SAS FORUM UK 2008

Visualisation - The beginning and the end

Colin Gray

Most analytical projects start with understanding the data and forming hypothesis. Good visualisation techniques can aid this process. At the end of the project, being able to explain the results to non-analysts also relies on visualisation techniques. This presentation covers a number of aspects of data visualisation techniques and how SAS can support the analyst.

Alternative Methods in Predictive Modelling

Laurie Miles

There's more to prediction than regression! The majority of organisations that utilise predictive analytics rely on traditional regression techniques. During this session two alternative techniques, Decision Trees and Neural Networks, will be discussed. The presentation will cover a description of the technique, the benefits each technique may offer, potential disadvantages and how such models can be built in SAS.

Integrating Analytics into Business Processes

John Spooner

For organisations to fully utilise the power of business analytics, it is essential that accurate analytic models are implemented in the fastest possible time through a repeatable process. During this session, the methods that SAS offer to enhance the performance of model scoring and associated processes will be discussed. The presentation will use an example of how SAS can streamline this process by executing analytical models directly within a database environment.

Optimising the Marketing Mix

Simon Hughes

Some of the hardest marketing decisions relate to the "marketing mix", or how you should allocate resources across all the possible ways of reaching and serving potential and existing customers. Intuitively, you know that there's some optimal combination that would deliver the most impact. How can you use analytics to optimise marketing decisions - not just for data-driven communications, but also for mass media (above the line)?

Enhanced customer interaction through online behavioural analytics

Jon Opperman

Until recently, web analytics has been about what is happening on a website. SAS turned this on its head by providing insight into how customers use a website. But this is just the beginning of what can be achieved through this customer-centric approach. Imagine how this rich behavioural insight could improve marketing campaigns and real time interactions?

Risk Adjusted Customer Profitability: the only marketing KPI you ever need?

Aidan Willis

Core marketing campaign measures of volume, revenue or ROI don't always represent the best way of measuring business performance, as they don't take into account long-term value, any assessment of risks or ongoing costs to serve. Combining your understanding of current and future customer value, with risks and costs to serve can be the basis of more effective marketing and can improve collaboration throughout the enterprise.

Enable your organisation to proactively manage operational risk or face the consequences

Gez Llanaj, SAS UK

This presentation provides an insight on what IT and Business, working as a team, would need to consider to embed operational risk into day to day activities. This would provide all stakeholders with coherent, accurate, appropriate risk intelligence/management information, enabling them to make accurate, fact- based business decisions at any organisational, operational, process and risk level. Find out why SAS is the world leading operational risk solution vendor for the last 4 years.

Forecasting Capital: Integrating Risk and the Balance Sheet

Liz Dudley, SAS UK

Business and regulatory requirements are combining to make the integration of risk measurement and financial planning ever more important for banks. This presentation will discuss some of the issues involved and how SAS can be used for calculating risk, forecasting capital and applying scenarios.

Risk Integration and Information Delivery in SAS

Rob Hadden, SAS UK

SAS is continuing to enhance its solutions for risk management by adding further functionality in the form of new analyses and work flows. The presentation will illustrate this with examples in the areas of credit risk modelling and liquidity management, and will also demonstrate the use of the SAS^® Information Delivery Portal and SAS^® BI Dashboard to deliver results to the user's desktop through a web browser.

Roadmap for Platform Technologies

Steve Ludlow, SAS UK

The next exciting set of technologies released in a SAS^® 9.2 environment will be in Q1 2009. This presentation will explain what will be delivered for Business Intelligence, Data Integration and Intelligent Storage with a brief roadmap for the future SAS 9.2 phases. While evolutionary in terms of how 9.2 will operate within a customer's environment it is revolutionary in the capabilities they will deliver.

Roadmap for Data Integration

Stefan King, SAS UK

SAS Enterprise Data Integration and related technologies will see many major enhancements as part of the SAS 9.2 release in Q1 2009. This presentation will give the audience a chance to understand what to expect and an opportunity to see many of the new capabilities in action. There will also be a brief overview of what to expect in subsequent releases of the software.

Roadmap for Business Intelligence

Pete Snelling, SAS UK

SAS Enterprise Business Intelligence will see some major enhancements as part of the SAS 9.2 release scheduled for Q1 2009. This presentation will give the audience a chance to understand what they can expect from the improved interfaces in applications such as SAS Web Report Studio and new functionality in SAS Enterprise Guide and the SAS Add in for MS Office.

Developing IT & SAS-skilled Graduates better suited to today's Business Needs: Business and University Collaboration

Bob Clift, e-skills UK, the Sector Skills Council for IT & Telecoms; Geoffrey Taylor, Academic Programme Manager, SAS UK

Many employers complain about the inadequate skill set most IT graduates have when they enter the workforce. The first part of this presentation describes an employer-led initiative facilitated by e-skills UK. The initiative, which is supported by government and universities, has created a degree to develop graduates with the technical, business, management and interpersonal skills and knowledge needed by the IT departments of all industries. SAS will outline how its Academic Programme links customers and partners with universities that are teaching SAS on courses. Partnership opportunities for bespoke SAS-based degrees and courses will also be addressed.

On-demand SAS Training for your Staff: Web-hosted SAS Training Delivery

Jeremy Clarke and Afshin Mirtorabi, SAS UK

Keeping your New Year resolutions takes more than willpower.  Making use of the full range of real-time and asynchronous learning, turning your professional development plan into action need not be a nightmare.  This presentation covers the choices that are available for web based learning and the growing use of social networking sites to facilitate professional development.

Recruiting and Developing SAS skills for a Business Intelligence

Business & Decision with Katharine Bean, SAS UK

This presentation will examine the approaches to, and challenges of, recruiting and training SAS resource. We will be covering the following topics:

• Recruitment profiles: Existing SAS skills, cross-training into SAS, graduates
• Training approaches: boot camps, eLearning, classroom, shadowing
• Broader training: soft skills, concepts and design
• Partner advantages: SAS and Business & Decision joint resource capability

The presentation will discuss how to utilise training techniques and extend individual SAS expertise as a career path.