IDC MarketScape Cites Customer Focus, Big Data Capabilities, Data Visualization as Strengths

/EINPresswire.com/ -- CARY, NC--(Marketwired - December 02, 2015) - IDC envisions the world's data increasing by 40 percent per year.[1] Yet only a third of state and local government organizations believe they can act on the masses of data they already have. In positioning SAS as a Major Player in its IDC MarketScape: Worldwide Smart City Business Analytics Software 2015 Vendor Assessment (doc #GI259502), IDC highlights how SAS® Analytics is helping cities improve citizen services and operational efficiency.

SAS' strong market leadership in analytics stretches back 40 years. That history, long interwoven with government agencies, is marked by an enduring commitment to customers. The IDC MarketScape characterizes SAS' global corporate culture as "heavily invested in customer satisfaction via multiple annual customer satisfaction surveys, end user forums, and so forth; SAS seeks to instill customer centricity into its strategic development."

Ascribing the astronomical growth in city data to "connected devices and, more specifically, mobile connected devices (RFID, smart cards, body cams, GPS)," the IDC MarketScape points to SAS' strengths in capacity and analytics power. The company's "offerings allow government agencies to address large volumes of data." In addition, SAS In-Memory Analytics "provides for exceptionally quick data processing speeds."

Once they process it, government organizations need to make sense of all that data. An effective approach is data visualization. The IDC MarketScape sees strength in SAS Visual Analytics, stating "the visual analytics offerings, in conjunction with their mobile interfaces, are innovative and affordable."

SAS Visual Analytics is an in-memory solution for exploring enormous amounts of data quickly. Users can spot patterns, identify opportunities for further analysis, and convey results with visual clarity. Quickly formatting large amounts of data for processing, SAS Visual Analytics lets users explore all data and not just a sample

ICMA partnership: flexible, affordable performance management software for local governments

As an example of SAS' customer responsiveness, the IDC MarketScape underlines ICMA Insights, a performance management and analytics tool for local governments.

"ICMA Insights offers performance management and customized, innovative business analytics to meet the needs of nearly 9,000 city and county managers, the cumulative reach of which extends to some 185 million U.S. citizens. The ICMA Insights offering includes 900 key input, output, and outcome measures on seven service clusters; access to the software offerings is tiered to allow municipalities to manage as much, or as little, of their operational data as they want."

SAS built ICMA Insights in partnership with the International City/County Management Association (ICMA).

Mobile, cloud and Internet of Things (IoT)

Local government leaders need easy-to-use software that answers questions that matter. SAS prioritizes usability, says the IDC MarketScape, powered by investments in visualization and mobile. The company also has business cases that target specific government challenges, like transport and utilities.

"SAS is further entrenching its offerings in the cloud, mobile, and IoT spaces," reports the IDC MarketScape. "SAS has begun to implement a number of innovative IoT-enabled Smart City deployments in the water management space. In addition, SAS corporate has a keen interest in, and focus on, the open data movement that is increasingly prominent in larger global municipalities."

The IDC MarketScape cites the Town of Cary (NC) Aquastar portal, which uses SAS Visual Analytics to analyze data from smart water meters.

SAS recently joined Envision America, an effort to launch smart city initiatives in communities across the US.

Learn more about the Internet of Things and 10 ways analytics can make your city smarter.

SAS technologies and solutions for government are used in government agencies in all 50 states to transform their operations to deliver the right services, at the right time, with the appropriate resources. SAS offers a wide array of data management, business intelligence and analytics solutions, and collaborates with governments to create innovative offerings tailored to specific departmental and agency goals.

About IDC MarketScape

IDC MarketScape vendor analysis model is designed to provide an overview of the competitive fitness of ICT (information and communications technology) suppliers in a given market. The research methodology utilizes a rigorous scoring methodology based on both qualitative and quantitative criteria that results in a single graphical illustration of each vendor's position within a given market. IDC MarketScape provides a clear framework in which the product and service offerings, capabilities and strategies, and current and future market success factors of IT and telecommunications vendors can be meaningfully compared. The framework also provides technology buyers with a 360 degree assessment of the strengths and weaknesses of current and prospective vendors.

[1] EMC Digital Universe Study, research and analysis by IDC, April 2014

About SAS

SAS is the leader in analytics. Through innovative analytics, business intelligence and data management software and services, SAS helps customers at more than 75,000 sites make better decisions faster. Since 1976, SAS has been giving customers around the world THE POWER TO KNOW®.

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. ® indicates USA registration. Other brand and product names are trademarks of their respective companies. Copyright © 2015 SAS Institute Inc. All rights reserved.

Contact information
Trent Smith
Trent.Smith@sas.com
919-531-4726
www.sas.com

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