SAS FORUM 2010 Themes All-Year-Round Business Analytics

KUALA LUMPUR – July 13, 2010 – Leading business analytics solutions provider, SAS Malaysia, hold its 23rd SAS FORUM 2010 today, themed "Power365 - Rise Above Challenges".

This theme echoes SAS advocate for local companies to strive towards accurate intelligence in running their business operations throughout the 365 days of a year; rather than relying on gut-feel based decisions.

SAS Malaysia's Director of Customer Strategy, Saleena Mohd Ali says, "SAS FORUM 2010 is a very conducive platform for corporate leaders to share their ideas and experiences using business analytics in their own, real-life business."

"The honesty and openness of the sharing (at corporate level) is probably the best value that participants can derive from this event. SAS is really trying to create a synergistic atmosphere where business people can share insights of how this prevalent technology of business analytics helps in their daily decision making."

Amongst the many participants at SAS FORUM 2010 are Celcom Axiata Berhad, University Putra Malaysia, Lembaga Hasil Dalam Negeri (LHDN), ISM Insurance Services, National Property Information Center (NAPIC) and many more – giving their corporate testimonial on the adoption of business analytics in making daily, high impact decision.

Held at Kuala Lumpur Convention Centre, SAS FORUM 2010 also included several highlights such as presentations by international analytics author and 'guru' Thomas H. Davenport; as well as the 1st Runners-Up for The Amazing Race Asia 2 – the Chong sisters.

According to research firm IDC, SAS Malaysia currently commands a 32.9 percent market share in business intelligence software, up from 29.9 percent a year ago.

Managing Director of SAS Malaysia, Jimmy Cheah, says "In fact SAS' global market share for advanced analytics tool increased from 32.9 percent last year to 34.7 percent this year. The market share has grown to more than twice of that of the world's second largest software vendor."

 “As the leading Business Analytic solution provider in Malaysia, we have a good feel of the market’s uptake of business analytics technology; and we are now   seeing at least 6 out of 10 companies are looking at how they can apply some degree of analytics to improve their business performance.”

WHAT IF….YOU CAN

SAS FORUM 2010 also focuses on driving the SAS Inc.’s global advertising and marketing campaign known as “What if…You can” that was launched in Cary, NC. United States in March 2010.  

Saleena explains that the SAS Global "What if…You can" marketing campaign takes a shot at real-life business situations faced every day.

"The campaign's creative illustrations aim to stimulate people to think of the "WHAT IF" possibilities they could have in their business. For examples, WHAT IF you could increase revenue by 66 per cent using data to make confident, fact-based decisions? WHAT IF you could make financial decisions with 50% more accuracy and save millions of dollars? WHAT IF you could analyze 87% more data simultaneously in order to detect fraud faster?"

"SAS is trying to send the message across that every organization has an opportunity to outperform themselves, and this opportunity lies in using business analytics in innovative ways to increase profits, reduce risk, predict trends – all towards becoming more competitive, smarter, and more productive."

SAS FORUM 2010 draws a crowd of about 500 participants from various industries including those in the financial, academic, government agencies and commercial industries.

About SAS

SAS is the leader in business analyticssoftware and services, and the largest independent vendor in the business intelligence market. Through innovative solutions delivered within an integrated framework, SAS helps customers at more than 45,000 sites improve performance and deliver value by making better decisions faster. Since 1976 SAS has been giving customers around the world THE POWER TO KNOW®.

About Thomas H. Davenport

Thomas H. Davenport is the President's Distinguished Professor of Information Technology and Management at Babson College and co-directs research for the Business Analytics research program at nGenera (formerly BSG Concours). He is the former director of research centres at Accenture, Ernst & Young, and McKinsey, and has taught at Harvard Business School, Dartmouth's Tuck School of Business and the University of Texas at Austin. His article "Competing on Analytics" was Harvard Business Review's most requested article reprint of 2007. Davenport is the author or co-author of 11 books. Competing on Analytics: The New Science of Winning has become a best-seller and has been translated into 13 languages. His latest book, Analytics at Work: Smarter Decisions, Better Results, was published earlier this year.