World Business Analytics Leader SAS Partners with Asia Pacific’s Largest IT Solutions Provider Silverlake Group

SAS and Silverlake Group announce partnership to provide market-leading Big Data Analytics capabilities to Malaysia’s banking industry.

KUALA LUMPUR, May 24, 2014 – World business analytics leader SAS today announced its partnership with Asia Pacific’s largest IT solutions provider Silverlake Group to introduce a range of SAS advanced analytics solutions to banks in Malaysia. The Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) that was signed will see Silverlake group incorporate SAS’s market-leading Big Data Analytics capabilities into Silverlake Group’s offerings including SAS’s Customer Intelligence, Risk Management, Fraud,  Data Management and SAS Visual Analytics, a big data visualization tool.

During the signing ceremony held at the annual SAS Drive to Win Golf Challenge held at Amverton Cove Golf and Island Club, Andrew Tan, Managing Director for SAS Malaysia said, “The strategic partnership between SAS Malaysia and Silverlake Group will enable Malaysia’s banking industry to leverage on the market-leading capabilities of both companies. With more than 35 years of global experience in financial services, SAS has worked closely with top financial institutions to provide analytics solutions which address critical business needs,” Tan said.

(L-R) Mr Goh Peng Ooi, Chairman of Silverlake Group Sdn Bhd and Mr Andrew Tan, Managing Director of SAS Malaysia.

“This partnership will help the banking industry in Malaysia improve customer experiences and customer profitability, manage risk and regulatory compliance, anticipate fraud and create value from data.”

The partnership also entails a transfer of knowledge where Silverlake Group will be able to leverage on the knowledge and expertise of SAS’ implementations of advanced analytics solutions for some of the largest banks worldwide such as Bank of America, Westpac Bank, HSBC Bank, Citibank, DBS Bank, and United Overseas Bank.

 “As the banking industry generates more and more data, the use of high-performance analytics tools to understand and make sense of that data becomes imperative. Our customers need to better understand what customers want and when they want it and at what price. They need to better understand their operations to improve efficiencies and profitability. Banks need technologies that can predict risk and fraud in real-time in order to protect its customers assets. SAS is the market leader in advanced analytics and partnering with a global leader will not only give us a competitive advantage but our customers as well,” said Goh Peng Ooi, Chairman of Silverlake Group Sdn Bhd, Malaysia.

“SAS Customer Intelligence solutions help banks collect and analyze customer data across multiple channels and create a 360 degree view of a customer in real-time. With this banks can then understand which customers are likely to buy a new product and which are likely to leave the bank entirely. This will allow Malaysian banks to deliver more relevant offers to its customers that will continue to drive loyalty and profitability,” explained Tan.

“It is also important for the banking industry to better harness the power of analytics to make proactive risk decisions. A bank’s approach to data management should be holistic and unified, as data silos prevents the flow of information, thereby precluding employees and managers view of a complete picture,” explained Tan. He further added that when a financial institution defines its risk profile and associated risk limits at the organizational, business and product levels, the value derived from those depends on whether they can be accessed seamlessly by corporate, retail investment banking business units and corporate risk management, which monitors adherence to the institution’s risk appetite.”

“Another area of relevance to banks would be fraud detection and prevention. SAS has partnered with some of the world’s leading global banks to offer SAS® Fraud Management where 100-per cent real-time processing, scoring and decision-making on all types of financial transactions are achievable. This can significantly reduce the number of false alarms while improving fraud detection.”

Silverlake Group has also adopted SAS® Visual Analytics, a big data visualization tool. “This tool enables banks to have a real-time view of its business on web and mobile devices,” explained Goh. Banks accounted for 17 per cent of more than 1,400 SAS® Visual Analytics licenses sold globally in 2013 – more than any other industry.

SAS Malaysia along with the research and development team from SAS Headquarters in Cary, North Carolina, US will take the next steps in successfully enabling Silverlake group to successfully deliver SAS’s solutions and the value they bring to Malaysian banks by 2015.

Tan Yen Yen joins SAS as regional head for South Asia

KUALA LUMPUR, April 17, 2014 - SAS, the leader in business analytics software and services, has announced the appointment of Tan Yen Yen as regional vice president and managing director for SAS South Asia Pacific, based in Singapore.

In announcing this appointment, Mikael Hagstrom, executive vice president, SAS EMEA and Asia Pacific said, “With nearly three decades of experience in the IT industry, Yen Yen will bring with her an immense amount of experience and success to this role. She will lead SAS’s effort to claim market leadership for Analytics in the region. SAS South Asia has accomplished continual record revenue growth and this appointment will further consolidate our position.”

Yen Yen’s most recent role was with Oracle as senior vice president, Applications, Asia Pacific.  Prior to that, she was vice president and managing director at Hewlett Packard, Singapore.

She holds a Bachelor of Science from National University of Singapore and an Executive Master of Business Administration from Helsinki School of Economics Executive Education.

In 2011, Yen Yen was named “IT Leader of the Year” by Singapore Computer Society for outstanding contributions to the IT industry in Singapore.

SAS Malaysia Records Strong Business Growth, Surpassing RM49.1Million in 2013 Revenue

Big data technology and services soars in 2013; SAS expects bigger in 2014

KUALA LUMPUR, March 24, 2014 – SAS, the leader in business analytics software and services, once again achieved an impressive growth in the fiscal year of 2013, marking its 38th straight year of record revenue with US$ 3.02 billion. SAS Malaysia has also demonstrated a healthy development in the country where the company recorded a 38.1% increase in new software revenue to RM 13.9 million and a 13.4% growth in total software revenue to RM RM 41.1 million. This strong growth marks a total revenue of RM 49.1 million in SAS Malaysia’s year-on-year turnover for the year 2013.

Sales revenue across the various products and solutions from SAS developed positively, with the SAS Business Analytics platform posting the highest increase in sales to RM8.4 million. Revenue growth to RM3.5 million was also noted in risk management, a solution which is based on SAS software’s core functionality which covers the entire spectrum of risk types including market, credit, and liquidity risk.

SAS Malaysia Managing Director Andrew Tan said, “The strong growth recorded on the sales of analytics solutions continues to demonstrate that data is an asset of growing importance to organizations. Over the last two years, SAS has delivered ground-breaking analytics technology which unlocks the value of data and we are poised to grow to new heights on the back of robust demand for SAS Malaysia’s powerful analytics tools – particularly in the business analytics platform –both from the public and private sectors”.

SAS Malaysia’s annual software revenue growth was mainly fuelled by the oil and gas industry where streamlined, automated processes were introduced to help the industry predict and prevent machinery failure, as well as make strategic decisions faster and more accurately than their competitors. SAS’ oil and gas software provides an integrated energy portfolio and risk management framework ranging from energy trading and risk management, credit risk management, trade surveillance, and regulatory compliance reporting.

Another key driver to SAS Malaysia’s revenue growth was also steered by the demand for analytics via SAS® Visual Analytics, a new data visualization software that brings business threats and opportunities into sharp focus. This was driven by sales particularly in the banking and telecommunication sectors. The still-growing customer base includes its partnership with U Mobile Sdn Bhd in April 2013, where the strategic business move allowed the most dynamic and innovative 3G mobile operator’s executives to immediately access real-time consumer behavior data for significantly more informed business decisions.

 “SAS Malaysia currently stands with more than 160 corporate clients across sectors in Malaysia that uses SAS analytics solutions. The market is changing rapidly and more companies are looking to analytics to provide them with visibility and clarity on the vast information that runs through their business in making more cost-effective decisions,” said Tan. SAS intends to stay out front by providing market-leading high-performance analytics and other solutions that help organizations of all sizes conduct analysis with ease – from global enterprises to SMBs (small- to medium-sized businesses).

2014 OUTLOOK
According to the International Data Corporation (IDC) Predictions 2014 report, the Big Data avalanche in 2014 will continue to see significant growth by 40% and will exceed 60% by 2020 driven in large part by mobile devices. The quest to drive valuable insights and real-time decision-making from this data avalanche will drive massive investments and create new data-centered analytics and content services.

Moving into 2014, SAS will focus on Customer Intelligence solutions that help banks, telecommunications, airlines, and e-commerce companies understand its customers in real-time and design the best action that drives bottom line impact.
Fraud will also be a new area of focus for SAS Malaysia this year, in which new solutions will be introduced to close loopholes to combat financial crimes. As industries seek to mitigate risks in money laundering, organized fraud rings, payment frauds, insurance frauds and so forth, SAS will help customers by introducing solid protection tailored for specific industries such as banking, insurance, health care or public sector to safeguard data and network, as well as funds and reputation.

SAS is also anticipating continued growth this year in:
• Data Management, as companies with huge amounts of data struggle to prepare it for analysis. More and more companies are adopting the open-source Hadoop framework for data storage and processing. SAS works closely with partners and customers to help data scientists, business analysts and executives transform big data into knowledge and bottom-line results.

• Data Visualization, which allows everyday users to explore data by simply pointing and clicking. SAS® Visual Analytics, installed at more than 1,400 sites worldwide, will gain new functionality in the months ahead.

• Industry-Specific Solutions, which address the unique needs of banks, insurers, retailers, government agencies, energy companies, hospitals, pharmaceutical companies, telcos, hotels and more. In 2014, SAS will roll out new and improved solutions to address crucial business needs, from forecasting power demand, optimizing retail channels and managing risk, to detecting and preventing fraud, and retaining customers and marketing effectively to them.

• SAS Solutions on Demand, as more companies look to cloud-based solutions to unlock the benefits of complex analyses. SAS offers 25 products in a cloud-based delivery model. These include solutions for drug development, education, anti-money laundering, fraud detection, marketing optimization, customer intelligence, social media analytics and more.

IDC Predictions 2014 also reported that businesses will direct significantly larger amounts of resources towards Big Data analytic tools and solutions, with worldwide spending in 2014 likely to increase by 30%, surpassing the USD 14 billion mark. Tan noted that, “Using analytics to deliver intelligent actions is not a new approach and we believe that progressive organizations have recognized this. Therefore, we at SAS Malaysia will continue to act as a key enabler to power the operations of different industries as well as help them anticipate and understand their stakeholders better with analytic applications and predictive technologies.”

The rising demand for analytics software and services is also creating a need for big data experts with data mining skills. A McKinsey Global Institute study forecasted a 50 to 60% gap between the supply and demand of people with deep analytical talent. In addressing such an issue, SAS is focused on education to equip the 21st century workforce by supporting education through innovative products and services which improve teaching, learning and administration. One of SAS’ education initiatives in 2014 included a partnership with Sunway University to meet the rising demand for data scientists in Malaysia. SAS Malaysia also introduced its Graduate Development Program, an 18-month curriculum that gives real world experience across industries and analytic solutions to fresh graduates.
In view of the growing market demand for Big Data and analytics in Malaysia, Tan said, “On top providing world-class analytic solutions to improve performance and deliver value to customers, SAS Malaysia is also committed towards building the next generation of data-savvy professionals,” he said.

University Students Armed with Bigger Bytes for 2014

SAS and Sunway University Partner to Meet Rising Demand for Data Scientists in Malaysia

KUALA LUMPUR, February 11, 2014 – A Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between SAS Centre of Analytics and Sunway University was signed to embed an analytics focused program from SAS for students undertaking a BSc (Hons) in Information Systems. The MoU will include a hosting of large scale datasets and analytical models where Sunway University will provide the infrastructure and facilities to proliferate Business Intelligence & Analytics (BIA) skills across students, faculty, and industry professionals. Such capabilities will support academic research in the development of new concepts, methods, systems or applications for BIA skills.

Andrew Tan, Managing Director for SAS Malaysia is confident that the partnership between SAS Malaysia and Sunway University would bring great benefit to not just the students but also Malaysian businesses and organisations. He said, “We can certainly see a strong demand for Big Data technology and analytics in Malaysia over the last few years. Many businesses are starting to realise that they need advanced analytics solutions to stay ahead of the game.” He went on to add, “This of course means that the need for big data experts with data mining skills is only going to increase.”

(From L-R) 
• Lee Munloong, Head of Academic, SAS Malaysia
• Andrew Tan, Managing Director, SAS Malaysia
• Lee Weng Ken, Chief Executive Officer of Education and Healthcare Division, Sunway Group 
• Professor Graeme Wilkinson, Vice Chancellor, Sunway University
• Professor Poh Chit Laa, Dean of Faculty of Science and Technology, Sunway University.

According to studies by the International Data Corporation (IDC), emerging markets, which includes Malaysia, only accounted for just 23% of Big Data generated worldwide in 2010. In 2014, IDC predicts that this amount will grow to 40%and exceed 60% by the year 2020. The study also reports that businesses will direct significantly larger amounts of resources towards Big Data analytic tools and solutions, with worldwide spending in 2014 likely to grow by 30% and pass the USD 14 billion mark.

The discussions for the partnership first started in 2008 and culminated in an official agreement signed in 2010. Over the last few years, the collaboration gradually deepened as SAS and Sunway both continued to work together to provide their respective expertise in helping to produce world-class analytics talent in line with the rapidly-growing market demand.

The latest partnership is a two-prong strategy aimed at helping Sunway University to take the next step in fully integrating its students, teaching staff and faculty members with the latest in Business Intelligence and Analytics (BIA) knowledge and skills. This partnership will firstly include training courses for Sunway University’s teaching staff who will upon completion, acquire the SAS Global Certification Program to provide formal credentials for them to demonstrate good working knowledge of SAS. Sunway University’s faculty will also be supported by SAS in the development of curriculum planning, teaching and research activities in connection with the SAS software.

Chief Executive Officer, Education and Healthcare Division of Sunway Group, Mr. Lee Weng Keng highlighted the importance of having strong partnerships with industry leaders such as SAS in order to provide university students with relevant skills and knowledge. He said, “We have always emphasised on the need to not only uphold but also to continue to uplift the quality of programmes offered here at Sunway University. We are truly committed to ensuring that our students have access to quality tertiary education and upon graduation, which are industry-relevant and also internationally-recognised.”

Further to that, students would also have an unprecedented opportunity to gain practical industry training and experience by enrolling in SAS’ Graduate Development Programme. The industry training programme is a pioneering effort and will be focused on helping fresh graduates to develop a well-rounded overview of the various industries in which BIA play a critical role. Tan pointed out that having business experience is vital to becoming a competent data scientist. He said, “Malaysian businesses need data scientists who have strong BIA skillsets tempered with real-world working experience. The Graduate Development Programme was created with the objective to create a skilled talent pool of capable, experienced and confident data scientists for Malaysian businesses.”

Professor GraemeWilkinson, Vice Chancellor of Sunway University echoed the same sentiment and added that “To further provide skilled talents in demand by the industry and the nation in the analytics domain, Sunway University will also be launching a new degree programme – BSc (Hons) Business Analytics in the near future. This will also serve to further strengthen the relationship between SAS and Sunway University.”

SAP and SAS to Extend the Power of the Real-Time Enterprise with Strategic Partnership

Companies to Deliver Innovative, High-Performance Solutions that Combine SAP HANA® Platform With Industry Applications from SAS

KUALA LUMPUR, October 23, 2013 — SAP AG (NYSE: SAP) and SAS have unveiled a strategic partnership that is expected to advance in-memory data analysis capabilities for businesses across industries. SAP and SAS will partner closely to create a joint technology and product roadmap designed to leverage the SAP HANA® platform and SAS analytics capabilities. By incorporating the in-memory SAP HANA platform into SAS applications and enabling SAS’ industry-proven advanced analytics algorithms to run on SAP HANA, decision makers will have the opportunity to leverage the value of real-time data analysis within their existing SAS and SAP HANA environments. The announcement was made at SAP® TechEd, being held October 21-25 in Las Vegas.

SAP and SAS are leaders for in-memory platform technology, advanced analytics and business applications. The collaboration between SAS and SAP is expected to harness the power of combined platforms while helping to eliminate data movement, duplication and reconciliation. It will also enable massive parallelization of computationally intense workloads, all in-memory, enabling new Big Data solutions that could not previously be delivered.

The in-memory functionality is designed to improve data scientists’ productivity by accelerating model development, iteration and deployment. The single environment for business applications and advanced analytics is expected to also vastly simplify IT landscape, help reduce costs and deliver real-time performance.

“The partnership of SAS, the market-leading advanced analytics provider, with SAP will simplify Big Data and analytics efforts by reducing data movement and allowing for faster decision-making,” said Henry Morris, Senior Vice President, Worldwide Software and Services, Research, IDC. “It can be more efficient to move the model to the data than the data to the model. This relationship will significantly drive value to joint customers.”

SAS and SAP plan to execute a co-sell pilot program to engage select joint customers to validate SAS applications running on SAP HANA. The goal of this program is to build and prioritize the two firms' joint technology throughout 2014, in particular for industries such as financial services, telecommunications, retail, consumer products and manufacturing. The applications are expected to target business areas that require a combination of advanced analytics running on an in-memory platform that will be designed to yield high value results. Such opportunities exist in customer intelligence, risk management, asset management and anti-money laundering, among others.

“Combining the power of SAP HANA platform with SAS advanced analytics applications is the first wave of innovation we plan to deliver to our joint customers,” said Bill McDermott, Co-CEO and member of the Executive Board of SAP AG. “With the powerful capabilities that the two companies plan to deliver jointly, the opportunities are endless.”

In-memory functionality allows businesses the ability to handle large data sources while also supporting real-time analytics.

“SAS and SAP can help companies manage the massive volumes of information they are constantly dealing with and make sense out of it,” said Jim Goodnight, SAS CEO. “Between our two companies, we have the expertise and the products to help ensure that our customers can see and act on the power of performing advanced data analysis within their database and not outside of it.”

Cloud-Power to Drive SAS Business Analytics to New Heights

New SAS 9.4 Platform to Broaden Reach of Analytics to More Malaysian Businesses and Organisations

KUALA LUMPUR, September 4, 2013 – SAS Malaysia recently unveiled the SAS 9.4 update to SAS’ Business Analytics platform. Malaysian businesses now have more deployment options for their analytics solutions. On top of the traditional on-premise deployment, the latest update now unlocks the ability for businesses to choose between public, private or even SAS-hosted cloud solutions for unrivalled flexibility in rolling out SAS’ analytics solutions.

The latest update comes on the back of strong demand for powerful, robust analytics solutions to cope with the deluge of information that businesses and organisations globally are faced with. The American Bankers Association for example revealed that businesses around the world process more than 10,000 payment card transactions in just one second alone. Consequently, IDG recently reported that the Big Data technology and services market in the Asia-Pacific region excluding Japan is projected to grow from USD 258.5 million in 2011 to a staggering USD 1.76 billion in 2016.

Andrew Tan, Managing Director for SAS Malaysia expects the local demand for analytics solutions to grow in tandem with that within the region. He said, “Malaysian businesses are struggling to manage the information they have today and want the ability to produce insights faster while managing costs related to information management. SAS 9.4 with its cloud deployment option addresses the cost as well as speed issues.”

Tan is also confident that the new update would enable more companies to take advantage of SAS’ powerful analytics solutions. He said, “SAS 9.4 brings with it a whole new level of flexibility which will give Malaysian businesses much easier access to SAS’ suite of analytics software.”

“As in any significant technology implementation, there are many aspects to consider in order to ensure a smooth progress, particularly when cloud deployment is involved. With SAS 9.4’s built-in cloud capabilities, companies can focus on unlocking the potential of their information troves in the quickest, most efficient and effective way catered to their unique needs and requirements,” added Tan.

With new SAS programming languages, tools and improved interfaces which are part of the SAS 9.4 update, Malaysian businesses can expect faster model development, deployment and response times for SAS’ solutions. This is coupled with enhanced administration capabilities which would help to quickly and accurately highlight sources of failure.

One of the first products to build on the SAS 9.4 foundation and take advantage of cloud deployment is SAS Visual Analytics. As the number of SAS Visual Analytics customers continues to grow both locally and internationally - now more than 200 worldwide - so does the demand for new features. This latest release of this data visualisation software, the third in just over a year, includes a wide range of upgrades.

“Businesses operating in highly-competitive industries such as banking, FMCG (fast moving consumer goods), retail and insurance rely significantly on analytics capabilities to stay ahead of the competition,” said Tan. “With the SAS 9.4 update, we have made SAS’ Visual Analytics more accessible than ever before. Now every employee can harness the power of analytics to make informed business decisions.”

SAS Visual Analytics forecasting support, now with powerful new scenario analysis capabilities, adds prescriptive analytics to existing descriptive and predictive analytics, helping organisations rapidly and easily move to more advanced uses of analytics.

Among the enhancements in SAS Visual Analytics:

    Analytics: support for scenario analysis and decision trees.
    Reporting: more graphical themes and custom theme definitions, enhanced progressive filtering, ability to define custom graph templates, expanded report linking.
    Mobile: increased collaboration with annotation markups and sharing, integration with mobile device management.
    Security: improved flexibility in setting permissions.
    Server platform: new support for Windows 64-bit, in addition to Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6 and SuSE Enterprise Linux Server 11.

For more information or to try an interactive demonstration of the software, please visit the SAS Visual Analytics Web pages. For a look at all SAS 9.4 offers, please read an in-depth description of the new platform.

Cloud-Power to Drive SAS Business Analytics to New Heights

New SAS 9.4 Platform to Broaden Reach of Analytics to More Malaysian Businesses and Organisations
KUALA LUMPUR, August 21, 2013 – SAS Malaysia recently unveiled the SAS 9.4 update to SAS’ Business Analytics platform. Malaysian businesses now have more deployment options for their analytics solutions. On top of the traditional on-premise deployment, the latest update now unlocks the ability for businesses to choose between public, private or even SAS-hosted cloud solutions for unrivalled flexibility in rolling out SAS’ analytics solutions.

The latest update comes on the back of strong demand for powerful, robust analytics solutions to cope with the deluge of information that businesses and organisations globally are faced with. The American Bankers Association for example revealed that businesses around the world process more than 10,000 payment card transactions in just one second alone. Consequently, IDG recently reported that the Big Data technology and services market in the Asia-Pacific region excluding Japan is projected to grow from USD 258.5 million in 2011 to a staggering USD 1.76 billion in 2016.

Andrew Tan, Managing Director for SAS Malaysia expects the local demand for analytics solutions to grow in tandem with that within the region. He said, “Malaysian businesses are struggling to manage the information they have today and want the ability to produce insights faster while managing costs related to information management. SAS 9.4 with its cloud deployment option addresses the cost as well as speed issues.”

Tan is also confident that the new update would enable more companies to take advantage of SAS’ powerful analytics solutions. He said, “SAS 9.4 brings with it a whole new level of flexibility which will give Malaysian businesses much easier access to SAS’ suite of analytics software.”

“As in any significant technology implementation, there are many aspects to consider in order to ensure a smooth progress, particularly when cloud deployment is involved. With SAS 9.4’s built-in cloud capabilities, companies can focus on unlocking the potential of their information troves in the quickest, most efficient and effective way catered to their unique needs and requirements,” added Tan.

With new SAS programming languages, tools and improved interfaces which are part of the SAS 9.4 update, Malaysian businesses can expect faster model development, deployment and response times for SAS’ solutions. This is coupled with enhanced administration capabilities which would help to quickly and accurately highlight sources of failure.

One of the first products to build on the SAS 9.4 foundation and take advantage of cloud deployment is SAS Visual Analytics. As the number of SAS Visual Analytics customers continues to grow both locally and internationally - now more than 200 worldwide - so does the demand for new features. This latest release of this data visualisation software, the third in just over a year, includes a wide range of upgrades.

“Businesses operating in highly-competitive industries such as banking, FMCG (fast moving consumer goods), retail and insurance rely significantly on analytics capabilities to stay ahead of the competition,” said Tan. “With the SAS 9.4 update, we have made SAS’ Visual Analytics more accessible than ever before. Now every employee can harness the power of analytics to make informed business decisions.”

SAS Visual Analytics forecasting support, now with powerful new scenario analysis capabilities, adds prescriptive analytics to existing descriptive and predictive analytics, helping organisations rapidly and easily move to more advanced uses of analytics.

Among the enhancements in SAS Visual Analytics:
• Analytics: support for scenario analysis and decision trees.
• Reporting: more graphical themes and custom theme definitions, enhanced progressive filtering, ability to define custom graph templates, expanded report linking.
• Mobile: increased collaboration with annotation markups and sharing, integration with mobile device management.
• Security: improved flexibility in setting permissions.
• Server platform: new support for Windows 64-bit, in addition to Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6 and SuSE Enterprise Linux Server 11.

Among the first customers in Malaysia to recognise the value of SAS Visual Analytics was local telco U Mobile Sdn Bhd. As one of Malaysia’s most dynamic and innovative 3G mobile operator, U Mobile believed that Visual Analytics would help the company to make better informed decisions across the entire organisation, which would lead to better service offerings for its customers.

“By equipping the innovation, service development, sales and marketing departments with modern analytics capabilities, we want to bring a whole new level of  enhanced mobile services to Malaysian consumers that help them ‘live connected’ and meet their different usage needs and requirements,” said Jaffa Sany Ariffin, Chief Executive Officer of U Mobile.

For more information or to try an interactive demonstration of the software, please visit the SAS Visual Analytics Web pages. For a look at all SAS 9.4 offers, please read an in-depth description of the new platform.

Today's announcement was first made at SAS Global Forum 2013, the world's premier analytics conference and the largest gathering of SAS users, attended by more than 4,000 business and IT users of SAS software and solutions.

Bank Muamalat Malaysia Berhad Works with SAS to Implement All-New Credit Scoring Solution

SAS’ Credit Scoring for Banking to provide Bank Muamalat with superior data collection and management capabilities to enhance customer engagement and facilitation

KUALA LUMPUR, May 27, 2013 – Bank Muamalat, one of Malaysia’s leading Islamic Financial providers, and SAS Malaysia, the leader in business analytics software and services, today announced the integration of SAS’ Credit Scoring technology into Bank Muamalat’s operations in Malaysia, a strategic initiative which will allow bank executives to employ more consistent, transparent and objective credit evaluation tools.

“As any prudent business leader would know, managing risk is a delicate yet all important aspect of business. The Credit Scoring solution provided by SAS will allow us to assign scores to credit applications as well as existing accounts using the very latest technology available while simultaneously ensuring that we are able to benchmark with internationally recognised standards at all times,” said Dato’ Hj. Mohd Redza Shah Abdul Wahid, Chief Executive Officer of Bank Muamalat Malaysia Berhad.

Andrew Tan, Managing Director of SAS Malaysia.

The SAS Credit Scoring solution utilises the very latest in data analytics technology to enable lenders to rapidly develop, validate, deploy and monitor credit scorecards in a low-risk and integrated business environment in a faster, cost effective and far more flexible method than previously possible. The solution enables application and behavioural scoring for virtually all lending products and will be utilised to assist Bank Muamalat executives across its Business Banking, Consumer Banking, Credit Assessment, Regional Approving Centre and Risk Management departments.

En. Mohd. Asri Awang, Chief Risk Officer, added that “By equipping our executives with these modern analytics capabilities we aim to provide enhanced customer engagement experiences not only to existing customers but will also allow us to embark on developing more proactive and personalised solutions to new customers so as to meet with their unique credit needs and requirements.”

The big data technology and services industry continues to grow in prominence throughout the Asia Pacific as more and more businesses continue to appreciate the role and value of insights from data in making successful business decisions. Projections by the research firm IDC places the projected value of the industry throughout APAC to be in the region of a staggering USD 1.76 billion by 2016, which in turn would serve as a significant catalyst to business returns throughout the region.

“With consumers becoming increasingly discerning with purchase decisions, it is vital for businesses to maintain a clear appreciation of market interests and trends, and to be able to do so at all times. Data has thus become one of the most important commodities of our times, with the business that is able to transform insights from data into executable solutions, services or products to customers most effectively and efficiently likely to gain a significant competitive edge over competitors,” said Mr. Andrew Tan, Managing Director of SAS Malaysia.

As the world’s leader in business analytics software and services, SAS solutions provide business executives with effective and actionable information by sifting through the Variability and Complexity of big data to make real-time decision making processes a reality.

“Unlike previous solutions and practices where business teams would need to work through IT departments to gain insights from technology, our analytics solutions are designed so that relevant information is put directly into the hands of relevant decision makers which ensures that businesses are able to truly capitalise on their data assets,” said Tan.

U Mobile and SAS Partner to Drive New Mobile Growth

SAS’ Visual Analytics to Power U Mobile’s User Experience and Enhance Business Decision-Making
KUALA LUMPUR, April 2, 2013 – U Mobile Sdn Bhd, Malaysia’s most dynamic and innovative 3G mobile operator and SAS Malaysia, the leader in business analytics software and services, today announced the integration of SAS’ Visual Analytics solution into U Mobile’s operations in Malaysia. This strategic business move will allow its executives immediate access to real-time consumer behaviour data for significantly more informed business decisions.

At the signing ceremony, Jaffa Sany Ariffin, Chief Executive Officer of U Mobile highlighted the exciting new opportunities for growth afforded by the new capabilities enhancement. He said, “We have always focused on taking bold, innovative and strategic steps in our business direction. With the addition of powerful analytics capabilities to our operations, we are confident of continuing our strategic direction of expanding our business and increasing our market share in Malaysia.”

Andrew Tan (left), Managing Director of SAS Malaysia and Jaffa Sany Ariffin (right), Chief Executive Officer of U Mobile Sdn Bhd shaking hands after officially signing the partnership documents at the signing ceremony in Le Meridien Kuala Lumpur.

The initial phase of the integration of SAS’ Visual Analytics encompasses U Mobile’s marketing, product development and sales departments. Jaffa outlined the company’s commitment to ensuring that consumers are first in line to benefit from U Mobile’s capabilities enhancement.

“As consumers continue to seek ever increasing levels of service experience, it is vital for industry players to remain on top of market trends and opportunities. Through SAS’ Visual Analytics, we will have an in-depth analysis of our customers’ profiling, behaviour and usage patterns which will enable U Mobile to be more proactive in analysing and understanding our customers better and continue offering them relevant quality mobile and customer experience,” he said.

He went on to add, “By equipping the innovation, service development, sales and marketing departments with modern analytics capabilities, we want to bring a whole new level of  enhanced mobile services to Malaysian consumers that help them ‘live connected’ and meet their different usage needs and requirements.”
U Mobile expects Visual Analytics to lead to better-informed decision making across the business, as executives now have fast access to important company data wherever they are. The partnership with SAS Malaysia perfectly positions U Mobile to make better-informed business decisions moving forward.

With the big data technology and services industry in Asia Pacific projected by IDC to reach a staggering USD 1.76 billion by 2016, SAS believes that there is significant demand for big data analytics in the Malaysian market.

Andrew Tan, Managing Director of SAS Malaysia is certain that analytics will play an increasingly critical role for Malaysian businesses that deal with large amounts of information.

“Analytics offers a powerful means for businesses to capitalise on their data assets, and SAS’ deep expertise in analytics has helped many businesses mine big data to find new opportunities and drive better business results,” said Tan.

SAS expects Visual Analytics to provide significant competitive advantages for U Mobile. Tan shared his confidence that U Mobile would benefit greatly from the integration. He said, “Visual Analytics puts the power of advanced analytics tools such as correlation, regression and forecasting into the hands of U Mobile’s executives, without them requiring any pre-requisite knowledge on coding. With this, tasks that previously would have required significant IT manpower such as market trend predictions and sales analysis comparisons can now be done on mobile devices by the executives themselves in a fraction of the time that it used to take.”

He went on to add, “Key to the user-friendliness of Visual Analytics is the auto-charting feature which automatically choses the best format to visualise information so that U Mobile executives can easily understand insights, trends and correlations hidden in vast amounts of information.  Furthermore, Visual Analytics is accessible from a variety of web-enabled devices including the iPad, enabling U Mobile executives to access critical business information wherever they are and at all times.”


U Mobile和SAS合作推动全新流动成长
SAS的可视化分析 增强U Mobile用户体验以及加强业务经营决策

吉隆坡2013年4月2日讯 – U Mobile Sdn Bhd，这家马来西亚最具活力和创新的3G流动营运商，和商业分析软件和服务领导公司SAS Malaysia今天宣布整合SAS的可视化分析解决方案在马来西亚U Mobile的业务中。

在签约仪式上，U Mobile 的首席执行员Jaffa Sany Ariffin着重强调了全新能力的增强所带来令人振奋的另一个增长机会。他说：“我们在我们的业务方向始终专注在采取大胆的措施、创新以及策略性步骤。当我们的业务有了额外的强大分析能力，我们有信心可以持续扩大我们的业务以及提升我们在马来西亚市场份额的这些策略方向。”

SAS可视化分析的初始阶段整合包括U Mobile的行销部（marketing）、产品发展部（product development）以及营业部（sales）。Jaffa概述了公司的承诺来确保消费者将会是第一个在U Mobile能力增强上受惠的单位。

 “随着消费者持续寻求层次不断增加的服务体验，该领域的公司在市场趋势和机会上保持首要地位显得至关重要。通过SAS的可视化分析，我们将会对我们客户的特性、习性以及使用习惯有一个深入的分析，它将让U Mobile更加积极主动在分析和理解我们的客户，并继续地为他们提供相关的高素质和客户体验。”他表示。

他补充道：“通过创新的装置，服务发展部、营业部以及行销部都备有了现代化的分析能力，我们要为马来西亚的消费者在增强式的流动服务上带来一个全新的层次，协助他们获得‘即时联系’（live connected）以迎合他们不同的使用需求。”

U Mobile期望可视化分析可以致使整个商业中有更明智的决策，因为执行人员现在无论在何处都可以更快速地存取重要的公司数据。与SAS Malaysia的合作关系足以完美地把U Mobile定位来作出明智的业务决策来向前发展。

根据IDC数据显示，亚太区域的巨大数据技术和服务工业在2016年将会达到惊人的17.6亿美元，因此SAS相信巨大数据分析在马来西亚市场具有显著的需求。

马来西亚SAS董事经理Andrew Tan深信分析学对那些处理大量资讯的马来西亚业者中将扮演着日益重要的角色。

 “分析学为公司提供一个强大的方法来利用他们的数据资产，而SAS深厚的分析学专业知识帮助了许多业者挖掘了大量数据来寻找全新的商机以及推动更好的业务成果。”Andrew Tan说道。

SAS期望可视化分析可以为U  Mobile提供显著的竞争优势。Andrew Tan表达了他对U  Mobile将会在这次整合上受惠不浅的信心。他说道：“可视化分析中强大的先进分析功能工具譬如对比式（correlation）、衰退式（regression）以及预测（forecasting）都提供给U Mobile的执行人员，无须任何事先编码相关知识。有了这些机制，先前需要显著的IT人力的工作譬如市场趋势预测、营业分析比较现在都可以由执行人员自己通过流动设备以一小段时间完成。”

他继续补充道：“可视化分析的人性化关键在于其自动图表功能，将会自动选择最佳的格式来可视化资讯，而U Mobile的执行人员可以简单地了解在大量资讯中所隐藏的洞察、趋势以及对比。此外，可视化分析可以从各种网络功能设备譬如iPad来连接，让U Mobile的执行人员无论在何处都可以存取重要的公司资讯。”

SAS Malaysia Offers New Visual Analytics Solution to Malaysian Businesses

SAS Brings Powerful, Easy-to-Use, Cost-Effective Business Analytics Tools to Working Professionals’ Fingertips

KUALA LUMPUR, February 21, 2013 – SAS Malaysia, the leader in business analytics software and services today announced that it is offering a new self-service analytics solution that would enable Malaysian businesses to turn large amounts of data into valuable insight faster than ever before. With the introduction of the new SAS Visual Analytics solution, Malaysian businesses and organisations can now benefit from a combination of the world’s leading analytics, quick setup, low barrier of entry and a comprehensive yet intuitive self-service analytics model.

Andrew Tan, Managing Director of SAS Malaysia says SAS Visual Analytics is a ‘game changer’ for Malaysian businesses as it enables business users to quickly derive key insights from vast amounts of data running through their business in an instant. He said, “With Visual Analytics, executives now have access to advanced analytics tools such as correlation, regression and forecasting without needing any prior coding-related knowledge. In fact, the auto-charting feature is even capable of automatically choosing the right analytics or reports based on the data provided in order to yield the most relevant insights from them.”

“SAS Visual Analytics makes advanced analytics accessible to every employee and executive so that everyone can use data in every business decision.  This will change the decision-making process dramatically as executives are able to make data driven decisions faster than ever before.”

Queenie Wong (right), Practice Lead for Information Management and High-Performance Analytics for SAS Malaysia together with Damian Lim (left), Senior Consultant for Information Management, Sales Support for SAS Malaysia during the recent SAS Visual Analytics launch at Le Meridien Kuala Lumpur.

“Any business that is competing in a hyper-competitive industry like banking, insurance, retail, FMCG (fast moving consumer goods), telecommunications and manufacturing will need analytics at its fingertips to survive and thrive,” says Tan.

Tan says the possibilities are endless. “A telco could predict the future growth in its broadband network, thereby helping it to plan its capex investments as the demand grows. Marketers can predict the likely outcome of their marketing campaigns, enabling them to focus only on campaigns that produce the highest responses, and bankers and insurers can study fraudulent patterns and proactively design measures to catch fraudsters before they even commit a crime, saving them millions.”

“In another scenario, law-enforcement agencies can analyse real-time data of criminal activities, identify patterns in criminal activities and predict crime before it happens. This would significantly increase law enforcement agencies’ effectiveness and also speed of response.”

With the big data technology and services industry in Asia Pacific projected by IDC to reach a staggering USD 1.76 billion by 2016, SAS believes that there is significant demand for big data analytics in the Malaysian market. Tan shared that in 2012, SAS secured three clients for its Visual Analytics solution including a major bank, a major telco and a major local conglomerate. Other customers worldwide who have started to uncover business insights with SAS Visual Analytics are XL Group, SM Marketing Convergence Inc., the Internal Revenue Service, Hong Kong Efficiency Unit and Cosmos Bank.
 
SAS had originally introduced Visual Analytics in March 2012. The earlier release specifically takes advantage of blade computing systems and also database appliances from EMC Greenplum and Teradata. The new version released today is aimed at hardware platforms typically used as departmental-size servers, merging the power of Visual Analytics with the cost-effectiveness of running smaller-scale, departmental software solutions.

Tan underscored the importance of making analytics technologies available at different price points and for all data sizes. “Together with the quick, intuitive and user-friendly interface, SAS Visual Analytics is the perfect starting point for companies still uncertain as to how they can best leverage big data to powerfully drive business growth.” He went on to add, “This option allows companies to start small, quickly yield results then scale up their investments based on real ROI.”

SAS expects the new Visual Analytics solution to drive adoption of analytics technologies amongst companies that are keen to maximise the value of their information. “There is certainly much interest in the adoption of data analytics technologies and services, and today’s launch ties in squarely with the rising need for simple, straightforward and yet powerful analytics solution across businesses of all sizes. We’re confident that Visual Analytics will spur increased adoption of analytics solutions as we move ahead this year,” said Tan.

SAS’s latest Visual Analytics solution makes it significantly easier for every employee or member of a business or organisation to directly access huge amounts of data and self-derive critical insights, all at previously-impossible speed and ease. Leveraging the fast and powerful in-memory server module known as SAS® LASR™, users can easily create, calculate and digest complex calculations on-the-fly, visualise the relevant data via web and mobile devices, all without the need for help from IT administrators. Additional elements such as centralised Web-based management of the work environment further lighten the load of IT administrators by helping them to maintain control over company data without negatively impacting business productivity and flexibility.


马来西亚SAS提供崭新可视化分析解决方案给马来西亚企业
SAS带来强大、容易使用、成本效益的企业分析工具，全面惠及工作的专业人员。

2013年2月21日—商业分析软件和服务领导公司马来西亚SAS今天宣布它提供了一个全新的自助服务分析解决方案，它可以让马来西亚企业把庞大的数据量空前地快速转成有价值的洞察。通过全新SAS可视化分析解决方案的推介，马来西亚企业和公司现在可以从一个结合了世界领导级分析、快速设置、低门栏以及一个全面且直观自助服务模型中受惠。

马来西亚SAS董事经理Andrew Tan表示SAS可视化分析是一个为马来西亚企业而设的“改变游戏规则”（‘game changer’）工具，它让企业用户直接通过他们的业务中，快速地从大量数据中获得关键的洞察。他说道：“有了可视化分析，执行人员现在可以获得更进阶的分析工具譬如对比式（correlation）、衰退式（regression）以及可以在无须任何事先编码相关知识就可获得预测（forecasting）。事实上，它的自动图标功能甚至能够根据所提供的数据中，自动选择正确的分析或报告，以便从中产生最相关的洞察。”

 “SAS可视化分析让每名员工或执行人员都可使用进阶分析，因此每个人都可以在每个业务决策上使用数据。这将会更显著地改变决策过程，因为执行人员可以空前快速地用数据来驱动决策。”

 “任何在高度竞争领域中竞争的企业如银行、保险、零售、快速消费品（fast moving consumer goods FMCG）、电讯和制造业将需要精通分析来生存和发展。”Andrew Tan说道。

Andrew Tan 表示可能性是无限的。“一家电讯公司预测其宽频网络的未来成长，从而帮助根据市场需求的成长来计划其资本支出投资。营销人员可以预测他们营销活动的结果，让他们专注在那些能够带来高度回应的营销活动；而银行以及保险公司可以学习欺诈模式，并积极地制定措施赶上欺诈者的步伐，在他们还未犯罪前就节省了数百万元。”

 “在另一种情况下，执法机构可以分析违法犯罪活动的实时数据，识别犯罪活动的模式并在罪案发生前有所防范。这将显著地增加执法机构的效率和反应的速度。”

根据IDC数据显示，亚太区域的巨大数据技术和服务工业在2016年将会达到惊人的17.6亿美元，因此SAS相信巨大数据分析在马来西亚市场具有显著的需求。Andrew Tan也分享了在2012年，SAS获得了三个客户使用可视化分析解决方案，包括一家主要银行、一家主要电讯商以及一家本地主要的企业集团。全球其他已经通过SAS可视化分析来掀开业务洞察的客户包括XL Group、SM Marketing Convergence Inc.、Internal Revenue Service、Hong Kong Efficiency Unit以及Cosmos Bank。

SAS原本在2012年3月就推出了可视化分析。早期的版本特定地利用刀片电脑系统（blade computing systems）以及还有 EMC Greenplum和Teradata的数据库设备。今天所推介的全新版本是针对一般用作部门服务器的硬体平台而设，通过运行小型、部门式软件解决方案的成本效益，结合在可视化分析威力上。

Andrew Tan强调在不同价格点和所有数据的大小中使用分析技术的重要性。“具备了快速直观和人性化的界面，对于那些公司还未确定他们如何能够最好地利用庞大数据来有力地推动业务增长来说，SAS可视化分析对于他们来说是完美的起点。”他继续补充道：“这个选项允许公司从小着手，并迅速得到结果，然后根据正式的投资回报（ROI）来扩大投资。”

SAS期望全新的可视化分析解决方案在各企业之间受到采用，特别是那些企业渴望可以尽用他们资料的价值。“毫无疑问，数据分析技术和服务的采用将带来许多利益，而今天的发布对于任何规模的企业都可以精准地迎合他们日益在简单、直接以及强大的分析解决方案上的需求。”Andrew Tan说道。

SAS最新的可视化分析解决方案显著地让一个业务或企业中的员工或人员更容易地直接获得庞大数据以及自获的关键洞察，全部运行在空前的速度和便利上。凭着快速和强大的储存服务器模组（in-memory server module），俗称SAS® LASR™，用户可以容易地建立、计算和整理复杂的实时计算，通过网页和流动设备可视化相关数据，全数都无须IT管理员的帮助。其他元素譬如工作环境的集中式网页管理进一步减轻IT管理员的负载，帮助他们维持对公司数据的控制，不会负面地影响企业的生产力和灵活性。

贷担保机构（CGC）采用SAS的风险管理解决方案

计划采用动态式风险管理解决方案系统来更有效地评估商业风险

八打灵再也,26日讯- 大马信贷担保机构（CGC）选择大马SAS，领先的商业分析软件供应商的服务，来提升其整体风险管理制度和中小型企业（SME）的投资管理范围。

随着采用SAS一系列的科技解决方案，如SAS企业管理， SAS 金融管理 和　ＳＡＳ商业分析，CGC欲提升其数据风险管理和分析效率。ＳＡＳ科技解决方案统一了ＣＧＣ的风险数据库，只要当有任何显示触及ＣＧＣ已设置的风险规则，ＳＡＳ方案很快就会触发警报，快速识别其贷款申请的潜在风险，间接地提升更有效的贷款质量。

此系统透过主动式的风险监控和警信来减低在贷款申请核准上的风险。

“ＣＧＣ的信贷风险和业务管理系统，将使我们更有效地监控信贷风险，　并提供更好的信贷质量和整体风险管理，”CGC总经理拿督萬阿茲哈表示。　

拿督萬阿茲哈还表示，选择运用动态风险管理系统反映出了ＣＧＣ欲扩展其业务致所有的经济领域的决心。“有了高信贷风险监测的方案，ＣＧＣ将能更有效地管理其中小型企业的多元化投资组合，并将融资服务提供予更最可信赖的企业家。”

拿督萬阿茲哈进一步强调，更快及可靠的风险报告制度也有效地改善了公司的贷款服务质量，　从而提供更优质的信贷服务予中小型企业，而中小型企业也已被认定为一个重要的经济领域。

“在过去35年来，我们已成功运用了商业科技分析软件帮助了不少类似CGC的企业们达致其商业目标，”大马SAS总经理陈德伟表示。 “我们也见证ＣＧＣ从风险分析与报告软件的运用上获益不浅。”

陈德伟补充道，“SAS科技软件有助于减低风险识别上的错误，同时认证出其针对风险的因素，并且最重要的是解决了一项巨大的挑战，那就是同时整合了位于不同系统的数据和专案报告。”

随着采用ＳＡＳ已经认证的商业科技分析软件，　ＣＧＣ更有信心通过其信用风险和操作管理系统，　来巩固其作为全国领先的中小企业信贷担保机构的地位。

Malaysian retailers projected to remain progressive in 2009

Opportunities abound within retail industry in making the best out of the economic crisis

KUALA LUMPUR, MALAYSIA (Feb. 25, 2009) − SAS Malaysia, the leader in Business Analytics and the largest independent Business Intelligence Vendor, partnered with Retail Group Malaysia, to provide an update on the state of Malaysia’s retail industry in the midst of the current economic crisis.

Tan Hai Hsin, the Managing Director of Retail Group Malaysia, believes that although the Malaysian retail industry is projected to grow at a slower pace this year as compared to 5 percent in 2008, the actual competitive retail landscape in Malaysia will remain robust.

“Despite what retailers hear and fear about the economic crisis, there remain tremendous retail opportunities in 2009, and businesses can remain profitable if they can anticipate shifting trends in consumer spending”, Hai Hsin added.

Apart from providing insights on consumer behaviour in the country, Hai Hsin also gave a forecast for 2009 as well as the opportunities in the market despite the current difficulties that many retailers face today.

Also present at the press conference was Luke Soon, the practice leader of Customer Intelligence for SAS Asia Pacific. He emphasized the importance of applying analytics on customer data from loyalty programs to better understand shopper’s purchase insights.

“As competition between retailers heat up in trying to capture and retain customers at a time when wallets are being tightened, powerful analytics is becoming necessary in helping retailers better understand customer demand”, said Soon.

By leveraging predictive analytics, retailers are able to understand their customers’ needs more accurately through strategic customer segmentation. It also assists them in deciding on the next best offer of products and services to their customers in their cross sell and up sell activities.

“Customers today are more demanding, whereby they expect retailers to know what recommendations will match their interests. When that expectation is not met, a valuable opportunity is missed,” Soon added

Bernard Solomon, Director of Commercial Practice explained that by applying analytics for targeted marketing in their loyalty programs, retailers can better anticipate and cater to its customers’ needs with more relevant shopping campaigns.

The loyalty programs are also used to strengthen the customer relationship management (CRM) initiatives such as proactive customer retention to minimize the churn or attrition of their customers.

“The current economic climate has resulted in a shift in consumer’s buying behaviour. Retailers who have data recording these patterns and who know how to use it have immense possibilities,” he added.

SAS achieves record revenue: $2.26 billion in 2008

Malaysian operations retains 99% customers in 2008, clientele base expected to grow 30% in 2009

KUALA LUMPUR, MALAYSIA (Feb. 11, 2009) – Despite the worst economic crisis in years, business analytics leader SAS continued its unbroken chain of growth in 2008, logging global revenue of US$2.26 billion, up 5.1 percent over 2007 results. It is the 33rd straight year of revenue growth for the company in the worst economy most can remember.

In Malaysia, growing and retaining its customer base are key priorities to remaining resilient according to SAS Malaysia Managing Director Jimmy Cheah.

“To date, we have successfully retained 99 per cent of our customers. This is testament to our successful strategy that is based on listening to our customers, exceeding delivery and ROI expectations.” said Cheah.
“Even in a challenging economy, we are continuously looking at opportunities in new market segments and expect our customer base to grow by 30 per cent this year.”

SAS’ recorded strongest growth in analytics, data mining and solutions that help organizations keep current customers and win new ones, manage risk and optimize processes. Notable clients in Malaysia for 2008 include Tesco Stores, F&N Coca Cola, EON Bank, Royal Bank of Scotland, Penang Adventist Hospital, Hospital KPJ and Lembaga Hasil Dalam Negeri.

“Although we are projecting a softer 2009, we expect the growth trend to continue as organisations increase their need for business analytics for customer, information, risk and performance management. In turbulent times, there is a greater need than ever for customers to understand what drives costs, profit and value to their organization,” said Cheah.

Driven by the challenging economic climate, customers globally turned to SAS’ market-leading business analytics to derive money-saving and money-making insights from ever-growing volumes of data. Globally, risk management solutions revenue were up 28 percent, and optimization software sales increased 18 percent. Total revenue from analytics and data mining rose more than 15 percent.

Although the economy is predicted to remain challenging throughout the first half of 2009, SAS will not curtail its research and development investments. Instead, the company will continue to innovate its technology and solutions that will help customers improve performance. SAS will continue to roll out enhancements and deliver new solutions in the areas of fraud, customer insight, risk and analytics as part of a business analytics framework.

Penang Adventist Hospital speeds up financial decision making with SAS

PENANG, 17th December, 2008 – Penang Adventist Hospital (PAH), a not-for-profit healthcare provider has today announced that it has invested in SAS® Financial Management Solution to help speed up its financial and budgeting processes to ensure it continues to give the best healthcare services while keeping medical fees at an affordable rate.

Speaking at the signing ceremony with SAS Malaysia today, Dato’ Teddric Jon Mohr, President and Chief Executive Officer of Penang Adventist Hospital said SAS Financial Management will also be used to enhance planning and budgeting functionalities to address detailed business requirements to meet present and future needs. Prior to acquiring SAS Financial Management Solution, PAH’s finance department has been doing its financial planning and budgeting process manually, which were very extensive and time-consuming. Many of their key resources had to be locked down on a regular basis to go through the tedious planning and budgeting process cycle.

“The SAS Financial Management Solution will not only cut time and energy needed for budgetary and planning, but with the projected increase in business transactions volumes, our finance department will be able to act as ‘strategic advisor’ in the administration of PAH,” remarked Mohr.

The PAH management also liked the fact that SAS has a strong local presence in Malaysia to work collaboratively with its customers, both directly and through its channels’ partners. Selatan Systems Advisory, the strategic channel partner for SAS in Malaysia’s northern region played a key role in servicing and helping to meet PAH’s expectations and requirements.

Despite being a not-for-profit hospital, PAH always believes in investing in the best; be it in healthcare systems or medical equipments while keeping medical fees at an affordable rate.

“PAH chose SAS because of its advanced analytics and Business Intelligence (BI) solution for healthcare industry, domain knowledge, industry-specific customer reference in Malaysia and globally, and prudent partnership program. We are happy to be signing and sealing the agreement with them today,” said Mohr.

Jimmy Cheah, Managing Director of SAS Malaysia said, “With the challenging times, healthcare providers are increasingly looking for ways to reduce expenses and improve operational effectiveness. We are honored to be selected by PAH for this collaboration as it is a testament to SAS’ capability and commitment in meeting customers’ expectations.”

International Islamic University builds world-class reputation with help from SAS

KUALA LUMPUR, December 15, 2008 - International Islamic University Malaysia (IIUM) has today announced the successful implementation of SAS® Strategic Performance Management, to automate its balanced scorecard and help execute its strategy to become a world-class teaching and research institute. The solution has been such a success that in September 2008 the Palladium Group inducted IIUM into its Balanced Scorecard Hall of Fame for Executing Strategy for achieving an execution premium.

“The scorecard translates the IIUM strategic plan into day-to-day activities. It shows the cause-and-effect relationships so that a staff member not only knows what to do, but also knows why getting grants or earning a patent is important in achieving the university’s objectives,’’ remarked Professor Dato’ Dr. Mohd Azmi Omar, Chairman of the IIUM BSC Core team and Dean of Office of Corporate Strategy and Quality Assurance.

In fact, with SAS Strategic Performance Management, the university’s balanced scorecard process will allow more than 50 administrators and department heads to monitor and manage performance quarterly.

The easy access to the KPIs has helped IIUM make speedy and accurate decisions. It previously took more than a week to generate the report. Now it can be accessed at anytime. It also takes much less time for the staff to generate the report.

Before this, the manual system was time-consuming, expensive and difficult to quickly get the information to staff members throughout the university. “We had to pay the vendor each time we wanted a new report, and it was very time-consuming,’’ Professor Dato’ Dr. Azmi explained.

“After three years of manual reporting, we believed it was time for us to automate the entire process,’’ enthused. Professor Dato’ Dr. Azmi. “Especially now that we are bringing the information directly to all faculties and support divisions.”

IIUM credits SAS with helping it reach its goal of having more of its faculty members recognized as experts in their fields as well as demonstrating efficiency in allocating budget.

Founded in 1983, IIUM now has four campuses with more than 20,000 students from 90 countries studying management, engineering, technology, medicine and the humanities. In 2001, university administrators adopted a strategic plan to raise the stature of the university. It began using the balanced scorecard approach in 2003 to measure focus areas like teaching efficiency ratings, student employability, patents granted and grants received. The university also measures cost per student.

IIUM chose SAS because of its expertise in data integration and its certification through the Balanced Scorecard Collaborative. University officials also liked the fact that SAS has offices in Malaysia and is known for working collaboratively with its customers. It was also impressed with the work and efficiency of SAS partner Marff Resources Sdn Bhd.

SAS Strategic Performance Management has done exactly what the university expected: deliver information quickly (quarterly vs. every six months) to employees throughout the university.

By being able to communicate the university’s vision staffers are rising to the challenge.

In four years, grants increased more than 400 percent, patents doubled, publications nearly tripled and faculty members recognized as experts in their fields grew from 10 to 40 percent. The university has done all of this while reducing the cost per student and increasing the revenue and profits of the university’s business wings. Those profits are channeled back to the university as additional funds.

“Now that we have benefited from SAS Strategic Performance Management, we wished we had embarked on the project much earlier,’’ Dato’ Ahmad Zailan Shaari, the Chief Finance Officer cum the Deputy Chairman of the IIUM BSC Core team said. “It would have saved our effort and time of producing Reports which was previously prepared and consolidated manually.”

The university’s efforts have been recognized by Prof. Dr. Robert Kaplan, the creator of BSC methodology from Harvard University. “He was impressed with the IIUM’s achievement and considers us a ‘success story’ for transforming ‘just a university’ into a ‘center of education excellence’ to be emulated by other universities in the world, IIUM is the third University in the world and first organization in Malaysia to be inducted into the prestigious BSC Hall of Fame.” Dato” Ahmad Zailan enthused.

“I feel confident that the objectives are sound,’’ exclaimed Professor Dato’ Syed Arabi Idid, IIUM Rector and Vice Chancellor. “The strategies we are adopting will steer the IIUM to a brighter future and enable us to grow in stature, capacity and reputation at the national, regional and international levels.”

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.

Analytic technology can help organizations grow in down economy, says SAS

KUALA LUMPUR. (Oct 14, 2008) – An independent research announced by SAS, the leader in business intelligence and analytics, reveals ways analytic technology can help organizations grow, even in a down economy.

Tough economic times demand improved organizational performance. Performance management can boost competitive advantage by identifying what drives value, improving agility and optimizing resource usage.

“Employing analytics, organizations can leverage financial and nonfinancial indicators, thus moving from gut reaction to fact-based decisions for improved performance,” enthused Allan Tham, Head of Enterprise Intelligence Practice, SAS Malaysia.

Referring to the latest study by Professor Tom Davenport, The Rise of Analytical Performance Management, Tham explained that the progression of company activities with regard to analytical performance management ranges from prosaic (inability to file required financial reports) to highly sophisticated (incorporating analytical performance management into decisions and actions).

“Cutting costs for short-term impact without understanding what drives value or profit could threaten long-term competitiveness. In fact, very few companies employ analytical performance management,” said Tham.

Davenport’s study cited winning examples from Hilton Hotels, Harrah's, Best Buy, Victoria’s Secret, Sears and Toronto Dominion. Using analytics, executives at these companies are learning what factors truly drive their financial performance, and maximizing those factors in their businesses.

More than 40 percent of survey respondents are “definitely moving in a more analytical direction” on performance management. Another 28 percent say they would like to become more analytical.

Results suggest that, given better tools, more widespread awareness of benefits, and greater understanding of methods and approaches, substantially more organizations will practice analytical performance management in the future.

“Performance challenges are cropping up faster and faster,” said Tham. “Companies have increasing amounts of performance data, but they need to take better advantage of it. Analytics can help decision makers identify key business drivers so they can leverage opportunities and mitigate threats faster than competitors.”

“Through implementing SAS solutions at more than 150 customer sites in Malaysia and 44,000 sites worldwide, we’ve learned that a good place to start is using analytic technology to help translate strategy into operational objectives, measures, targets and initiatives,” he concurs.

SAS’ turnkey solutions for vertical markets target financial services, life sciences, healthcare, retail, manufacturing and others. SAS targeted business solutions such as SAS® for Performance Management support enterprise intelligence, customer intelligence, financial intelligence, supply chain intelligence and more.

For more customer success stories, kindly find the link to the website: http://www.sas.com/success/rwb.html, http://www.sas.com/success/cimb.html, http://www.sas.com/success/ism.html, http://www.sas.com/success/parkson.html

EON BANK GROUP appoints SAS for Banking Intelligence Solutions

EON invests RM25 million in Banking Intelligence from SAS Malaysia to help transform its business

KUALA LUMPUR, 25 July 2008 - EON Bank Group(EON) has embarked to transform its business by adopting an aggressive technology growth through partnership with SAS Malaysia.
Speaking at a signing ceremony with SAS Malaysia today, EON Bank Group Chief Executive Officer, Albert Lau Yiong said “In today’s fast evolving business environment, companies that wish to progress ahead of others, must have a competitive edge.” (From L to R) Albert Lau - Group CEO of EON Bank Group, Peter Chow - Head of GroupBusiness & Investment Banking Division of EON Bank Group, Helen Lim -Director of Financial Services of SAS Malaysia and Jimmy Cheah - MD of SASMalaysia.

EON’s strategic priorities include achieving sustainable and profitable growth by building scale in conventional as well as Islamic Banking businesses.

The Group had recently launched “Project Quantum Leap” where strategic initiatives including building the required infrastructure was formulated and projects with the biggest impact on revenue growth were prioritised

The business initiatives that are currently being implemented range from initiatives that are linked directly to improve various businesses as well as initiatives geared towards improving the underlying organisation structure, systems and processes.

To achieve its “Project Quantum Leap” objectives, EON will be investing about RM25million over a period of five years, in integrated banking intelligence solutions from SAS Malaysia which aims to improve the structure, control and consistency of its data landscape and organization to enable better performance management, efficient and accurate reporting and to support the initiatives of the various business units.

The holistic Banking Intelligence Solutions from SAS is tailored to the unique needs of the banking industry. SAS Banking Intelligence Solutions will be used to improve customer relationship management, business performance management, risk management, compliance and systems performance. In addition, an enterprise –wide business scorecard with banking –specific key performance indicators ( KPIs) would provide a single, strategic view of an enterprise to help drive the banking strategies forward

“The enterprise wide implementation in EON Bank Group will mark a new era in the bank’s pursuit to reinvent banking for its customers,” said Jimmy Cheah, Managing Director of SAS Malaysia.

“Equipped with the power to know and supported by the right people, EON Bank Group will be able to transform its operations to be more efficient, customer-focused and achieve its aim to be a relationship driven financial institution.”

SAS launches first ever Sustainability Management Solution

SAS Sustainability Management to make going ‘green’ easier

Kuala Lumpur (July 15, 2008) – Leading business intelligence provider SAS Malaysia, today launched its Sustainability Management Scorecard, the first in the Sustainability Management Solution suite designed to help organizations accurately measure, manage and improve the impact of their operations on the environment.

The SAS Sustainability Management Scorecard launch is in conjunction with the 2008 SAS Forum Malaysia themed “Intelligently Green” with the participation of World Wildlife Fund (WWF) Malaysia and the Environmental Envoy for Malaysia, Maya Karin.

The SAS Sustainability Management Solution is an industry breakthrough as it is the first ever decision-support software that enables organizations to proactively identify innovative strategies that address complex environmental, social and economic situations while achieving stakeholder objectives.

Thomas Spiller, SAS Senior Director of International Programs says that while most executives support ‘green’ business strategies, few actually know how to prioritize and incorporate the strategies into their business operations.

“Many organizations are struggling to understand the complex business-social situation that requires them to balance between good environmental practices whilst concurrently pursuing profitable economic situations. At the same time, they lack tools that can enable them to properly measure the actual benefit and impact of their business strategies on the environment, in a manner that is accountable and reportable.”

“With SAS Sustainability Management Scorecard, organizations can now manage holistic strategies for sustainability that take into consideration the interrelationship between social and environmental programs. It enables effective execution of these strategies as well of reinvestment of savings from here into other areas of the business”, explained Spiller.

According to a McKinsey survey[1], environmental issues such as climate change top the agenda in executive suites worldwide. But measuring and managing environmental impact is difficult as it involves massive, intricate work that spans across an organization’s entire operations. Causal relationships connecting issues such as greenhouse gas emissions, use of scarce resources, ethical sourcing and regulatory compliance make it extremely complex to invest in green technology and expand sales of products and services with measurably better environmental performance.

SAS Sustainability Management Scorecard helps establish an integrated, consistent source of quality information where you can bind initiatives to a common sustainability framework, while being able to predict valid sustainability strategies, identify causal relationships and forecast improvement scenarios. The solution is based on the SAS Enterprise Intelligence Platform and uses the Global Reporting Initiative framework to report on Triple Bottom Line indicators.

Jimmy Cheah, Managing Director of SAS Malaysia says “In the emerging landscape of sustainability, it is not enough just to talk green. Organizations need to identify the green-related metrics that apply to the business as well as find the right data to describe and measure those metrics.”

“SAS Business Intelligence and Analytics solutions have long been used to take costs out of business, so it's not much different to take carbon out. With SAS, organizations can optimize business strategies for minimizing risks and costs, developing new lines of business, and improving resource use, environmental or otherwise” he ends.
[1] The McKinsey Quarterly, September 2007

ICB Counts on SAS Banking Intelligence Solutions to Drive Worldwide Growth

ICB Banking Group leverages on SAS technology to manage worldwide banking operations

Harith Harun, CEO of ICB Banking Group; Yip Yoke Ling,Professional Services Director of SAS Malaysia

KUALA LUMPUR, 18 June 2008 – AIM-listed ICB Financial Group Holdings AG (ICB Banking Group) today announced that it has invested in the SAS Banking Intelligence (BI) Solutions to better streamline and manage the Group’s banking operations across twelve (12) countries from its management office in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

Speaking at a partnership signing ceremony with SAS Malaysia today, ICB Group CEO, Encik Harith Harun says that ICB’s rapid worldwide growth spurred the urgent need to invest in a solution that could provide the Group with full, multi-dimensional insights into its banking operations, facilitate efficient retrieval of financial information and generate greater operational efficiency.

“Within the last twelve (12) years, the ICB Banking Group has established or acquired commercial banks across Eastern Europe, Africa and Asia.The holding company, ICB Financial Group Holdings AG which was listed on the AIM Market of the London Stock Exchange in May 2007 has been repositioning itself for further growth and is aggressively implementing initiatives to provide a comprehensive range of financial services throughout the Group’s banks. “With the management office located in Kuala Lumpur, partnering and tying up with SAS Malaysia will bring about positive synergies and cost effectivess benefits “ says Harith.

“According to Harith, SAS offers a suite of integrated, banking specific solutions which can glean real intelligence on a fast track from the huge volumes of data which is scattered throughout dozens of systems, geographies and lines of business within the ICB Banking Group. It will provide solutions to support successful management of all relevant risks while maintaining Basel II compliance, increase customer profitability, improve operational efficiency and align, track and measure performance.
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“We have also considered the fact that SAS Solutions is the preferred BI brand for most of the local banks, and that they can support ICB with a tailored solution that addresses our specific requirements and needs in managing our worldwide banking operations,” adds Harith.

Yip Yoke Ling, Professional Services Director of SAS Malaysia says, “ICB is definitely moving in the right direction to achieve its expansionary and growth goals. We are confident that SAS Banking Intelligence Solutions will prove to be an essential BI investment for ICB to gain a competitive edge in its banking businesses.”

To start with, ICB will be using SAS Financial Management and Management Information Systems (MIS) solutions to help it report, manage and improve the financial performance of the entire group. SAS Financial Management improves the accuracy, relevance and timeliness of financial plans and reports while promoting the alignment and execution of strategy. Through SAS MIS solution, ICB will be able to integrate data from across their entire enterprise and deliver self-service reporting and analysis, enabling their key business users to spend more time on making better, more informed decisions. The solution leverages the analytic power and scalability of the SAS Intelligence Platform to facilitate flexible and operational planning within a collaborative environment – across the entire enterprise.