customers. With SAS and Microsoft, Qualitas will be able to use cloud analytics software to quickly identify possible fraudulent claims, while having the flexibility that its cloud deployment offers. As a result, Qualitas will focus on bringing intelligence to its business, while SAS and Microsoft manage its cloud environment.

• Five Below puts SAS on Microsoft Azure to help satisfy customer demand.
  

  As a major retailer of low-priced entertainment and fun products, Five Below is leveraging SAS on Azure for sales forecasting to better manage inventory and meet customer demand.

• BNSF Railway is working to use artificial intelligence to deliver insights.

  Being one of the largest railroad networks in North America, BNSF Railway is among the world's top transporters of intermodal traffic. To optimize its rail car performance, the company is working with SAS and Microsoft to enable bolder decision-making with client service requirements.

• Kaiser Permanente Biobank will be deploying SAS on Azure on its new genomics platform to enable research.

  The research explores important questions about both disease and health in an effort to deliver truly personalized precision medicine.

But wait, there’s more. SAS recently hosted a webinar titled, Travel To Faster, Trusted Decisions In The Cloud. This virtual event gave technology experts, partners and analysts the opportunity to share what they’ve learned about the strengths of SAS Viya, from collaboration and scalability to operational insights for everyone, everywhere. The complimentary webinar is available on-demand and currently, no registration is required, so check it out now.

Also, visit sas.com/microsoft to learn more about you can run your SAS workloads in the cloud.