SAS launches GenAI Benchmarking tool to give businesses the “key” to unlocking its full potential 

Leader in data and AI, SAS, has introduced a benchmarking tool that it believes will provide "the key” businesses in the UK need to understand how to navigate GenAI adoption and how to responsibly unlock its full value.

SAS’ GenAI Maturity Assessment helps firms quickly determine how they match up against their peers globally through multiple choice questions that, once answered, provides them with a profile according to whether they are an observer (behind the curve), explorer (on the curve) or leader (ahead of the curve) in GenAI adoption.

As part of the assessment participants also receive a bespoke report with valuable insights on what competitors are doing with GenAI and what their next steps should be, as well as key considerations about how to responsibly implement GenAI.

The tool is benchmarked against one of the most comprehensive research pieces into GenAI adoption globally, which was released last year after SAS commissioned Coleman Parkes to conduct the research. It included responses from 1,600 firms in countries including the US, UK, Brazil, Mexico, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and China and breaks down the findings further by industry including banking, government, insurance, life sciences, energy & utilities, manufacturing and telcos.

A first step in responsible GenAI adoption

"We are at an important inflection point, where the barrier to entry into the GenAI market is lowering, making it significantly easier for organisations to adopt and scale GenAI," says Dr Iain Brown, Head of Data Science at SAS. “So we are going to see many organisations enter into that ‘observer’ position as they are eager to discover what they can achieve with GenAI.

"Many organisations are currently uncertain about how to navigate their GenAI journey. We need to help them understand their starting point and the steps required to move forward, ensuring they adopt the technology effectively and responsibly."

As the research proves, organisations are introducing their LLM of choice but many are unaware of the important framework any deployment of GenAI has to sit within.

“Excited to use LLMs? That’s great, but have you considered the data that powers them, the governance required, and how to seamlessly integrate them into your business processes?” asks Dr. Iain Brown. “These are critical conversations every organisation adopting GenAI should be having, and we hope our benchmarking tool will help ignite them.”

Businesses that are deploying GenAI by adopting an LLM like ChatGPT or DeepSeek, needs to follow a framework to adopt it responsibly including a focus on data management, governance, orchestration, and measurement and improvement - to ensure a continuous feedback loop so that use of GenAI throughout its entire lifecycle is monitored.

“None of the advancements organisations seek with GenAI are possible without accurate, high-quality data—and nearly every organisation faces data challenges,” says Dr. Iain Brown. “That’s why it’s crucial to follow a robust framework, ensuring data is enriched and refined to prevent poor AI performance, bias, and misleading outputs, often referred to as ‘hallucinations.’”

SAS is already supporting organisations across the world with the deployment of their GenAI and AI solutions through SAS Viya. SAS Viya is an open, cloud-native AI and analytics platform that integrates with all LLMs, providing the tools for data management, model development, and governance, and helping businesses to accelerate and scale their AI initiatives.

SAS also acquired the principal software assets of Hazy, a pioneer in synthetic data technology. This acquisition enhanced SAS' robust data and AI portfolio, further equipping its customers with synthetic data generation capabilities that can be used to enhance AI models.

Industry conversation leads to real progress

Roderick Crawford, Senior Vice President at SAS Northern Europe says that many organisations aren’t sure what the right questions are to ask, so benchmarking is crucial to their navigation of GenAI. He said: “Businesses are investing a lot of money in GenAI projects and have large budgets set aside, so they need to fully understand how to spend it to get the most value from their adoption.

“We believe this benchmarking tool is a great way to get markets talking, to allow organisations to fully understand their position and what their challenges are. When we all innovate together, that is when real progress can be made and we hope our benchmarking tool will be used to ensure effective and responsible use of GenAI.”

To make it straightforward, SAS’ benchmarking tool consists of eight multiple choice questions aimed at positioning businesses against key metrics that will tell them what GenAI maturity segment they fall into.

You can take the SAS GenAI Maturity Assessment through its website.