Synerma joins forces with software giant SAS

-- Activity-Based Costing (ABC) software and services now affordably priced for small and medium sized businesses in Quebec--

MONTREAL, QC (October 1, 2004) – SAS, the leader in business analytics, announced today an alliance with Synerma, a specialized strategic financial management solutions firm, to provide scalable Activity-Based Costing (ABC) software and consulting services solutions for small and medium sized businesses in the Quebec market.

The new alliance will see Synerma provide its strategic cost and performance management consulting services, while leveraging SAS® Activity-Based Management software that allows organizations to measure performance and profitability down to individual customers, products, services and sales channels.  The partnered offering will cost significantly less than what it would typically cost a large enterprise to implement.

“At RONA, we can make better distribution decisions by knowing their financial impact,” says Martin Beauregard, Distribution Comptroller, RONA Inc. “At RONA, we employ value chain analysis for a retail retail-specific focus that, in combination with activity-based management, is helping bring cost transparency to our supply chain.”

“Our partnership with Synerma leverages the expertise and core technologies of both companies to deliver an unbeatable value proposition,” said Carl Farrell, President, SAS Canada. “Today, small and medium sized businesses don’t have access to sophisticated business intelligence software because the cost is too high, but that’s about to change. Working with Synerma provides these businesses with the software tools needed to better manage, plan and forecast costs and revenue of daily activities.”

By leveraging Synerma’s expertise and SAS’ software, organizations can:

• Measure the profitability of each customer including sales efforts.
• Measure the profitability of each product and service using the activity method.
• Measure the profitability of each sales channel.
• Prepare and monitor budgets by activity easier and faster.
• Rapidly create different what-if scenarios.
• Establish resource needs based on the demand for products and services.
• Rapidly evaluate production or service delivery capacity.
• Easily identify non-value-added activity costs.
• Equip managers with cost intelligence to drive improvements.

“Working with an industry leader such as SAS has given us a real opportunity to provide our existing and future clients with a high performing ABC solution at an affordable price,” said Daniel Dubé, President and CEO, Synerma. “We are pleased to be able to provide professional services and enterprise-class software to the Canadian mid-market where our tools and expertise can be used to help smaller organizations compete and drive out profits in what is a very aggressive marketplace.”

About Synerma
Synerma is one of the largest groups of professionals delivering specialized strategic financial management solutions, with particular emphasis on Activity-Based Management (ABM).  Over the years, Synerma has gained world-wide recognition in the area of Activity-Based Planning and Budgeting.  Synerma has lead, coached and participated in over 100 ABC costing assignments and implementations in private and public organizations both in Canada and abroad.  By teaming with Synerma, client organizations have gained invaluable cost information enabling them to increase their profitability by eliminating unprofitable products, maximizing capacity and continuously improving their cost performance.  Synerma offices in Québec are located in Montréal and Gatineau.  For more information, go to www.synerma.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 96 of the top 100 companies on the FORTUNE Global 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 nearly three decades, SAS has been giving customers around the world The Power to Know®. Visit us at www.sas.com.

The Canadian subsidiary of SAS has been in operation for 16 years.  Headquartered in Toronto, SAS employs 200 people across the country at its Vancouver, Calgary, Toronto, Ottawa, Quebec City and Montréal offices.  For more information, visit www.sas.com/canada.