Issued by: Cameo Corporate Communications

Customers can leverage existing investments to exploit ERP data for business decision-making

[Johannesburg, 2 June 2006] - SAS, the leader in business intelligence software and services, showcased its enterprise intelligence solutions and its model of the Business Intelligence Competency Centre (BICC) at SAPPHIRE '06, SAP's annual customer conference held from 30 May to 1 June in Paris.

BICCs help organisations implement an enterprise-wide architecture and BI strategy to make better fact-based decisions in a collaborative environment. SAS's integrated metadata capabilities and personalised user interfaces allow employees at all levels of the organisation to work together seamlessly. Such integrated architecture lowers the total cost of ownership and increases the efficiency of an organisation's knowledge workers and information consumers.

"As an accredited SAP software partner we find SAPPHIRE an ideal forum for us to address the business intelligence requirements of ERP customers. At SAPPHIRE we'll demonstrate that we go far beyond traditional or operational reporting and analysis of historical numbers," said Tonny Dierckx, Practice Head of Manufacturing at SAS International. Dierckx explained that SAS provides a holistic view of the relevant information contained in all individual transactions managed by ERP and non-ERP systems.

"Because SAS applies predictive business analytics to the combined intelligence in ERP and non-ERP systems, it offers the lowest total cost of ownership for performance management," Dierckx said.

Also at SAPPHIRE, SAS will show its enterprise intelligence solutions which are built on the SAS Enterprise Intelligence Platform. Organisations rely on this platform to integrate, store, analyse and report large volumes of data used to manage customer relationships, supply chains, human capital, financial performance management or for regulatory compliance programs like Basel II or Solvency II.

Editorial contacts:

SAS Institute
Michelle Chettoa
+27 (11) 713-3400
michelle.chettoa@zaf.sas.com

Cameo Corporate Communications
Charlene Carroll
+27 (11) 315-1448
charlene@cameogroup.co.za