Briefs

May 22, 2007. Recent purchases by Oracle (Hyperion, Agile, etc.), SAP (Pilot, OutlookSoft) and Business Objects (Cartesis and today's announced plans for Inxight) underscore the rise of business intelligence (BI) and analytics, and also the emergence of performance management.

SAS (www.sas.com), the leader in BI and business analytics, knows very well the power of these technologies. At SAS Forum in Stockholm today, SAS announced new technologies to further BI- and analytics-enhanced performance management. SAS also extended its new reseller program internationally, and revealed the results of a survey of financial services executives that links performance and risk management. See the SAS Forum press kit at http://www.sas.com/presscenter/execforum07/index.html. A quick summary of the news:

• SAS announced new, enhanced versions of three of its suite of performance management solutions: SAS Financial Management, SAS Human Capital Management and SAS Strategic Performance Management. All three help organizations improve performance and stimulate profitable growth. See more.

• It's not only large companies that are pursuing the promise of BI and analytics. Small- to medium-sized businesses (SMBs) are also looking to these technologies to compete and succeed. Thirteen countries are participating in first phase of an international launch of SAS' new channel partner program. See more.

• A survey of 410 financial services executives conducted by Chartis Research and SAS found that most financial institutions anticipate significant business rewards from enterprise risk management systems: improved performance management and reduced capital allocation and credit loss. See more.

Instead of worrying about share price or integrating acquisitions, SAS is focused on improving its platform and extending the use of BI and analytics worldwide.

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