Careers

SAS UKI BLOGS

Ashley Beck

Deciding on a career path and role can be difficult. So, we thought we’d make it slightly easier by giving you an insight into what it’s really like to work at SAS. But don’t just take it from us, we’ll let our lovely employees fill in the important info… but we can’t promise they won’t be biased. Curiosity is at the core of our company so if you have any questions keep reading to find out what #SASlife is all about.

Collaboratively advancing technology to aid law enforcement in safeguarding children from online and offline sexual abuse
By Ashley Beck, Senior Industry Consultant Global Security Intelligence Practice, SAS

Working for an organization that supports such a vital cause is incredibly fulfilling. It goes beyond developing software to solve various industry challenges; instead, it entails working in an environment that embraces ideas and fosters innovation. This innovative ecosystem has facilitated the creation of technology that significantly accelerates investigations and addresses the challenges faced by many police officers, enabling them to take prompt action in safeguarding children from online and offline sexual abuse while shielding them from harmful content.

Ailish Jamieson
Sr Human Resources Business Partner

Throughout SAS, highly skilled individuals, both women and men, have gravitated towards this project to contribute to its groundbreaking innovations that set it apart from any other endeavor. The culture within SAS is characterized by openness, authenticity, and progressiveness, creating an environment where people are empowered to provide their support and add value. One noteworthy example is the collaboration between Ailish Jamieson and Ashley Beck, an experienced subject matter expert with 18 years of policing experience in this field. Ashley led and coordinated the development of the technology.

Ailish had a personal connection to this type of criminality as her partner was arrested, charged, and convicted of possessing Child Sexual Abuse Material on his digital devices. This experience had a profound emotional impact on Ailish. During this time, Ashley provided Ailish with advice, guidance, and support throughout the court case. In turn, Ailish educated Ashley on the experiences, feelings, emotions, and considerations faced by individuals on the outskirts of this crime. This mutual learning and support proved invaluable, prompting Ailish and Ashley to organize a webinar aimed at supporting law enforcement and raising awareness about the post-crime impact on victims.

The webinar turned out to be a resounding success, receiving positive feedback from participants representing policing and government policy organizations worldwide who seldom have the opportunity to connect with individuals in similar positions and witness the true emotional consequences. Ailish displayed immense courage by sharing her story in a public forum, made possible by the supportive environment within SAS. This allowed Ailish to provide support to the police and others facing similar situations. Ailish and Ashley worked together to build and deliver such a positive event which embeds SAS’ ethos around giving back to communities.

There is currently a lot of noise around AI, and discussions in Customer Success circles are no different. How will we be able to harness the power of AI in the future? Many thoughts on this are centred on using AI to help automate certain activities, particularly in the 1 to many model of customer success. Highlighting next best actions, potential risks and servicing customers automatically may well be the way AI is used in Customer Success, but the pitfalls must also be considered and ethical AI is a hot topic at SAS in particular, especially as the pace of AI is pretty breath-taking. As always, bad data in, bad data out is a mantra for a reason and through experience and it is no different with AI.

I’ve always liked the adage ‘a little knowledge is a dangerous thing’ and it is easy to base decisions on little data because you have no choice. What I am striving for in Customer Success at SAS is a data driven culture that uses information to gain insights that are valuable and can be executed upon to the benefit of the customer and the benefit of SAS. Anticipating future risks and trends will lead to a better customer experience and help build trust with the customer. At SAS we have been driving a data approach for over 40 years, so I’m looking forward to using our products and solutions more and more to help my team better serve our customers.