SAS Blog

Organizations often struggle to build a culture that supports data-driven decisions and embed the right leadership and skills at all levels, despite the benefits of doing so.  A recent research study conducted by the Accenture SAS Analytics Group indicated that investment in business analytics and analytical talent will rise in [...]

After all the Christmas parties and new year dinners are over, many would like to forget embarrassing behavior or over-indulgences of the season. By way of putting all that behind, it’s not uncommon for most to start the year by embracing a sober regime, diet and even a few New [...]

That there is a growing shortage of analytical talent in most of the economies of the world is clear. In a May 2011 report, the McKinsey Global Institute put some numbers on the demand: “By 2018, the United States alone could face a shortage of 140,000 to 190,000 people with [...]

I've recently had the chance to work with Olivia Parr-Rud, an internationally recognized expert and thought leader in predictive analytics and innovative leadership. Her pioneering techniques in predictive modeling led to the writing of her first book, Data Mining Cookbook, Modeling for Acquisition, Risk and Customer Relationship Management (Wiley 2001). Olivia's passion [...]

The tools for analytics are getting more sophisticated as data becomes more voluminous, says Jim Sterne, President of Target Marketing, in the video below. The real magic still comes from human ingenuity, explains Sterne, but it helps to give analysts the tools they need to make that magic happen. Hear [...]

You might have already heard the big news this week: SAS reported record revenues and SAS was ranked #3 on FORTUNE's annual list of Best Companies to Work For. If you're following along on Twitter, you'll have noticed that we've been spreading the word with the hashtag #ilovesas. Please feel free [...]

At the NRF BIG Show, I had the opportunity to sit down with Chuck Albrecht, President and COO, Northern Tool and Equipment Company to ask him the best advice he’s ever been given (more on that later), his thoughts on the craziest innovations he saw at the show, and Northern [...]

Happy New Year! Wishing everyone a prosperous and joyful 2012! The joyful festive atmosphere continues to pervade most Chinese families in Asia in the coming week, as we will be celebrating Lunar New Year (Spring Festival) on Jan 23rd . This date is determined by the lunisolar Chinese calendar. Alongside [...]

A standing room only crowd gathered at the NRF BIG Show on Monday afternoon in New York to hear Winn-Dixie VP Chris Vukich share how this $7 billion regional grocer has achieved a successful pricing strategy that allows them to: See the impact of each price change. Create what-if scenarios. Model [...]

At the NRF BIG Show in NYC this week, one of the hottest topics is what retailers can do with high-performance computing.  One major retailer has been able to determine optimal prices for as many as 270 million items each week, from 30 to two hours, run advanced markdown optimization [...]

What brings more than 20,000 retailers to NYC in mid-January? I can promise you, it’s not the balmy 15 degree temperatures --  it’s the 101st NRF BIG SHOW, where SAS is a platinum sponsor. This is my first year attending this event – and it’s a bit overwhelming, so here’s a [...]

It's true. "Big data" can be a problem and an opportunity. Many organizations have struggled to manage, much less profit from, the deluge. In 2012, look for big data to spur demand for big data analytics. New developments in high-performance computing as well as increased demand for visualization and text [...]

Many of our SAS bloggers are ringing in the new year with advice and ideas for 2012, including: Rachel Alt-Simmons suggests four items to add to your New Year's resolution lists - with a focus on learning and connecting. Rick Wicklin sets some goals for his blog in 2012 - [...]

Happy New Year, everyone! It’s that wonderful time of the year when people start anew and we all start making promises to ourselves about the things we want to accomplish in the year ahead. If you’re looking for some ways to ramp up your personal and professional expertise this year, [...]

As Kirsten mentioned in her Social at SAS post, this has been a big year for the blogging program for SAS. We introduced seven new blogs, combined a few others and migrated about 3,000 posts and 200 bloggers to this new platform. It was a big project, but we're really [...]

Big data has been a hot topic recently, but more often than not the topic is covered from an IT perspective. What do the analysts, data miners and statisticians think? I recall the old days discussing with statisticians what data mining is and how it fundamentally differs from statistics. In [...]

Quick – what was the key point of the last vendor email that you received? Or the main value points of the last website you reviewed? Or the core propositions in the last presentation that was delivered to you? Or the half-life of the last tweet that you read? Nowadays, [...]

Hear directly from an organization that is firing on all cylinders with analytics and achieving true data-driven insight in all its business areas. On Dec. 14, SAS customer Kelley Blue Book (KBB) and SAS Alliance partner Modern Analytics will share firsthand learnings during a live webinar, "Analytics – An Inside Perspective,” [...]

December 4 marked the beginning of Computer Science Education Week, and I'd like to take a moment to consider how the business community might support K-12 schools as they respond to this rapidly changing field. Many years ago when computer science courses first appeared in schools, they were considered “extra” [...]

As the Basel Accords continue to drum up attention in the global financial markets, many institutions are looking at how they can strike a balance between capital requirements and competitive advantage. One area of focus is consumer credit risk modelling and scoring, as the more accurate and robust the models [...]