Cloud technologies enable greater access to analytics. The shift to providing less complicated usability empowers decision-makers and offers a competitive advantage previously unattainable.
Companies of all sizes and sectors embrace cloud technologies to address data and information challenges. IT departments are short-staffed and expected to support a large and varied number of solutions. Many teams deal with application performance challenges, data security and protection, and a need for upgrade control. That’s in addition to managing multiple data siloes while trying to integrate on-premises and cloud applications – it’s a complicated landscape.
Organizations are looking for solutions to make their lives and business operations easier. Whether that’s helping reduce the risk for financial institutions, managing investigations for government agencies or helping plan demand within a consumer goods company. User experience and ease of access matter more than ever across all industries.
Because of that, the market momentum and opportunity for cloud-based solutions are genuine, with the most robust demand for cloud-based applications in analytics and business intelligence markets. Organizations expect to be able to consume software how they want that meets their needs.
Cloud technologies like software as a service (SaaS) allow organizations to gain access and exposure to analytics wherever they are in their journey. Targeted industry capabilities that deliver tangible results help businesses gain a competitive advantage and make more intelligent decisions. Here are some features of SaaS helping drive that advantage.
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1. Quick access to data, faster time to value
When you need data to make a business decision, you need it now. With software-as-a-service, you can get the data you need quickly and easily. Quick access to software speeds up time-to-value, ensuring organizations can start reaping analytics benefits immediately. Coupled with predictable costs and no hidden fees, what you see is what you pay, making planning easier. This also means you can decide based on the most up-to-date information.
2. Reliability enables agility
Providing reliable tools and services is key to smarter business decisions. IT resiliency ensures high availability with an always-on environment that enables peak performance. SaaS providers are constantly working to ensure access to the latest capabilities and technologies, organizations remain agile, keep pace with innovation and access the latest capabilities and technologies with no additional effort.
3. Enhanced productivity enables smart resource allocation
SaaS enhances productivity by leaving the implementation details, technical management and support to the experts, allowing you to focus your resources on more critical projects. This can save businesses time and money.
4. Deep insights to maximize value
SaaS applications can gather large amounts of data to provide insights to drive more intelligent decisions. System metrics and performance data provide insight for the organization about the system uptake so you can see how the system is being adopted and maximizing your business value.
Managed services in the Cloud is solving real-world issues
SaaS in the cloud can solve several real-world business issues, including reducing IT costs, increasing flexibility and agility, and improving collaboration. SAS® Intelligent Planning Cloud, one of SAS' software-as-a-service offerings, now available for supply chain and consumer goods, is helping businesses maximize value and achieve success.
The North Carolina Department of Insurance is already achieving easy access to analytics with the cloud. Employees get safe and secure access to case records when agents work remotely. They can now monitor trends in real-time, search and retrieve information, conduct link analysis and investigate every case. In addition, insurance fraud tips are submitted through a user-friendly online interface, where an algorithm instantly routes them to the appropriate district, saving time.
Fintech company auxmoney enables accessibility to analytics with cloud technologies. In the case of risk management, auxmoney outsourced the entire SAS operation. With SAS managed offerings in the cloud, auxmoney gets all the scalability, speed and security Azure offers without worrying about and managing the cloud environment. Though auxmoney sees itself as a highly digitized company, it is not primarily an IT company. That’s why they chose to leave the operations and management to SAS.
Retailer Viking has transformed its analytics strategy in the Cloud and has been more productive. If Viking managed its own SAS environment – whether in the cloud or on-premises – it would be limited to the knowledge of its employees. Also, Viking can connect and transfer data between systems using one secure cloud network by connecting this platform with other cloud platforms hosted on Microsoft Azure. This results in less security risk.
SaaS in the cloud is quickly becoming a go-to solution for many other businesses across various industries. By providing access to critical business applications in the cloud, SaaS enables organizations to solve real-world issues that were once considered impossible. SaaS is a powerful tool for businesses looking to stay ahead of the competition. As the demand for SaaS solutions grows, we expect to see even more companies benefiting from this transformative technology.
