SAS customers APEX, EDC receive Computerworld “Best Practices in Business Intelligence” awards

APEX Management Group and Export Development Canada are recipients of Computerworld BI awards

CARY, NC  (Sept. 30, 2005)  –  SAS, the leader in business intelligence, today announced that two customers, APEX Management Group and Export Development Canada (EDC), have been honored by IDG’s Computerworld with a “Best Practices in Business Intelligence” award. 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 category, “Data Visualization, Prediction and Presentation by Leveraging Customized Solutions.” 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,” said 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®9 has 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,” said 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 can use the foresight gained from SAS predictive models to determine that adding fertility services to a healthcare plan would increase the number of claims for care in neonatal intensive care units. 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 Server customer, APEX users can easily access critical information in whatever format they need.

“SAS Enterprise BI Server has enabled APEX fast and easy access to information for reporting and analysis,” said 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,” said 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 between personnel, departments, divisions, etc.
• Utilization of “cutting-edge” and innovative applications, systems and approaches.

SAS®9 includes the SAS Enterprise Intelligence Platform, which is an integrated, open and extensible foundation for creating and delivering accurate, in-depth intelligence. Along with powerful data integration and storage capabilities, SAS’ business intelligence and analytics make up the SAS®9 Enterprise Intelligence Platform. At any level of an organization, SAS helps reduce intelligence gaps and provides a solid business analytics architecture that supports business processes.

About Computerworld

Computerworld , the “Voice of IT Management,” is the most trusted source for the critical information needs of senior IT management. Computerworld’s integrated offerings form the U.S.-based hub of the world’s largest (58-edition) global IT media network through its weekly publication, Computerworld.com Web site, focused conference series and custom research. In the past five years alone, Computerworld has won more than 100 print and online awards for editorial and design excellence, surpassing its direct competition by an order of magnitude. Recognition includes the 2005 Magazine of the Year Award from the American Society of Business Publication Editors and a Jesse H. Neal Award for “Best News Coverage.” In print since 1967, Computerworld is the source for information technology management, with a guaranteed rate base of 180, 050, a total print audience of 1,138,000 (IntelliQuest CIMS 2005 Business Influencer Study) and an online audience of over 1.1 million unique monthly visitors (DoubleClick).

Computerworld is a business unit of International Data Group (IDG), the world’s leading technology media, research and events company. A privately held company, IDG publishes more than 300 magazines and newspapers, including Bio-IT World, CIO, CSO, Computerworld, GamePro, InfoWorld, Network World and PC World. The company features the largest network of technology-specific Web sites, with more than 400 around the world. IDG is also a leading producer of more than 170 computer-related events worldwide, including LinuxWorld Conference & Expo®, Macworld Conference & Expo®, DEMO® and IDC Directions. IDC provides global market research and advice through offices in 50 countries.

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