At the SAS analyst event in Steamboat, CO, in March, SAS CEO Jim Goodnight shared some interesting stats with attendees: Even in 2010's tough economy, SAS experienced 5.2 percent worldwide growth in US dollars. On top of that, SAS is still building new facilities, still winning workplace awards, and this
The Credit Card Accountability, Responsibility and Disclosure Act (CARD) of 2009 was triggered by the financial crisis and designed to protect subprime borrowers by forcing lenders to provide more transparency and more reasonable, fairer rates and fees to borrowers. This has proven a costly burden for US lenders as they
Remember the old Reese’s peanut butter cup advertisement? Two people are walking down the street – one eating peanut butter, the other chocolate – they run into each other and the chocolate and the peanut butter get mixed up. They sample the new concoction and marvel at the wonderful mixture
Unlike any other software vendor, SAS has one of the most vibrant and engaged user communities in the world. SAS User Groups (SUG), communities formed and managed by SAS users, are in place all over the world. In the US alone we have regional and local SUGs as well as
Linking business analytics to economic value is a hard problem. Despite all the smarts that get poured into models, it's hard to tie them to financial measures such as profitability. And, because of that, it's hard to justify investment in analytics. Need headcount? Sorry, try again. Need tools? Sorry, can't
While the first day of the SAS Global Forum Executive Conference focused on the business application of analytics, the second day was dedicated to analytics and IT management. One of the keynote presenters was Erik Brynjolfsson, the Schussel Family Professor at the MIT Sloan School of Management. Erik’s research and
Like many SAS users, Bill Roehl uses SAS in some very clever ways that aren’t necessarily work-related. Roehl is a Research Analyst at Capella University and an outspoken community journalist. When he isn’t working for Capella University, he is hard at work blogging about community news for Dakota County, Minnesota
In this panel discussion, a diverse group of companies from different industries are finding profitable growth opportunities through analytics. We’re joined by: Jim Foreman, Director of Circulation Analytic, Staples Halina Karachuk, VP Innovation, AXA Equitable Life Barb Buettin, Director, CRM – Enterprise Information Management, Chico’s Nelle Schantz, Sr. Marketing Director,
In getting ready for the INFORMS Conference on Business Analytics and Operation Research next week in Chicago, I caught up with Jodi Blomberg, a Technical Architect at SAS, to hear more about the paper she's presenting on April 11th. Here's a little preview of what Jodi has to share. For
How can you find and act on information hidden in customer interactions? How can you use this information to create profitable results and create a consistent customer experience? It’s not just about sales and marketing teams interacting with the customers anymore. The entire organization must align drive a good, consistent
“It is the dawning of the age of the digital, age of the digital!” I couldn’t help humming the 1969 tune after attending Erik Brynjolfsson’s presentation at the SAS Global Forum Executive Conference 2011 in Las Vegas. As Director for the MIT Center for Digital Business, Erik lives and breathes
At the SAS Global Forum Executive Conference, SAS’ very own Jim Davis, Chief Marketing Officer, gave a great presentation entitled “Analytics – See Business Possibilities You Never Imagined.” He started off by asking the audience a couple of questions: How do we take analytics and make a difference in our
Yesterday at the SAS Global Forum Executive Conference, SAS Senior Director of Product Marketing Nelle Schantz moderated a panel discussion featuring Thomas Davenport, best-selling author and Director of the International Institute for Analytics; Charlene Li, founder of Altimeter Group and co-author of Groundswell; and Rom Hendler, Senior Vice President and
What is data good for? Absolutely nothing without the right people and the right tools, says Angela Watson, Vice President of Analytics at Overstock.com, an online retailer that offers brand-name merchandise at discounted prices. It’s common for organizations to have “analysis paralysis” where not all departments use data, analytics to
Yesterday was Media Preview day here at the SAS world headquarters in Cary, NC, during which my PR colleagues from around the world hosted journalists for a sneak peak at the news prior to SAS Global Forum in Las Vegas. Part of the day’s events included a panel of three
It was not your average stage entrance. With a full Roman entourage and a majestic portable throne, SAS Global Forum 2011 Chair Debbie Buck, smiled broadly as she made her way to the stage in front of 2,500-member crowd at Opening Session. Her message for conference attendees: “In the words
I’m amazed that so many financial institutions seem to hold fraud at a seemingly low priority. Fraud is often viewed as “the cost of doing business.” What if your view of fraud could be altered so that it became “the profit of doing business”? With the growth in new payment
Last week, SAS held its annual analyst conference in Steamboat Springs, Colorado, where SAS leaders and SAS customers spoke to a room full of industry analysts about the direction of SAS products and business strategy for 2011 and beyond. It's a pretty exclusive event, so not many attend. But -
Contributed by Gert Laursen--author, head of customer intelligence at Maersk Line, and business intelligence thought leader in Denmark Dear reader, In my new book, Business Analytics for Sales and Marketing Managers: How to Compete in the Information Age, you can learn how you can use analytics to reach your sales
How important is accurate telecom forecasting? Sitting through another presentation this week on the explosive growth of mobile data, and the eye-popping statistics about how many Facebook and Twitter users there are, I can’t help but be excited by the possibilities. But I also have this feeling of déjà vu
We are getting ready to kick off this year's Applying Business Analytics Webinar Series. You can participate in the monthly live webinars and hear directly from organizations that are actively applying analytics, BI and data management to create business value. We promise it will be worth your time! The series
In the latest news from the frontier of Internet technology, the NY Times presented an interesting article about the work that high tech providers are doing to ensure maximum system availability. Companies strive for the "5 nines," or 99.999% availability, although a more realistic number is a "4 nine," or
There's an interesting article in Bank Systems & Technology entitled "U.S. Consumers Are Averse to Checking Fees, Survey Finds". At first glance, the title seems almost tautological; after all, who ISN'T averse to paying fees? Read a bit further, however, and you see that the issue is significantly more complex
If I say, social media analytics, and you say, What's that? I have some good links for you. First, you'll want to read this interview with Katie Paine, where she explains, among other things, the difference between social monitoring ,social measurement and social analytics. "Social analytics is where measurement and
I have a confession: I am not very good at math. I know that will come as a terrible surprise and disappointment to some of you. You may even be astonished that SAS would hire someone who doesn't have a PhD in statistics. But math is not the only skill
The term "analytics" has become so overused that I'm not sure anyone really knows what it means anymore - or at the very least, it means a lot of different things to different people. Sometimes analytics gets blended in with "business analytics" which gets blended in with "business intelligence." What
A few days ago, I wrote a post on the "soul" of analytics - basically the careful balance we need to keep between qualitative and quantitative decision-making. I asked others to post their experiences and perspective, and I was fortunate enough to begin a "dia-blog" with Colonel Jim Markley, Director
This year, SAS joined the Coalition Against Insurance Fraud (CAIF). Not long ago I had a chance to attend my first CAIF meeting and I was very impressed with what I saw and heard. Fraud continues to be a thorn in the side of the insurance industry. The most recent
In this ongoing series about people with SASonality, today’s introduction is Diane Hatcher, a Solutions Architect from SAS Technology Practice. Diane and I had exchanged e-mails many times before meeting face-to-face for the first time at SESUG 2010. Every time I passed through the SAS Solutions Center, I noticed that
Analytics is the hot new buzzword at the TeleManagement Forum (TMForum). Because I am the Communications Industry Marketing Manager for SAS, you would expect me to return from last week’s TMForum Management World conference with tales about the importance of analytics in the telecommunications industry. But I'm not the only
