SAS Alliance Development Division Raises the Bar for 2003; Expansion of the Alliance to Meet the Changing Needs of the Market

Business Wire, March 31, 2003

Business Editors/High-Tech Writers

SEATTLE--(BUSINESS WIRE)--March 31, 2003

With the close of the first quarter of 2003, the Alliance Development Division of SAS, the leader in business intelligence, announced new strategies which include more support for SAS consultants, increased resources for partners during the release of SAS 9.1 and the development of joint offerings to further serve the needs of customers.

The goal of the SAS Alliance is to drive global and regionally focused practices and programs through a worldwide partner network to support incremental sales of SAS' solution and technology offerings. These efforts augment and support the selling efforts of the direct sales channel; leverage industry and domain expertise to complement SAS' solution and technology offerings; and ultimately enable the delivery of the best total solution to joint customers.

To ensure SAS 9.1 technology and knowledge is readily available to SAS Alliance partners, SAS created a new business unit called Partner Empowerment. Ray Bower, manager, SAS Partner Empowerment, indicates, "Partner Empowerment's mission is to strengthen new and existing partnerships through the development of specific educational programs and technical services that help partners understand, position, implement and deliver integrated SAS solutions."

By forging alliances with other top technology firms, SAS and its partners enable customers to fully realize the value of their IT investment. "Today, when success in business hinges on the timeliness of key decisions, the teamwork of SAS and Intel(R) is vital. Companies competing in today's economic climate need assurance they will get the most out of their investments in technology," said Deborah Conrad, vice president, Sales and Marketing Group at Intel. "For this reason, Intel remains dedicated to the idea and practice of customer-focused collaboration with SAS."

Some other enhancements to the SAS Alliance will be the new SAS Affiliate category, which includes individual consultants, consulting organizations or single practice teams within a large firm who invest in ensuring their SAS skills are the latest and most up-to-date. SAS recognizes the rewards and benefits that are obtained by supporting firms that have made a commitment to building and maintaining their SAS knowledge and expertise. The SAS Alliance Division will offer various investment levels within the Alliance Program to ensure participation is available and beneficial to all parties.

SAS and its partners worked together over the last 12 months to develop joint offerings based on key solution and industry offerings, coupled with a partner's service, expertise or complementary product offerings. The solution focus includes warranty management, marketing automation, drug development, and customer relationship management in support of key industries such as manufacturing, banking, financial services, and pharmaceutical. For example, SAS recently developed a warranty analysis and early warning solution with IBM, which helps customers meet the new federal regulations of the TREAD Act. As a result of activities like this, the level of partnering activity grew significantly in 2002, with notable joint wins and significant solution revenue growth for SAS.

"Executive sponsorship has been critical in order for SAS partnering efforts to succeed and grow. We are fortunate, as we have been able to develop and grow the SAS Alliance strategy and invest in mutually rewarding partnerships with organizations that have complementary competencies," said Loretta Schlatzer, director, Global Partner Programs.

2003 looks to be an even better year for the SAS Alliance Development Division - with the maturity of partner solution initiatives driving new software sales revenue, along with the development of joint solution stacks that will offer our customers the best whole product business intelligence solutions available in the market today.

About SAS

SAS is the market leader in providing a new generation of business intelligence software and services that create true enterprise intelligence. SAS solutions are used at more than 40,000 sites - including 90 percent of the Fortune 500 - to develop more profitable relationships with customers and suppliers; to enable better, more accurate and informed decisions; and to drive organizations forward. SAS is the only vendor that completely integrates leading data warehousing, analytics and traditional BI applications to create intelligence from massive amounts of data. For more than 25 years, SAS has been giving customers around the world The Power to Know(R). Visit us at www.sas.com.

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