Disclaimer: before you get overly excited, PROC EXPAT is not really an actual SAS procedure. Sadly, it will not transfer or translate your code based on location. But it does represent SAS’ expansion of the Customer Contact Center, and that’s good news for our users. Here’s the story behind my made-up proc.

My mission

“Buon giorno!” “Guten Tag!” “Bonjour!” Excitement is in the air, the team buzzes. I’m not at an international airport, I’m at the new SAS office in Dublin, Ireland. I’d been given a one-month assignment to help expand operations, providing training in the Customer Contact Center across channels to deliver exceptional customer support and create an enhanced customer experience around the globe. It was such a rewarding experience!

SAS is a global company with customers in 148 countries, at more than 80,000 sites. The EXPAT Procedure is what I’ve coined my month-long adventure in Dublin, training and supporting our newly expanded Customer Contact Center team. So, what does this mean for you? It means additional customer care and expanded hours for all your inquiries and requests. Win!

Bringing expanded customer service to Europe, Middle East and Africa

The expansion was announced last fall, when SAS revealed plans to open a new Inside Sales and Customer Contact Center in Dublin—an investment of around €40 million with a projected 150 new jobs to be created—to provide support across Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA).

The new office models the US Customer Contact Center (and this is where I come in), providing support for customers in their channel of choice—be it social media, Live Chat, phone, email and/or web inquiries. We field general questions about SAS software, training, certifications or resources, as well as specific issues, like errors in your SAS log. The Customer Contact Center is here to assist, and now our customers in EMEA can benefit from the added support as well.

And we’re not just answering inquiries, we’re listening to our customers. We’re always looking at ways to make things easier to navigate, simpler to find, and faster to share. And we love customer feedback, whether direct or indirect, to enhance your experience with SAS.

The new team in Dublin is comprised of multi-lingual individuals with loads of experience in the tech industry. They have begun covering the United Kingdom, Ireland and Italy and it’s been amazing working with such a knowledgeable, patient and fun team with a great sense of humor. I think you’ll like them, too.

While I’ve been assisting with training the team on everything SAS, I’ve gotten a little training myself, working in a new office in a different country, surrounded by colleagues from more than 15 countries across the pond. A reminder of the wide reach of SAS, impact of Big Data analytics, and importance of our worldwide SAS users.

It’s an exciting time for the Customer Contact Center, SAS and our customers. If you’re located in EMEA, don’t hesitate to reach out to us!