SAS achieves double-digit growth, rockets 12 percent to record $2.725 billion

Latest revenue milestone built on high demand for business analytics to capitalize on big data

CARY, NC, Jan. 19, 2012 /CNW/ - SAS, the leader in business analytics software and services, achieved record global revenue of US$2.725 billion in 2011. SAS marked double-digit growth in its 36^th profitable year as organizations sought to uncover business opportunity in their own burgeoning data stores through the use of advanced analytics.

"Companies trust SAS^® Business Analytics to solve their toughest problems, from increasing revenue through better pricing strategies to stopping fraud-related losses," said SAS CEO Jim Goodnight. "Every major industry has SAS success stories worth noting. We thrive on the challenges customers bring us. It's why we exist. We take our role in their success seriously."

Goodnight said 2011 results also affirm the positive effects of steadfast investments in SAS' workforce and award-winning corporate culture despite an economic climate that remains difficult. SAS, a perennial presence on FORTUNE's Best Companies to Work For list in the U.S., announced its latest No. 3 ranking. Innovation, Goodnight said, starts with prioritizing employees.

"Innovation is what has kept SAS growing for the past 36 years," Goodnight said. "We can't succeed without innovation, new products, ideas and services. Loyal, creative, healthy employees are innovative."

In 2011, SAS grew staff 9.2 percent and reinvested 24 percent of revenue into research and development. The Americas accounted for 46 percent of total revenue; Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) 42 percent; and Asia Pacific 12 percent. SAS growth was strong across the board in all major regions and countries, even in regions hardest hit economically.

SAS RECORDS ACROSS-THE-BOARD INCREASES

Revenue surged across all solution and industry categories. Software to detect fraud saw a triple-digit jump. Revenue from on-demand solutions grew almost 50 percent. Growth from analytics and information management solutions were double digit, as were gains from customer intelligence, retail, risk and supply chain solutions.

SAS experienced growth in every industry, demonstrating that more businesses recognize the benefits of analytics. Highlights include continued strong growth in financial services and double-digit increases in government, health care and life sciences.

SAS CANADA CONTINUES MARKET GROWTH AND HIRING

Celebrating another successful year, SAS Canada announced an eight per cent increase in total revenue over the previous year. These results were strongly supported by a 20 per cent increase in consulting services revenue, as more customers continue to turn to SAS to help them drive more value from their business analytics investments. In response to ongoing growth and demand, SAS Canada announced that it will continue hiring for the third year in a row.  In 2012, SAS is looking to add 43 new positions, increasing its current employee base by 15 per cent, focusing primarily on acquiring domain expertise in areas like Fraud detection and prevention, Customer Intelligence and Information Management, to support and respond to customer demand for its business analytic solutions in these areas.

"We are continuing to invest in specific industry domain knowledge and geographical needs across the country as more companies realize the benefits of using business analytics to solve their most complex business challenges, as well as help companies use analytics to gain business value from Big Data; said Carl Farrell executive Vice President SAS Americas. "As a result of these increased demands, our business continues to grow to allow us to respond to our customers' needs and build upon their success, among them:

• Laurentian Bank: The bank is implementing the most complete financial crime detection system to date.
• Sobeys: The grocer uses analytics to offer customers the products they want at every store, for every market. As well Sobeys targets its loyal customers with personal one-to-one communications.
• Indigo: Derives deep insight from its customer data with SAS, and in doing so has nearly doubled the success of its marketing campaigns while continuing to grow its revenue base.
• Canadian Institute for Health Information: Quick access to accurate analyses helps Canadian legislators make smart decisions about the country's healthcare system.
• Passport Canada:  With the help of analytics the agency can now fulfill passport requests in 10 business days using one of the fastest and most secure document systems in the world.

SAS^® ANALYTICS DELIVER RESULTS

The circle of trust among SAS, its employees and customers has yielded countless successes. Among them:

• Berlingske Media, Denmark's largest news publisher, used demand forecasts to reduce delivery volume 12 percent without hurting sales.
• Chartis targeted $14 million in new, low-risk business - representing 100 percent segment growth for the insurer - and avoided potential losses of $75 million.
• Invacare, which manufactures and distributes medical products for home and long-term care, recouped its SAS investment in nine months.
• Janssen Pharmaceutical Companies of Johnson & Johnson increased marketing-channel lift by up to 30 percent.
• The Kansas Department of Wildlife and Parks used targeted marketing to sell fishing licenses, adding $3.8 million to the state economy.
• Macys.com reduced its email subscription churn about 20 percent and improved analyst productivity, saving the iconic retailer's e-commerce division $500,000 a year.
• Loyalty New Zealand creates buyer-behavior models in less than 30 minutes and can develop and launch campaigns in one day, compared with up to 20 days previously.
• Statistics Estonia accelerated information delivery by as much as 50 percent while saving more than €1 million.
• The North Carolina Department of Transportation shaved $500,000 off project costs and 20 percent off planning time.
• Twiddy & Company cut invoicing errors by 15 percent and makes better decisions about which vendors to hire for maintenance at the 900 vacation properties it manages along North Carolina's Outer Banks.
• The University of Central Florida gets real-time budget data and other reports that drive important decisions about students, programs, resources and facilities at the US' second-largest public university.

ACQUISITIONS ADDRESS DATA MANAGEMENT, CUSTOMER INTELLIGENCE ROI

SAS acquisitions add crucial technologies that enhance SAS' powerful solutions. In 2011, SAS added two companies to its portfolio:

• Assetlink in Pleasanton, California, for market-leading marketing operations management technology.
• Baseline Consulting in Sherman Oaks, California, for data management ROI.

EFFECTIVE PARTNERING YIELDS RESULTS

In 2011, SAS introduced the only in-memory offering on the market delivering high-end and big data analytics to produce time-sensitive insights. SAS High-Performance Analytics (available on data warehouses from partners Teradata and EMC Greenplum) combines SAS expertise in analytics and its partners' deep understanding of massively parallel processing scenarios. The result offers customers a highly optimized, in-memory analytical appliance to confidently tackle complex business problems at a much faster pace.

Besides technology, SAS and its partners provide for customers' technology needs and help them become analytically driven. Participating in research projects, the SAS/Teradata Product Advisory Council and the Institute for Advanced Analytics help customers identify opportunities. The formation of the Accenture SAS Analytics Group helps senior executives gain practical insights from their data, make better decisions and improve their business outcomes

Customers working with SAS and its partners include: Australia's National Australia Bank and Commonwealth Bank of Australia, Italy's Generali Insurance, Japan's Oita Bank, Korea's Hana Financial Group, Samsung Securities, National Bank of Abu Dhabi and Russia's MTS.

OUTLOOK

According to one estimate, global information is doubling every two years, and the data created last year exceeded 1.8 trillion gigabytes. Another predicts that by 2020, data will grow by 50 times. "The search for business value in big data is today's gold rush," said SAS Senior Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer Jim Davis. "Big data is interesting to the extent that you can make sense of it all, and the tool for that is analytics. Big data analytics, rather than just big data, provides real value and insight."

In 2012, SAS will continue to innovate, with new technologies to analyze big data, build stronger customer relationships, fight fraud and more. SAS will:

• Expand its SAS High-Performance Analytics family to provide greater value through analytical, industry-specific and horizontal business solutions, helping reduce processing times for complex operations from days to hours and hours to minutes.
• Build on its momentum in SAS Customer Intelligence solutions with new versions of SAS Social Media Analytics and SAS Marketing Automation.
• Help financial services and other firms better manage credit and operational risk.
• Update its anti-fraud software to help organizations in banking, government, health care and insurance better fight financial crime.
• Continue to invest in SAS Analytics, addressing a wide range of text and predictive analysis, forecasting and operations research needs. With enhanced analytics, SAS will improve how organizations use massive volumes of structured and unstructured data for better and faster business decisions.

"What would you do with the extra time if your code ran in two minutes instead of five hours?" Goodnight challenged. "I want to reset how people think about business problems. Things are possible now that we could never think of before."

ABOUT SAS

SAS is the leader in business analytics software and services, and the largest independent vendor in the business intelligence market. Through innovative solutions, SAS helps customers at more than 55,000 sites improve performance and deliver value by making better decisions faster. Since 1976 SAS has been giving customers around the world THE POWER TO KNOW^®.

The Canadian subsidiary of SAS has been in operation for 24 years. Headquartered in Toronto, SAS employs 293 people across the country at its Vancouver, Calgary, Edmonton, Toronto, Ottawa, Quebec City and Montréal offices. www.sas.com

SAS and all other SAS Institute Inc. product or service names are registered trademarks or trademarks of SAS Institute Inc. in the USA and other countries. ® indicates USA registration. Other brand and product names are trademarks of their respective companies.  Copyright © 2012 SAS Institute Inc. All rights reserved.

Editorial Contact: 
Suzanne Sprajcar Beldycki
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