SAS Survey Finds That CFOs Need New Technology To Inspire Confidence In Numbers
-  Disconnect between strategic expectations of CFOs and ability to 
reap financial intelligence -

(Oct. 29, 2004) Hong Kong  - Although 81 percent of respondents believe their CFOs are a trusted adviser within their organisations, only 25 percent believe their organisations' current business intelligence technology supports the strategic demands of this key role, according to results of a recent US survey unveiled by BetterManagement.com and SAS, the leader in business intelligence.  In September 2004, nearly 300 CFOs and other senior business executives (chairmen, CEOs, COOs and presidents), representing a wide variety of industries, responded to the survey that revealed a significant technology gap in the finance department. Nearly three-quarters of respondents said that their current business intelligence technology does not allow them to effectively identify and exploit revenue opportunities, evaluate performance across the enterprise or identify operating-level changes that would optimize overall performance. Meanwhile, 81 percent of respondents realise that their companies expect CFOs to shape strategic directions for the business.  While the majority of respondents were constrained by systems and processes lacking a comprehensive strategic perspective, they did identify the most valuable - and ironically, the most elusive - capabilities in a financial intelligence solution: In the survey, 88 percent of respondents cited sophisticated analytics and predictive planning as important or very important, while nearly as many said these functions are difficult to achieve with their existing financial intelligence systems.  The same was true even of the most fundamental attributes of these systems, such as system integration, insight into operations, rapid consolidation, data management and flexibility to adjust to change. Survey respondents decisively affirmed that these capabilities were important yet, at the same time, difficult to achieve.  For a summary of the survey results, please visit:  www.sas.com/solutions/financial/survey.pdf SAS survey finds that CFOs need new technology to inspire confidence in numbers Last week, SAS announced SAS® Financial Intelligence*, an advanced portfolio of software solutions that helps organisations achieve more predictive, accurate and timely results from their finance functions. By using SAS Financial Intelligence, the finance department can deliver a comprehensive perspective for performance management and transform itself into a confident, trusted adviser that supplies valuable intelligence to the entire enterprise. *Please refer to the press release issued on 21st October 2004 entitled "SAS launches biggest ever SAS®9 solution to date giving CFOs deeper financial intelligence and corporate performance management". About BetterManagement BetterManagement is a unique mix of educational activities that combine interactive Web resources and live conferences to connect decision makers with relevant information. Global perspectives from respected publications, associations and academic institutions form a learning path on critical issues. BetterManagement also produces extensive Web seminars and video Webcasts. Information is organized to accelerate knowledge of best practices and highlight successes worldwide. Bridging the gap between concepts and executable solutions, BetterManagement helps leaders achieve insights to make better decisions. For more information, please visit www.bettermanagement.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®.

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