SAS Customers Win Computerworld BI Awards

IDG’s Computerworld recognized APEX Management Group and Export Development Canada (EDC), with "Best Practices in Business Intelligence" awards. These awards were presented at the Computerworld Business Intelligence Perspectives conference in Scottsdale, AZ.

APEX, a leading healthcare consulting and insurance services organization and a division of Gallagher Benefit Services Inc., received the award for the Data Visualization, Prediction and Presentation by Leveraging Customized Solutions category. EDC, Canada’s only financial institution devoted exclusively to supporting Canadian exporters and investors, received its award for Planning, Designing and Building the BI Infrastructure.

"Companies that are clearly pushing the envelope in terms of what BI can deliver, such as APEX and EDC, deserve to be recognized for their innovation," says Ron Milton, executive vice president at Computerworld. "Each has taken a unique approach to driving business intelligence throughout their organizations."

"It’s gratifying to see that SAS®9has made such a major impact for one of our customers, helping them turn traditionally retrospective data like insurance claims into a means for predicting the future," says Anne Milley, director of technology product marketing at SAS. "APEX and Export Development Canada are excellent examples of how a company can leverage the breadth and depth of SAS technology to positively impact their strategy. With SAS, our customers can go beyond traditional business intelligence and have a truly integrated perspective of their business that will enable them to make more confident, strategic decisions."

APEX Management Group’s award
Advanced forecasting capabilities in SAS®9 have enabled APEX business analysts to gain a deep understanding of potential changes in the healthcare system and changes in health plan design, to forecast the impact on healthcare costs. For example, APEX used the foresight gained from SAS predictive models to determine that adding fertility services to a healthcare plan would increase the number of claims for neonatal intensive care. APEX actuaries could then address these potential claims by recommending that the plans include richer pediatric and prenatal benefits to help decision makers offset potential costs. As a SAS Enterprise BI Servercustomer, APEX users easily access critical information in whatever format they need.

"SAS Enterprise BI Server has given APEX fast and easy access to information for reporting and analysis," says Jody Porrazzo, director of econometric risk strategy at APEX. "It is truly an honor to receive this Computerworld Best Practices award, as it validates all of our hard work and SAS’ unique business intelligence capabilities that help us be so successful. I believe that with the right information, you can positively influence the future, and SAS allows us to do just that."

Export Development Canada’s Award
As an expanding customer base and product portfolio increased internal demands for information, EDC needed a BI system that would provide easy access to accurate data, helping decision makers optimize operations across the board. By using SAS data integration and business intelligence technologies, EDC is already realizing a full return on its investment from the time savings and data quality improvements in the monthly risk management report – its first business use for the new data warehouse. Future initiatives look similarly promising.

"By taking an enterprisewide perspective of BI and not focusing on just one part of the process, we can better manage our ever-changing business needs," says Arthur Pelletier, director of client services at EDC. "SAS provides us with a stable and reliable BI infrastructure that allows our users to help themselves to timely and accurate information, allowing us to greatly improve the productivity and agility of our company. We are excited to be recognized by Computerworld for our BI accomplishments."

Award recipients were judged on their substantiated business intelligence solution attributes and achievements, including:

• Positive impact on other business/organization units.
• Creation of substantive customer impact (service, retention, acquisition).
• Strategic advantage to the organization while anticipating and accommodating the deployment of future business intelligence solution initiatives.
• The ability to support the efficient and reliable data, information and application sharing/access among personnel, departments, divisions, etc.
• Utilization of “cutting-edge” and innovative applications, systems and approaches.