SAS seeks to 'dominate' as IT budgets increase

Software supplier SAS has announced a revised strategy for its new application suite, with a broader focus on performance management.

President and co-founder Dr Jim Goodnight told delegates at the company's annual user conference that the company will seek to 'dominate' the market as firms start to increase IT spending once again.

'While a focus on strategy, planning and finance provides the core of an effective performance management system, SAS provides a practical view of how every aspect of an organisation contributes to performance,' he said.

The software underpinning the company's goals is an application suite called SAS 9, which Goodnight describes as the 'most significant software release' in SAS's 28-year history.

SAS 9, which has been developed at a cost of about $1bn, includes the SAS Intelligence Platform, a set of integrated software for data integration, business reporting and analytics.

The platform helps firms analyse the massive volumes of data generated by their enterprise resource planning (ERP) applications.

SAS 9 includes a range of industry-specific options, such as tools that help banks comply with Basel II or deal with anti-money laundering.

This has been an integral part of the company's strategy, ramping up the number of tools that it provides for a range of customer needs.

'Following the introduction of the Patriot Act in the US, which includes legislation clamping down on money laundering, we developed software to help banks do that,' said Goodnight.

Since then, the vendor has added tools to help firms comply with Basel II and Sarbanes-Oxley regulations, to improve the drug discovery process for life sciences firms and many others.

'We've been pigeonholed as a statistics tool for ages,' said Goodnight. 'But we've evolved along with the needs of customers, just as they've evolved.'

Over the past year, SAS acquired three companies, including Marketmax, a provider of retail planning and analytics tools, to boost its range of industry offerings.

The overall goal is to make it easy for business managers to answer complex questions - helping firms in every market make better decisions.

'While our customers span industries and geographies, they have one thing in common: the need to confidently and proactively drive revenue growth and profitability,' said Goodnight.

The company says it has worked hard to prepare itself for an upturn in the industry, hiring staff during the fallout when programming talent was going cheap.

And SAS believes that pickup is now arriving.

'The outlook for technology is very positive. Businesses are finally loosening their purse strings and reports indicate that spending on technology will rise three to five per cent this year,' said Goodnight.

The company won't be the only one to benefit.

As usage of its applications increases (96 of the Fortune 100 companies are customers), demand for programmers with SAS skills will increase.

'Salaries for workers with SAS skills are going to go up,' said Goodnight.