Happy New Year, Canada, and thank you for helping us achieve two noteworthy milestones in 2009. Because of our customers’ consistent growth in the use of SAS software, we’ve just celebrated our 20th year of local operations in Canada. During this time we’ve grown to employ more than 230 individuals across the country in our Vancouver, Calgary, Ottawa, Toronto and Montréal offices. As we enter 2009, with a sense of economic anxiety in the air, it’s important to keep in mind that tough times such as these can present opportunities for renewal. It’s a chance to honestly assess our strengths and weaknesses, and take positive action based on those discoveries.

Traditionally, SAS has been able to help many organizations during economic downturns by providing them with analytics for just such a purpose. In 2009, we introduce the Business Analytics framework to help explain better the scope and value of SAS software. Stay tuned for more on Business Analytics throughout the year.

We would like to recognize a truly outstanding member of the SAS Canada community, this year’s Customer Value Award winner, Dr. Arthur Tabachneck of the Insurance Bureau of Canada. Arthur is a longtime training advocate and member of the TASS Users Group Executive Committee. He consistently delivers valuable and relevant presentations, often at a moment’s notice. As a driving force behind the Coder’s Corner break-out sessions at the TASS meetings, he often goes beyond the call of duty to work through difficult issues brought to his attention by SAS users. Dr. Tabachneck will be attending SAS Global Forum in Washington, D.C. from March 22nd-25th with all expenses paid for by SAS. Read about his impressions of the event in the next issue of insights.

In December, we launched our first-ever contest to gather insights into how SAS is being used to solve real world challenges. For example, did you know that SAS software is tracking polar bear footprint data to make inferences about climate change? To keep the ideas flowing, we’ve extended the contest deadline until February 13th. By contributing your SAS story, you could win the honour of joining Dr. Tabachneck as a guest of SAS at Global Forum.

2009 promises to be filled with both challenges and opportunities and we at SAS are committed to helping make the year ahead a successful one for our customers.

All the best,
Wally Thiessen
Customer Value Program Manager