LONDON (April 8, 2003) - SAS, the leader in business intelligence, today announced that it has been positioned in the outperforming category of the integrated business intelligence market according to a recent report from Butler Group, the UK-based analyst company. SAS is highlighted in the report as an "outperformer" – a company that has achieved a commanding market position and provides a best-of-breed product set.

The report, Integrated Business Intelligence: Delivering Intelligence Across the Enterprise, analyses the business intelligence (BI) market, investigating the competitive landscape, market issues and maturity of the sector. "Integrated business intelligence" is Butler Group’s term to describe a strategic deployment of business intelligence combining technical components and vital business elements.

The report found the main stumbling block for businesses is the inability to exploit their data assets, which in turn can affect every area of the business. It also recognises that enterprise performance management is an important component of integrated business intelligence, noting that businesses wanting to improve efficiencies cannot view business intelligence as a technical component in the same way as ERP or CRM applications.

According to Ian Charlesworth from Butler Group, "SAS is one of very few vendors that can accurately claim to have the necessary products to support an end-to-end solution capable of scaling to meet the functional and operational requirements of the whole business. SAS technology excels in complex business scenarios – areas that other BI vendors fear to tread."

In terms of life cycle position, Butler Group views SAS as being an "outperformer" in the early adopter, market adoption and market maturity categories of integrated business intelligence sector, commenting that SAS has evolved its technology base to unify product access and control and will continue to grow.

"As the Butler Group report demonstrates, generating intelligence is a process that requires more than simple query and reporting tools, which some vendors have labelled business intelligence," said Phil Bond, managing director, SAS UK. "Truly integrated business intelligence encompasses data from every corner of the enterprise, from databases and call centres to mobile networks and the Web. SAS believes that companies investing in this intelligence value chain will empower larger numbers of employees to make better business decisions."

About Butler Group

Founded in 1990 by Martin Butler, Butler Group has established an enviable reputation for the impartiality and incisiveness of its research and opinions. It has a client base encompassing over 50 percent of the top 100 companies in each of its key markets. Butler Group delivers a broad spectrum of research, analysis and advice on all issues surrounding the practical application of technology in business.
For further information on Butler Group, and its products and services, visit www.butlergroup.com or contact:
Angela Ball, Butler Group Press Officer Tel: +44 (0)1482 608317, E-mail: angela.ball@butlergroup.com
Toby Gavin/Ruth Hynes, EuroPR Group Tel: +44 (0)20 8879 3033, E-mail: tgavin@europrgroup.com

Journalists and editors can download all Butler Group research and information by obtaining a Butler Group Press Pass. This can be obtained by completing the form on the Web site: www.butlergroup.com

About SAS

SAS is the market leader in providing a new generation of business intelligence software and services that create true enterprise intelligence. SAS solutions are used at more than 40,000 sites -- including 90 percent of the Fortune 500 -- to develop more profitable relationships with customers and suppliers; to enable better, more accurate and informed decisions; and to drive organizations forward. SAS is the only vendor that completely integrates leading data warehousing, analytics and traditional BI applications to create intelligence from massive amounts of data. For more than 25 years, SAS has been giving customers around the world The Power to Know^®.

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