SAS, the industry’s foremost analytics provider, is in the Leaders quadrant in Gartner Inc.’s latest “Magic Quadrant for BI and Analytics Platforms.”

“For us, this Gartner recognition affirms SAS’ direction over recent years: developing cross-functional and industry-specific analytics applications, investing in fast, in-memory computing innovation, supporting analytics education, and contributing to the technology and analytics communities,” said Jim Davis, SAS Senior Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer.

“When we call ourselves ‘the leader in business analytics’ it’s about more than our market share or the ubiquity of our product. It’s a statement of responsibility and how we serve our constituents,” Davis said.

Gartner defines leaders in business intelligence (BI) and analytics as:

“…vendors that are strong in the breadth and depth of their BI platform capabilities, and can deliver on enterprisewide implementations that support a broad BI strategy. Leaders articulate a business proposition that resonates with buyers, supported by the viability and operational capability to deliver on a global basis. Small vendors, which may lack strong scores for geographic or vertical strategy, or breadth of capabilities in the offering (product) criterion, are still Leaders due to the strength of their market understanding and marketing strategy. The evidence that they are market leaders comes from the fact that most of the market is trying to imitate the simplicity of their architecture and the ease of use that it provides.”

BI and Analytics crossroads

Business intelligence and analytics were once independent product sets. BI largely provided query and reporting functions, while advanced analytics addressed higher-order challenges, such as predicting outcomes or optimizing results. BI tools were within the grasp of most business professionals, but analytics were the province of statistical experts.

As today’s businesses seek solutions that merge the power of analytics with BI’s ease of use, SAS sits squarely at that crossroads. The best example, SAS^® Visual Analytics, pulls together analytics, reporting and visualization in one simple-to-use product.

“SAS Visual Analytics has the capability to provide XL Group decision makers with fast, self-service exploration of vast amounts of data,” said Kimberly Holmes, Head of Strategic Analytics for XL Group (NYSE: XL). “It’s a great leap forward when we can use powerful visualization to reveal business insight.”

About the Magic Quadrant

Gartner does not endorse any vendor, product or service depicted in its research publications, and does not advise technology users to select only those vendors with the highest ratings. Gartner research publications consist of the opinions of Gartner's research organization and should not be construed as statements of fact. Gartner disclaims all warranties, expressed or implied, with respect to this research, including any warranties of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose.

About SAS

SAS is the leader in business analytics software and services, and the largest independent vendor in the business intelligence market. Through innovative solutions, SAS helps customers at more than 60,000 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^®.

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