Engage for Managed Cloud Services: Strategic automation for the future

“Speed it up, lock it down, and cut the clutter. If we’re not moving forward, we’re falling behind.” Some iteration of this message is hard not to feel in today’s world where pressures are rising to innovate and deliver. Fast.

At SAS, our Managed Cloud Services (MCS) division strives to meet these demands head-on through a powerful automation engine: the Engage platform.

Engage is a strategic automation framework that enables SAS to deliver cloud services with speed, precision and scalability. Whether supporting custom enterprise deployments or standardized offerings, Engage helps us deliver value faster and more reliably to our hosted customers.

What is Engage?

Engage is SAS’ internal automation platform designed to streamline service delivery across cloud environments. It powers everything from infrastructure provisioning to life cycle management, enabling self-service workflows and near real-time results. Built on modern cloud principles like Infrastructure as Code (IaC), DevOps, FinOps and security governance, Engage is the backbone of our cloud management strategy.

Within SAS Managed Cloud Services, Engage supports three core service lines:

Managed Cloud Services Enterprise: Tailored infrastructure for high-revenue contracts.

Managed Cloud Services Fleet: Immutable, standardized offerings for scale.

Managed Cloud Services Developer Experience (DevExp): Automation and governance for internal teams.

Let’s explore how each delivers strategic value.

SAS Managed Cloud Services Enterprise: Custom Infrastructure at Scale

For customers with complex requirements, SAS Managed Cloud Services Enterprise provides tailored infrastructure and software deployments. Engage automates the sizing and provisioning process by pulling data from each customer’s Cloud Card and translating it into precise infrastructure builds using IaC.

Once the infrastructure is ready, build administrators use Engage to trigger software installations via auto-DaC workflows. This automation reduces deployment timelines and enables flexible customization, accelerating time to value without sacrificing control.

What’s the strategic value? Enterprise customers get access to bespoke environments faster, with fewer manual steps and greater consistency.

Managed Cloud Services Fleet: Immutable, Pre-Packaged Offerings

Managed Cloud Services Fleet is designed for scale. It delivers standardized SAS® Viya® environments, like SAS® Viya® Essentials, that can be provisioned in under two hours. These offerings include pre-sized infrastructure and standardized software orders (e.g., Visual Analytics, Visual Statistics), all delivered through the Engage Catalog.

Because Fleet environments are immutable, lifecycle automation becomes predictable and reliable. Build administrators provide minimal inputs, and Engage handles the rest, right up to identity provider integration.

What’s the strategic value? Fleet enables rapid deployment at scale, making it ideal for SMBs, trials, and repeatable use cases.

Managed Cloud Services Developer Experience: Empowering Automation and Governance

Behind the scenes, our Developer Experience (DevExp) framework empowers SAS teams to build, deploy, and manage automation across hyperscaler environments like Azure, AWS, and Google Cloud.
DevExp includes:

Code repositories and CI/CD pipelines.

Governance tools for compliance.

Integration with platforms like Azure DevOps and GitHub Actions.

Self-service portals via MCAP, ServiceNow and Engage.

Life cycle management for infrastructure and operations.

A developer control plane for monitoring, logging, security and observability.

DevExp supports both Enterprise and Fleet offerings, ensuring automation is standardized, repeatable and scalable.

What’s the strategic value? DevExp enables internal teams to innovate faster while maintaining governance and transparency.

Continuous Innovation: What’s Next for Engage and Managed Cloud Services

Our journey with Engage is far from over. The platform is evolving to support AI-infused automation, deeper integrations with hyperscaler services, and expanded partner access. These innovations will further reduce friction, improve customer experience, and unlock new possibilities for service delivery.

As we continually modernize our cloud frameworks, Engage remains central to our strategy, helping us deliver smarter, faster and more secure cloud services.

Engage is setting a new standard for automation in SAS Managed Cloud Services. By combining self-service workflows, lifecycle automation and modern cloud principles, SAS is delivering faster outcomes and better experiences for our customers.

Interested in learning more? Read our white paper, Enabling data and analytics in the cloud.

Engage for Managed Cloud Services: Strategic automation for the future was published on SAS Users.