Fortis Retail Banking Standardizes Business Intelligence With SAS® Enterprise Intelligence Platform

Business Wire, Jan 15, 2008

The Integrated Data Management and Business Intelligence Environment of SAS([R]) will help Fortis Retail Banking Reach Double-Digit Growth Objectives

CARY, N.C. -- To boost sales and service effectiveness and support double-digit growth objectives, Fortis Retail Banking chose SAS Enterprise Intelligence Platform from SAS, the leader in business intelligence. The new implementation will help the company enhance the structure, quality, richness and delivery of customer and financial data for operational reporting, campaign management, performance management and data mining purposes.

Since the end of 2006, Deloitte Consulting, a SAS Platinum Consulting Partner, has supported Fortis Retail Banking in its business intelligence (BI) journey. Before the tool selection process, Deloitte helped Fortis Retail Banking define its BI vision, BI road map and business case. Next came the architecture design, followed by the tool selection process. As an independent party, Deloitte played a crucial role during the selection process and the proof of concept. In Belgium, Deloitte has a dedicated team of 30 business intelligence consultants focusing on strategy and implementations.

"We extensively evaluated different architecture scenarios for Fortis, varying from best-of-breed scenarios to a BI platform approach. Based on this evaluation, Fortis Management selected SAS," said Aart Joppe, Director of the BI Practice at Deloitte.

SAS Data Integration provides prebuilt, high-performance capabilities for data connectivity, data quality, ETL (extract, transform and load), data migration, data synchronization and data federation.

SAS Enterprise BI Server provides a complete portfolio of business intelligence capabilities and applies the power of SAS Analytics and data integration to create a complete and easy-to-use business intelligence solution. SAS Enterprise BI Server provides a fully integrated and comprehensive suite of business intelligence software that addresses the needs of IT management as well as business users.

About Fortis

Fortis is an international financial services provider engaged in banking and insurance. We offer our personal, business and institutional customers a comprehensive package of products and services through our own channels, in collaboration with intermediaries and through other distribution partners. With a market capitalization of EUR 38.2 billion (31/07/2007), Fortis ranks among the twenty largest financial institutions in Europe. Our sound solvency position, our presence in 50 countries and our dedicated, professional workforce of 60,000 enable us to combine global strength with local flexibility and provide our clients with optimum support. More information is available at www.fortis.com.

About SAS

SAS is the leader in business intelligence and analytical software and services. Customers at 43,000 sites use SAS software to improve performance through insight from data, resulting in faster, more accurate business decisions; more profitable relationships with customers and suppliers; compliance with governmental regulations; research breakthroughs; and better products and processes. Only SAS offers leading data integration, storage, analytics and business intelligence applications within a comprehensive enterprise intelligence platform. Since 1976, SAS has been giving customers around the world THE POWER TO KNOW([R]). www.sas.com

SAS and all other SAS Institute Inc. product or service names are registered trademarks or trademarks of SAS Institute Inc. in the USA and other countries. [R] indicates USA registration. Other brand and product names are trademarks of their respective companies.(c) 2008 SAS Institute Inc. All rights reserved.