McKesson focuses on analytics with SAS Solutions OnDemand

SAS hosts McKesson’s data, Analytic Services team can place greater focus on analyzing data

CARY, NC  (Nov. 17, 2008)  –  SAS® Solutions OnDemand will provide McKesson with a centralized platform to store, protect and organize its data. By performing data preparation for McKesson, a Fortune 18 healthcare services and information technology company, SAS will free McKesson’s analytics team to spend more time focusing on analyzing the data, where the value lies. 

Stephen Buck, Vice President of Analytic Services at McKesson, works with an internal team of analytic professionals on marketing analysis, clinical analysis and industry analytics involving all types of reporting functions. 

“With SAS our team is able to perform important analytics that help to drive McKesson’s business forward,” said Buck. “The fact that SAS takes care of the data preparation is saving us valuable time and resources.” 

McKesson’s Analytic Services team develops analyses to quantify various insights that provide the company with a greater view into customer loyalty. Without a master database showing particular customers in all areas where McKesson does business, this analysis would be impossible. 

With SAS, McKesson combines sales data with all its program enrollment information to give management a clear picture of which programs, products and services drive customer loyalty. As McKesson seeks even more insight into customer loyalty, SAS helps ensure the data is available. 

SAS is also helping McKesson demonstrate the incremental value that the delivery of Medication Therapy Management (MTM) services can provide retail pharmacies. The team is analyzing drug and medical conditions to determine the right pharmacy-based interventions pharmacists can conduct with patients. 

Mohammed Mahbouba, MD, director of analytic services at McKesson who heads up analysis of clinical programs, said “Our SAS centralized analytic platform empowered efficient, accurate and consistent analytics. It did so by providing everyone on the team access to the same clean, de-normalized, reliable, consistent and up-to-date data sources.” 

Implementing the SAS platform has created an information evolution at McKesson. Analysts can now explore, create, refine and test new concepts. SAS had McKesson’s solution up and running in a stable and supported environment very quickly, allowing McKesson to immediately better utilize the skills of their internal resources. 

“There is no doubt that the solution provided by SAS Solutions OnDemand was a missing element in accelerating analytics at McKesson,” added Buck. “SAS had us up and running in less than two months.” 

Using SAS, McKesson can do more with the same assets. 

“With SAS, we are nimble, quickly redeploying our analytics team to new and potentially more profitable ventures,” Buck says. 

“If we had to make a bet on a key solution that can help us build upon our success we’d bet on SAS anytime,” he adds. 

SAS® Solutions OnDemand

Many IT organizations have smaller budgets and staffs than ever, yet demands for new business applications and network processing continue to expand. Seven years ago, SAS responded to this market need by offering a hosted model for SAS solutions. By using SAS Solutions OnDemand, companies recognize reduced project risk, rapid time to results, highly focused expertise, and a platform that can continue to support the changing needs of their organizations. The service has been so well-received that the program has grown very rapidly, in large part based on the comprehensive solution approach – not just an outsourced application, but a unified, three-part offering that combines solution development, hosting infrastructure and customer liaison. SAS Solutions OnDemand supports all SAS solutions in its hosted environment, providing value-added services for data modelling, data warehousing and high-end analytics, provided by SAS’ Advanced Analytic Lab.

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