SAS Blogs

Analytics

Find out how analytics, from data mining to cognitive computing, is changing the way we do business

Analytics

Amanda MacDowellJune 10, 2015 0

For health and life sciences organizations, discussions about big data include gaining value from that data in the form of real-world evidence. Consider for a moment the amount of healthcare data that exists today thanks to the adoption of electronic health records. Then think about the future with data from

English

Analytics | Data for Good | Data Visualization

Robert AllisonJune 9, 2015 0

Tracking West Nile virus mosquitos in the US

Have you ever been bitten by a mosquito? What are the odds it carried the West Nile virus? ... Perhaps a lot higher than you thought! Here's a picture of a mosquito that kept 'bugging' me around my computer desk at home - good riddance, I say!

English

Health Care

Analytics | Data Visualization

Robert AllisonJune 5, 2015 0

What's the most popular surname in your country?

My previous blog was about popular first names ... now for a blog about popular surnames (ie, last/family names)! But before we get started, here's a little pop-quiz - what country is my friend Mr. Foley's surname from?

English

Travel

Analytics | Internet of Things

Michael ThomasJune 4, 2015 0

Let's talk about things – in the Internet of Things

The Internet has been around a long time. "Things" have been around even longer. Put the things on the Internet, aka the Internet of Things (IoT), and you get so much hype that IoT is at the top of Gartner's "Peak of Inflated Expectations" – and poised for a fall into the "Trough of

English

Advanced Analytics | Analytics | Customer Intelligence

Alan LipsonJune 3, 2015 0

Helping retailers get their unfair share

USA Today recently published an article titled 10 retailers take two-thirds of your money. The story highlights the revenue distribution among the Top 100 retailers in the S&P 1500. It was startling to see that such a small number of retail powerhouses take in such a large percentage of consumers’ income.

English

Retail

Analytics | Data Visualization

Robert AllisonJune 3, 2015 0

What's the most popular baby name in your state?

A couple of years ago, I blogged about the most popular baby names in the US over the past 100 years. This time, I focus on the most recent year, and take it to the state level! But before we get started, here's a picture of my friend Jennifer's daughter,

English

Analytics

SAS ColombiaJune 3, 2015 0

Los SÍ y los NO del Big Data

Para nadie es un secreto que los ejecutivos están cambiando su percepción acerca del Big Data. Los líderes empresariales reconocen cada vez más la importancia de capturar y analizar estratégicamente los datos y esto se debe a una amplia serie de razones. Una de ellas es el acceso a nuevas

Spanish

Analytics | Data Visualization

Robert AllisonJune 2, 2015 0

Creating a map using death data

I guess most of us have a morbid curiosity about how we're going to die ... which is probably why Francis Boscoe's Causes of Death map went viral (no pun intended, of course!). This blog post shows how to create such a map... But first, to lighten up the mood a bit

English

Health Care | Insurance

Analytics | Data Visualization

Ian JonesMay 29, 2015 0

VirtualOil: volatility and the value of a hedge

This month we take a fresh analytical view of our hypothetical VirtualOil portfolio by comparing the forward price of WTI (the green line) to the prompt month price (red line). The resulting graphic (chart 1) demonstrates the relative stability of the 48-month forward price in contrast to a very active spot

English

Analytics | Data Visualization

Robert AllisonMay 29, 2015 0

Cars versus drivers: Who's safer?

A recent news report shows an unexpected spike in traffic fatalities here in the US in 2015. This got me wondering what the data shows ... for the past 100 years or so... Driving was a lot more dangerous in the early days. If you were in a wreck, you

English

Insurance | Travel

Analytics

Mark StevensMay 28, 2015 0

How analytics saved the break room coffee machine

SAS software is used around the world in some of the most sophisticated ways, like ATM fraud detection and cancer research. But recently, I used it for a practical, and much needed, task -- replacing our break room coffee machine. Now, this is no ordinary coffee machine. It also makes

English

Analytics | Data Visualization

Robert AllisonMay 26, 2015 0

Do Italians really drink less alcohol than Americans?

I saw an interesting graph on dadaviz.com that claimed Italians had gone from drinking twice as much as Americans in 1970, to less than Americans in recent years. The data analyst in me just had to "independently verify" this factoid ... But before I get into the technical part of this

English

Sports & Entertainment | Travel

Analytics

Muhammad Asif AbbasiMay 26, 2015 0

How to prevent a failed proof of concept

A proof of concept (POC) is smartest way for customers to evaluate if a product meets the required objectives, and the best way for vendors to demonstrate why they feel they are best placed to resolve the current outstanding problems. However, not all POCs are successful. Let’s explore why. What is

English

Analytics

Marnie DaveyMay 25, 2015 0

Leading Marketing Excellence with Analytics - Visa Case Study

Recently I had the privilege of hearing Nathan Falkenborg, Head of Consulting & Analytics, North Asia at Visa speak at the SAS Executive Forum in Singapore. Nathan has also spoken at SAS Premier Business Leadership Series where he talked about how the analytics guy won over the marketers at Visa.

English

Analytics

Marcel LemahieuMay 22, 2015 0

Three ways to modernize and expand your analytics programs

The cottage industry was based on workers buying raw materials, bringing them home and producing hand-crafted items to sell. The system worked, but was slow, tedious and expensive, producing goods that were affordable only by the rich. The Industrial Revolution changed all that. The factory system brought machines and workers

English

Advanced Analytics | Analytics

Mike GillilandMay 20, 2015 0

Never be left stranded with a two-bin inventory control system (Part 2)

The Two-Bin Inventory Control System So what is a two-bin inventory control system? Whether you realize it or not, you are probably very familiar with the concept. In fact, if you are reading this on a tablet or smartphone, you may be sitting next to one right now (see photo). According to

English

Advanced Analytics | Analytics

Mike GillilandMay 19, 2015 0

Never be left stranded with a two-bin inventory system (Part 1)

As discussed in the last BFD post, sometimes a difficult and expensive problem doesn't have to be solved -- it can simply be avoided. When the teetering boulder threatened the baby below the cliff, we removed the baby and no longer had to worry about propping up the boulder. When it

English

Analytics | Data Visualization

Robert AllisonMay 19, 2015 0

Locating Mount St. Helens using a SAS map

Mount St. Helens volcano here in the US had a big eruption 35 years ago this week! Do you know exactly where it is located? Perhaps this SAS map can help... As you might have guessed, I'm a big fan of the awesome power of nature (hurricanes, tornadoes, lightning, earthquakes, and

English

Insurance

Analytics | Data for Good

Will JonesMay 18, 2015 0

National Foster Care Month recognizes those striving to give kids stable lives, and bright futures

In 1988 President Ronald Reagan proclaimed May as National Foster Care Month as a way to recognize foster parents for opening their homes to and caring for children in need. This annual celebration has grown to generate awareness of foster care and a recognition of all involved. The children, foster

English

Government

Analytics

Daniel AunvigMay 18, 2015 0

Avoiding the pitfalls of multi-channel customer engagement

It seems like everyone is searching for ‘best practice’ these days. We are constantly looking to learn from what is being held up as good, leading and perhaps even the best itself. While this is a valid exercise, I believe we are missing an opportunity to take a closer look

English

Analytics | Data Visualization

Robert AllisonMay 15, 2015 0

A little fun with UFO sightings data

As a kid, I was always intrigued with UFO sightings and I guess I'm still a little that way ... therefore how could I not jump at the opportunity to explore some UFO sightings data! I guess "UFO" doesn't necessarily imply that something is an alien space ship - just

English

Analytics

Marcel LemahieuMay 15, 2015 0

Three ways to improve your analytics architecture

Do you “buy and build as you go” with your analytics architecture? Most companies do, and have for decades. The result is a heterogeneous environment for analytics with a variety of hardware, software, databases and analytical applications used in silos. There’s tremendous duplication of data and inconsistency in the analytical

English

Analytics | Data Visualization | Programming Tips

Robert AllisonMay 12, 2015 0

Creating your own customized graphs for SAS analytic procedures

In recent releases of SAS, you can use Output Delivery System graphics or 'ODS graphics on' to produce nice graphical output for most of the analytic procedures. These default graphs are nice, but when you want your graphs to look "a certain way" SAS also lets you create your own custom graphs!

English

Analytics | Data Visualization

Robert AllisonMay 7, 2015 0

U.S. federal government is shrinking

I was surprised to find that the size of the U.S. federal government is smaller today, than in the past many decades - let's graph it out, so it's easy to analyze... The way I got started on this little adventure was via Jishai's graph on dadaviz.com. Here's a snapshot

English

Government

Analytics

SAS ColombiaMay 6, 2015 0

Internet de las Cosas y Big Data: una carrera inteligente

Seguramente siga escuchando acerca del Internet de las Cosas sólo como un concepto, lo cierto es que con ejemplos como el que queremos contarle a continuación, se hace evidente el impacto que tiene no sólo en las cosas sino en las personas. Imagine un mundo en el que su carro

Spanish

Analytics | Internet of Things

Bryan SaundersMay 5, 2015 0

Don't make this mistake with new equipment

By now, we have all heard about the Internet of Things (IoT), or the Industrial Internet. Across industries, organizations are attempting to instrument and measure all critical business systems and assets in an effort to drive improved production and service delivery. It is estimated that by 2020, companies will spend

English

Manufacturing

Advanced Analytics | Analytics

Mike GillilandMay 1, 2015 0

How to solve a difficult forecasting problem

The Boulder, The Cliff, and The Baby Imagine you are faced with this very urgent problem: A large boulder is teetering on the edge of a cliff, at the bottom of which sits a baby, at risk of being crushed. How do you solve this problem? One solution for the

English

Analytics | Data Management

Dr. Laurie MilesApril 30, 2015 0

What's the No. 1 barrier to analytics success?

As the age old idiom goes, the early bird gets the worm and the early adopter gets the break. New technologies give clear advantages to those organisations that figure out before their early-adopting competitors how to use them effectively, an advantage that recedes as others catch up, and the technology

English

Manufacturing

Analytics

Sandra HernandezApril 29, 2015 0

El científico de datos es el superhéroe de la era moderna

Pueden explorar los datos más rápido que una bala. Su forma de aprendizaje es más poderosa que una locomotora. Incluso pueden transformar miles de datos desordenados en información útil en un abrir y cerrar de ojos. Es realmente impresionante lo que pueden hacer… De hecho, muchas organizaciones están tratando de

Spanish

Blogs

Blogs

Analytics

Follow Us

What is...