The secret to consistently beating both profitability goals and competitors may sound simple - just understand your customers better and faster than anyone else, and then target them more effectively than anyone else. But with the scope and scale of marketing today, delivering meaningful, personal service to customers is a difficult task.

This white paper discusses the evolution of analytics-based marketing automation and then looks briefly at the critical technologies that support the latest generation of marketing automation: an enterprise architecture, sophisticated analytics, capabilities that give more control to business users and the ability to extend into other areas of marketing.

This white paper provides five steps to resource optimization, with a visual model and a variety of real-world examples to help business leaders understand how to allocate resources in alignment with enterprise-level objectives. You'll also learn about the technology required to support resource optimization.

Natural resources agencies in the Americas must understand how to enhance the effectiveness of programs and policies while maintaining an adequate level of funding. This white paper describes how analytics can provide optimized solutions to these challenges. The paper first describes the use of analytics in resource management, education and CRM, operations and performance management. Ultimately, you will learn about SAS' analytic capabilities for natural resource agencies.

Every day, retail organizations ask two related questions: 1) How can we maximize revenues from our product offerings, retail outlets and customer relationships? 2) How can we maximize profitability without eroding the quality of our products, the shopping experience or customer satisfaction?

Read this white paper to find out how advanced analytics, including statistics, data mining, optimization and forecasting, give retailers a robust way to understand what is happening and what could happen in their business with quantified accuracy. You will learn about specific applications for analytics in marketing, merchandising, operations and performance management.

This white paper describes ways the healthcare industry can use the data at its disposal to evolve toward more personalized medicine. In particular, you will learn about the promising possibilities of electronic medical records and powerful analytic solutions for healthcare providers from SAS. The paper also includes some real-life situations in which SAS analytics are being used to improve patient care and research.

Pharmaceutical sales and marketing professionals face a unique set of challenges in their efforts to boost sales enough to recoup staggering development costs. This white paper explores the possibilities of data integration and advanced analytics in marketing and selling pharmaceuticals. The paper also includes a list of key analytical techniques and several industry case studies.

This paper, based on research by nGenera Corporation, provides answers to six key questions that executives should be asking about how to use business analytics to improve performance and compete successfully -- from "Where should we leverage business analytics?" and "What's the payoff?" to "What kinds of people do we need?" and more.

Radio frequency identification (RFID) is spreading quickly through the global network of supply chains. The technology promises improved efficiency and more accurate tracking--along with untold amounts of data. Read this white paper to get a brief introduction to RFID and learn about a variety of SAS technologies that can help you harness the value of your RFID-related data. Such technologies include data quality, business intelligence, predictive analytics and even retail-specific applications.

As in other sectors of the economy, the insurance industry has experienced many changes in information technology. Advances in hardware, software, and networks have offered benefits, such as reduced costs and time of data processing as well as increased potential for profit. Competition has also increased, making effective IT solutions even more necessary.

This paper discusses how insurance companies can benefit from modern data mining methodologies, which help companies reduce costs, increase profits, retain current customers, acquire new customers, and develop new products. You will learn about how to implement data mining projects and about changes in U.S. legislation that affect insurance firms. A list of recommended reading is also included.

This paper presents a methodology for conducting a forecasting strategic value assessment for your organization.

Combining forecasting with BI technologies can help companies go from a historical view of their business to a more predictive view. This white paper explains how SAS forecasting, when used with SAS' data integration and information deployment capabilities, can provide a more accurate view of the future and help organizations save time, reduce costs and better serve their customers.

How effectively an organization manages its supply chain depends on many factors. An organization can have excellent business processes, yet lack the ability to successfully align supply with demand. Read this white paper to learn how advanced forecasting technology and business intelligence can enhance Sales and Operations Planning while supporting better communications and collaboration throughout an enterprise.

This white paper discusses fundamental issues that impact an organization's ability to forecast accurately. These issues include the operational definition of "demand," what to forecast, how to measure performance, organizational practices and demand volatility. Without addressing these issues, the investment may yield no return.

As companies strive to uncover patterns in consumer behavior, measure the effectiveness of marketing investment strategies and optimize financial performance, improving the accuracy of forecasts will play a critical role in driving profit.

This white paper describes the necessary components of an integrated sales forecasting system. You will learn about the importance of a flexible forecasting system that it integrated through common metadata. The paper also outlines the importance of an enterprise data warehouse and makes recommendations for designing an optimal sales forecasting solution.

This white paper discusses multi-causal analysis as a way of integrating consumer demand information with shipment forecasts to capture the impact of marketing activities on shipments. With improvements in technology, data collection, data storage and analytical knowledge, CPG companies are now looking to integrate consumer demand with their shipment forecasts to capture the impact of marketing activities on shipments. As a result, multi-tiered causal analysis (MTCA) is receiving renewed interest. This paper explains the MTCA process, including an anonymous beverage industry case study that describes the process used to develop and link the Consumer Demand and Factory Shipment models. The by-product of this process was a more accurate forecast that reflected the company's marketing investment strategy.

Radio frequency identification (RFID) is spreading quickly through the global network of supply chains. The technology promises improved efficiency and more accurate tracking--along with untold amounts of data. Read this white paper to get a brief introduction to RFID and learn about a variety of SAS technologies that can help you harness the value of your RFID-related data. Such technologies include data quality, business intelligence, predictive analytics and even retail-specific applications.

SAS delivers the most complete set of predictive analytical tools available today for developing highly predictive models. These models typically are deployed as SAS code programs into both batch and on-demand environments. Some users, however, convert models to another language, compile the new code into an executable module, validate the model for expected results and deploy the module into a production system, a process that can take from three 3 to 24 months.

This paper will demonstrate a new approach where businesses can deploy more predictive models into production for a given time period, enabling more accurate decisions related to credit applications, predictive behavior and marketing campaigns.

This paper details challenges that affect how communications are planned and deployed, including limiting factors such as budget caps, campaign volumes and channel capacities. Communications often can't be anticipated until a trigger-based or real-time interaction uncovers a need and the opportunity for an additional communication. Successful processes utilize the latest analytical techniques and consider a company's corporate objectives and business rules. This paper discusses a process called adaptive contact planning as a way to create more effective, and thus more profitable, marketing campaigns.

This white paper provides five steps to resource optimization, with a visual model and a variety of real-world examples to help business leaders understand how to allocate resources in alignment with enterprise-level objectives. You'll also learn about the technology required to support resource optimization.

Manufacturing and supply chain organizations must not only optimize resources and minimize waste, but also predict future growth and demand. Event-handling and transactional systems cannot merge data into an integrated source of business intelligence; organizations need adequate data management, forecasting, optimization and modeling techniques to bring disparate data together and gather useful intelligence from it. With key performance indicators and process metrics that span functional areas, managers and other stakeholders can see changes and trends as they occur and make business decisions based on those indicators.

Understanding customer comments is a hot topic in the text mining world, and mining audio data is gathering momentum. Combining voice capture data with business intelligence, analytics and text mining provides valuable customer intelligence for marketing and competitive intelligence. This paper helps you understand how to take advantage of analytical technologies that combine data mining methods with emerging linguistic techniques to find patterns and meaning in the words captured in conversations and documents. The case study presented in this paper is based on MSNTV call center audio data. A sample of more than 10,000 individual audio files and their associated transcriptions were used to understand customer issues and the likelihood that customers would cancel their MSNTV subscriptions.

This white paper by Stephen E. Arnold explores the value of text mining as a way to process unstructured information and identify themes without reading an entire collection of text. In particular, Arnold focuses on the value of SAS Text Miner for integrating text-based information with structured data and enhancing organizations' predictive modeling capabilities.

Information can be an organization's most vital asset. The value of this asset depends on the ability to effectively manage the information supply chain - from data collection to analysis and, finally, to the delivery of information to decision makers.

This detailed white paper describes how the SAS Publishing Framework strengthens an organization's ability to deliver key information on time. The paper provides an overview of the components of the SAS Publishing Framework and practical code examples for efficient information delivery. It also includes appendices on administering the SAS Publishing Framework and on key terminology presented throughout the paper.

While Web services have great potential as a technology for implementing applications such as stock price delivery or inventory ordering over the Internet, there is another key business benefit — the delivery of analytical services and business intelligence functionality.

This white paper provides a technical overview of how Web services fit into the SAS Intelligence
Architecture and shows how to develop applications that make use of the Web services framework. It gives in-depth code examples of how to implement a simple, real-world scenario. The paper describes how to implement Web services using both the.NET and J2EE frameworks and provides an appendix outlining a basic Web services model.

This is a thought leadership paper by Mark David Milliron for education that describes the need to focus on fostering critical, creative, social and courageous learners ready and willing to face our challenges, build our economies, lead our companies and transform our schools. 

A Business Intelligence Competency Center (BICC) is a permanent formal organizational structure that exists to advance and promote the effective use of business intelligence in support of the organization's business strategy. This white paper explores the value that an organization can receive from a BICC. You will learn about organizational implications, how to fund such an effort, and how SAS can help ensure a successful BI strategy. The paper also includes a brief case study.

In March 2007, SAS conducted a survey of 175 business intelligence professionals from around the globe to assess current trends in the use of business information - specifically business intelligence and competency centers - and their effect on organizational performance. This report outlines the results of that survey and its implications for information management in your organization.

The implementation of a business intelligence (BI) environment is not simple, but it does yield tremendous benefits for companies that want to receive the most value from their data resources. Read this paper by BI visionary Dr. Claudia Imhoff to understand the fundamental questions anyone must ask to ensure a successful BI implementation.

You will learn to identify what you have, build a business case for the BI environment, establish the technical infrastructure to support it, maintain data quality and, ultimately, to expand the capabilities of BI through predictive and embedded analytics.

Healthcare leaders are challenged to improve care delivery, reduce costs and enhance physician and employee engagement. Doing so requires the ability to access data from a variety of siloed and disparate systems, and then to get that data into the hands of those closest to the issues. Applying business intelligence in a healthcare setting is a powerful way to break down political barriers, overcome resistance to change, align strategic priorities and improve communication.

This white paper explores the ways that business intelligence and performance management software systems can facilitate evidence-based healthcare delivery in hospitals. The paper provides background on implementing business intelligence and then offers case studies demonstrating successful BI at several prominent hospitals.

Combining forecasting with BI technologies can help companies go from a historical view of their business to a more predictive view. This white paper explains how SAS forecasting, when used with SAS' data integration and information deployment capabilities, can provide a more accurate view of the future and help organizations save time, reduce costs and better serve their customers.

How effectively an organization manages its supply chain depends on many factors. An organization can have excellent business processes, yet lack the ability to successfully align supply with demand. Read this white paper to learn how advanced forecasting technology and business intelligence can enhance Sales and Operations Planning while supporting better communications and collaboration throughout an enterprise.

OLAP has become a standard requirement for almost any BI-related project because it enables users to navigate quickly through complex business data. This white paper provides an overview of several integrated SAS products that can be used for OLAP. You will learn how these products, all part of SAS Enterprise BI Server, allow different types of users to perform analysis of varying sophistication, from simple reporting and exploration to advanced visualization and publishing of results.

The demand for more information in business has created backlogs of new report requests that are difficult for IT to manage. CIOs are looking to solve these problems by implementing BI solutions that make business users more self-sufficient in fulfilling their reporting needs. This white paper provides an overview of SAS' easy-to-use, Web-based reporting solution. You will learn about the functionality of SAS query and reporting, along with the features that make it unique. This paper also includes an at-a-glance list of SAS BI capabilities.

OLAP has become a standard requirement for almost any BI-related project because it enables users to navigate quickly through complex business data. This white paper provides an overview of several integrated SAS products that can be used for OLAP. You will learn how these products, all part of SAS Enterprise BI Server, allow different types of users to perform analysis of varying sophistication, from simple reporting and exploration to advanced visualization and publishing of results.

SAS Add-In for Microsoft Office revolutionizes business intelligence by enabling users to leverage the power of SAS data access, reporting and analytics directly from Microsoft Office products using integrated menus and toolbars. It enables users to access very large data sources from Excel, analyze them and return results back to MS Office, bypassing the traditional size limitations of Excel.

This paper provides an overview of SAS Add-In to Microsoft Office and walks users through the process of accessing and sorting data from Excel. It also illustrates how to create SAS Stored Processes, so users across the enterprise can leverage SAS content developed by business analysts, statisticians and programmers.

Today's fast-paced, decentralized organizations require business intelligence software solutions that are easy to deploy and use. These solutions also must enable a large employee population to access data simply and self sufficiently in order to deliver the key intelligence that is needed.

This paper focuses on the ability of SAS Enterprise Guide to help business analysts, statisticians and SAS programmers achieve their goals while increasing productivity. It also examines how each of these business users is able to access this powerful solution to quickly create simple or complex analytic reports and distribute them with greater ease to targeted groups of users for effective and insightful decision making.

By putting data in motion, people can spot trends and see details they might otherwise miss. That's a guiding premise of this white paper from data visualization expert Stephen Few. Find out how interactive graphs lead to valuable analytical insights, illustrating not just the degree of change from one point in time to the next, but also the shape, velocity and direction of change.

Collaborative data integration supports governance and stewardship, and it fosters reuse and remote management for distributed development teams. Read this white paper by TDWI's Philip Russom to learn about organizational issues, best practices and software tools for collaborative data integration.

The challenge of integrating enterprise data is not getting any easier, according to this research report published by TDWI. This paper analyzes the results of a survey designed to provide insight into the development of data integration technologies and techniques. The paper also explores requirements for developing an enterprise data integration strategy.

Data migration projects often fail because of an underestimation of the effort required or a lack of planning. This paper focuses on the main areas associated with data migration: source system exploration, data assessment, migration design, migration build, execution, transition and production, and provides recommendations to enhance your chances for successful data migration projects. SAS Enterprise Data Integration Server provides a complete suite of functionality to complete all types of data migrations, as well as a platform that is reliable and scalable. It helps accelerate the delivery of data migration projects and also facilitates component reuse between projects.

Information can be an organization's most vital asset. The value of this asset depends on the ability to effectively manage the information supply chain - from data collection to analysis and, finally, to the delivery of information to decision makers.

This detailed white paper describes how the SAS Publishing Framework strengthens an organization's ability to deliver key information on time. The paper provides an overview of the components of the SAS Publishing Framework and practical code examples for efficient information delivery. It also includes appendices on administering the SAS Publishing Framework and on key terminology presented throughout the paper.

Data migration projects often fail because of an underestimation of the effort required or a lack of planning. This paper focuses on the main areas associated with data migration: source system exploration, data assessment, migration design, migration build, execution, transition and production, and provides recommendations to enhance your chances for successful data migration projects. SAS Enterprise Data Integration Server provides a complete suite of functionality to complete all types of data migrations, as well as a platform that is reliable and scalable. It helps accelerate the delivery of data migration projects and also facilitates component reuse between projects.

SAS and IBM have had a long-standing relationship that represents a true win-win for both companies. By coordinating the development of DB2 8.1 and SAS®9, IBM and SAS are allowing customers to take advantage of enhancements to both systems.
This paper explores the impact of SAS and DB2 configuration options by outlining different methods of accessing your DB2 database with a focus on performance. Examples are given to highlight the performance trade-offs of choosing different access methods, SAS®9 application parameters, and DB2 8.1 configuration options. In addition, this paper highlights some of the new features in SAS®9 and DB2 8.1.

Data migration projects often fail because of an underestimation of the effort required or a lack of planning. This paper focuses on the main areas associated with data migration: source system exploration, data assessment, migration design, migration build, execution, transition and production, and provides recommendations to enhance your chances for successful data migration projects. SAS Enterprise Data Integration Server provides a complete suite of functionality to complete all types of data migrations, as well as a platform that is reliable and scalable. It helps accelerate the delivery of data migration projects and also facilitates component reuse between projects.

This report from Bloor Research evaluates SAS ETL^Q, outlining a number of key findings about the SAS offering. In particular, this report highlights that, while SAS has not traditionally been well known in the ETL marketplace, SAS ETL products are mature and worth consideration.

In addition to outlining key findings, this report provides some background on SAS, its available products, and its capabilities in data access and data quality. The paper also includes a discussion of SAS ETL Studio, the primary development environment for ETL processes in SAS ETL^Q.