The motto of SAS’ home state gets at what I hope will be a recurring theme of State and Local Connections. How can state and local governments differentiate between what seems to be and what is? How can they move beyond intuition and gut feelings to know the truth? It all starts with the effective use of data. After all, the SAS motto is “The Power to Know.”

The contributors to the State & Local Government Connections come from various professional backgrounds and each will offer a unique perspective to the blog. We hope to cultivate conversations with others interested in improving how government operates. With states facing historic budget crises, there’s never been a better time to share ideas, best practices, concerns and opinions. Not to make light of what are challenging times, but I also want people to have fun on this blog. I want personalities to shine through.

As an analytics company, much of the blog content will specifically address how data can be used to decrease budget deficits, combat fraud and improper payments, optimize tax and revenue collection, enhance the criminal justice system…but these are just some opportunities to apply analytics. We want to hear what others are doing. This will not be a marketing tool. However, without knowing how familiar you are with analytics technology, I would be remiss if I didn’t point you to more information on SAS in state & local government.

We’ll do our best to provide timely and relevant content, react to ongoing developments, blog from key events and share other experiences from the road. We meet with state and local government leaders regularly and always come away with valuable insights.

19th century statesman and attorney Daniel Webster said, “The world is governed more by appearance than realities so that it is fully as necessary to seem to know something as to know it.”

Oh, if the esteemed Mr. Webster could see things now! Let’s use this blog as a forum to help us move beyond “seeming” to “being”…from seeming to know to knowing.