SAS Rolls Out Visual Analytics for Work Groups and Midsized Businesses

SAS, the business analytics software giant, announced today that its SAS Visual Analytics product is now available for work groups and midsize businesses. The new version of SAS' visual data exploration software includes added graphical display options and analytical capabilities.

SAS originally introduced its Visual Analytics solution in March 2012, to address big data challenges and leverage the scalability of enterprise-level computing systems as well as database appliances from EMC Greenplum and Teradata. The new version, now available on hardware platforms typically used as departmental-size servers, brings the power of SAS' big data solutions to departments and work groups regardless of data size.

"With powerful data exploration and display abilities, SAS Visual Analytics is more than just a simple business intelligence product," said Jim Davis, senior vice president and chief marketing officer at SAS, in a statement. "Merging BI and analytics in one fast, easy-to-use package, SAS sits at the crossroads of several technologies that customers are anxious to see converge. SAS Visual Analytics is highly scalable, ranging from scenarios with a handful of users to a corporate-wide, global deployment."

SAS' enhanced Visual Analytics tool arrives at a time when businesses intelligence and analytics solutions need to "scale up" to support the continuing growth in data sources, according to a recent report from Gartner. According to the report, by 2015, more than 30 percent of analytics projects will deliver insights based on structured and unstructured data.

Designed as a starting point for organizations wanting to add analytics to their business strategies, SAS Visual Analytics' self-service option lets business users explore their data without having to seek assistance from their IT departments, according to the company. In addition to support for departmental hardware platforms, the Visual Analytics solution includes forecasting, multiple-regress model options, interaction between multiple visuals, dynamic filtering, new visualizations, and more.

Clients that are using SAS Visual Analytics include SM Marketing Convergence, XL Group, the Internal Revenue Service, Hong Kong Efficiency Unit, and Cosmos Bank.

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