SAS leaps ahead in advanced analytics

SAS maintains leadership in advanced analytics market share in Malaysia for 4th consecutive year

CYBERJAYA (Nov. 07, 2008) – SAS, a leader in business analytics software and services, is leaping ahead in the advanced analytics market, maintaining its leadership in Malaysia for the 4th consecutive year with 65.92 percent market share in first half of 2008 – more than twice that of the nearest competitor.

IDC ranked SAS No. 1 in the BI tools market in Malaysia, with 33.58 percent market share for the first half of 2008 (IDC Asia Pacific Semi-annual Business Intelligence Tracker, 1H08). According to Jimmy Cheah, Managing Director, SAS Malaysia, the company’s continuous solid performance is similar and reflects SAS lead in the global market place.

Quoting a report titled Worldwide Business Intelligence Tools 2007 Vendor Shares: Query, Reporting, and Analysis, and Advanced Analytics Markets Stable in the Face of Economic Turmoil (IDC #212921, June 2008), he said SAS holds the No.1 worldwide market share position among all advanced analytics software vendors with 31.9 percent in 2007 and has the highest BI tools market share growth rate of the top five BI vendors

According to IDC’s definition, the BI tools market is made up of two market segments: end-user query, reporting and analysis (QRA) and advanced analytics.

SAS’ advanced analytics offerings include descriptive and predictive analytics as well as optimization solutions. In the past year, the advanced analytics segment of the BI tools market grew faster than the query, reporting and analysis segment – a testament to the realized value of analytics in business intelligence for critical competitive advantage.

Recent growth reflects an increasing need for software that provides faster access to broader information. “BI tools are finally entering a mass market,” said Roger Ling, Market Analyst of IDC Malaysia. “It’s a prelude to the next market cycle that will lead to pervasive business intelligence.”

“With a 22 year track record of delivering proven results in Malaysia and the ability to innovate, SAS is more and more often the first company people call when needing to solve business problems,” said Cheah.

SAS Malaysia has been seeing a 30 percent growth year on year for the past 4 years. Despite the financial crisis, Cheah is confident that SAS Malaysia will continue to record a double digit growth for the coming year.

“Our customers look to us as not just a software company with unmatched analytical capabilities and industry expertise but more as a strategic partner to help them accelerate performance. With the financial crisis, SAS’ solutions are becoming even more in demand as companies look into areas such as business optimisation and cost reduction”, Cheah surmised.

SAS also offers targeted business solutions that support enterprise intelligence, customer intelligence, financial intelligence, supply chain intelligence and more. In addition, SAS has turnkey solutions for various vertical markets such as financial services, life sciences, healthcare, retail, manufacturing and others.