SAS is the world’s leader in advanced analytics software. It has also been rated as the world’s best multinational workplace. To name a few, SAS has offices in France, Mexico, Singapore, and North Carolina. It has more than 13,000 employees worldwide and 400+ offices in 55 countries.The most amazing statistic is that SAS has had 36 years of sustained revenue growth, which is extremely rare.

The mission of SAS is to help transform data into insights that give a fresh perspective on one’s business. SAS is very unique because after listening to the presentation, it is very clear that they put as much effort into making their employees happy as their customers. In doing so, the employees are more productive and stay loyal. SAS values approachable, customer-driven, innovative, swift, agile and trustworthy employees who help to create a culture of empowerment throughout the workplace. To add to the mission of making the employees happy, SAS has many on-site services such as child care, a recreation and fitness center, health care and pharmacy, work-life center, cafes and coffee bars, dry cleaning pick up, a salon, shipping center, and car detailing.

There are many different customers of SAS. For example, a few industries that SAS is involved with include retail, the federal government, health care, and the coast guard. One of our presenters, Anne-Marie Streeter, explained that they work with all sorts of companies ranging from Ralph Lauren to Playboy. Therefore, it is difficult to pinpoint an exact typical customer for SAS.

Yet, the typical SAS customers tend to value the same things. First and foremost they value the data insights. Then, the quality the customers value that differentiates SAS from competitors is its innovation. SAS is constantly keeping ahead of the times, thus providing the most useful information. SAS customers also value the longevity of the employees. This aspect becomes very helpful when the employee can recall information from 6+ years ago. They become very knowledgable about the companies they work with over time.

The result of SAS is that they are incredibly successful at creating an atmosphere where people want to work, and they serve lots of customers. The guiding principles are that there is mutual respect, empowerment, and that employees have a life outside of SAS. All of these goals are currently being met, which is a successful result of SAS.

The current plan of SAS is to develop visually appealing user-friendly solutions that are good on mobile devices since we are living in the world of iPhones, iPads, etc. that people are constantly using as opposed to desktop computers.

I really enjoyed today’s visit because it was a breath of fresh air to see a company so devoted to making its employees happy. SAS seemed like a place that I could actually be very happy working at. Looking back at some past jobs, I know I would have performed better if there had been more empowerment provided. I’ve never seen any company with as many on-site services as SAS. Hopefully I’ll be able to work somewhere in the future where the employees are as valued and as happy as they are at SAS.

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The SAS facilities was hands down the largest and most technologically advanced place we have visited so far. It being the world headquarters their was literally a campus, they had over nine hundred acres and twenty two buildings on site. The buildings themselves were very high tech and had a solid atmosphere once inside. The service that SAS offers is a software that gathers data for companies and analyzes it so the companies can use it for their benefit. An example of this would be what items need to be sold at Wal-Mart; when to put them on sale and for how much off. The mission of SAS is to remain the world leader in advanced analytic software and to continue to innovate and increase revenue from year to year. For the past thirty six years SAS has remained a privately owned company that has sustained revenue growth annually. The typical SAS consumer ranges from the government to financial services. This companies software is used in almost every industry and is continuing to spread. Their product is not a one size fits all software, they customize the software for large and small businesses and for the use of the product. The customer values the leading software in the industry. Since this company is simply the best at what they do the customers value top quality material. The better the program works for them the more they can apply it to their business. The SAS employees function off a certain set of values that in turn help to customer reach ultimate satisfaction. These values are as follows; approachable customer-driven innovation, swift and agile trustworthiness. The company puts a lot of focus on the value of their employees and in turn the customers receive service and a product that is made by the best. The results of SAS has been a massive success. From starting in a small building in Cary to the world headquarters today we can see how vast the success has been. The SAS plan has always been to innovate, they want to create the next big thing before the customer knows that they need it. Our second speaker today talked about SAS’s newest plan that will be highly applicable in the very near future. Big data is very much on the rise right now and SAS is one of the only companies that has a program that can easily make sense of it all. As we saw in the demonstration today big data can be very useful to companies of any size. They plan to continue to advance in this field as they are seeing it as the next big thing.

One of the biggest points I think that they emphasized on today was the treatment and selection of employees. SAS being a privately owned company does not have to adhere to a strict code of guidelines, they simply have to do what the CEO thinks is best. With that being said the work environment that they function in is very casual and advantageous. They are given the resources that they need to make their time in the office copious and productive. With on campus sites such as; daycare, rec and fitness, and car detailing. The employees don’t have to go out of their way to seek the help that they need, everything is right in front of them. This allows them to have plenty of comfortable time to work and less time dealing with issues that otherwise would inconvenience them greatly. All employees receive benefits even the landscapers. In general the working atmosphere reminded me of a Google facility and seemed very pleasant to work in.

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Today we visited SAS in Cary, North Caroline. SAS is a privately held company and one of the world’s leaders in advanced analytic software. The campus in Cary has recently become the Global Headquarters, but they have over 400 offices in 55 countries, while also employing 13,000 people worldwide. Throughout the 36-year history of the company they have sustained a revenue growth every year, which is remarkable. The mission of SAS is very different from many other businesses. They strive to foster a culture based on flexibility, trust, and values. They want their employees to be approachable, customer-driven, innovative, swift and agile, and trustworthy. SAS wants meaningful work for all employees.

SAS serves more than 65,000 business, government, and university sites, in 140 countries. SAS’s customers also make up the top 90 of the top 100 companies on the 2012 Fortune Global 500 list. SAS’s customers value the innovation, easy usage of programs, and the helpful, happy customer support system, that they provide. SAS prides itself on being innovative and always having programs ready before they are actually needed, so that when a company needs it they already have it and aren’t reacting to the market. This was shown when after the Ponzi scheme, SAS already had developed anti-money laundering programs for companies to use. Their customers also value the fact that SAS leases them their products so they don’t have to pay for an upgrade of buy the new product every time SAS releases new software. SAS also has a 24/7 technical support system that is very quick and also very helpful.

SAS holds about 36.2% of the market share. This shows that they are in a stable and profitable position. SAS’s consideration for their employees has led to them ranking #1 on the top 100 corporation’s to work for in 2012. They have also recently recorded a segment to air on the Today Show. SAS’s plan is to go more mobile. The reason for this is that every year the % of desktop computers decreases while mobile devices get more and more popular. SAS also plans for the future by reinvesting 25% of their profit back into the R&D portion of the company.

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Today our class visited a company by the name of SAS in Cary, North Carolina. The company SAS is the world’s leader in advanced analytics software. The company was founded by James Goodnight and Anthony J. Barr and SAS is still privately owned. The reason why the company is privately owned is because of the specific business strategy Goodnight wanted in SAS. It causes everyone to work together with a sense of mutual respect between everyone. Also the company being privately owned helps SAS keep an extremely low retention rate compared to the average of other industries. SAS employs 13,000 worldwide and the company contains around 400 offices worldwide in about 55 countries. Also SAS contains customers in 140 different countries and SAS contains more than 65,000 business, government, and university customer sites. The SAS headquarters is in Cary, North Carolina at the facility we visited.

The company SAS contains a specific mission of transforming the data that businesses collect and turn it into insights and significant data that can help a company enhance their perspective on their business. The information helps the companies identify what is working and what isn’t and make changes according to the data organized by SAS. The organized data helps companies discover new opportunities and possibilities for their company’s future. SAS will turn large amounts of data into knowledge companies need to stay cutting-edge.

SAS’s customers include every organization in the need for software analytics so they contain a wide range of customers. A few of SAS’s well known clients include; Kohl’s, Ralph Lauren, Playboy, and The Government of the United States. Specifically the United States government accounts for 17% of SAS’s revenue. SAS’s worldwide presence has allowed them to work with virtually any organization across the globe. SAS’s customers value the innovation that the company provides them with. Other aspects such as the easy usage of their programs and the happy customer support system help SAS clients stay happy. However, the most important facet of SAS that their clients value is definitely the innovation that SAS provides them. SAS brings information to companies that they didn’t even realize they had. Conclusively, SAS’s customers value the helpful technical support system with no wait and with an actual person and the solutions SAS provides for any organization.

SAS’s results are very good, the company’s revenue skyrocketed in the 1980’s. The company holds around 36.2% of the market share. Clearly, SAS is in a good position at the moment. The SAS community is so tight because of the great benefits SAS provides their employees and this helps keep the retention rate low. This low rate really helps SAS keep very loyal employees that will perform at a very high level for the company. SAS was even awarded with being one of the “Top Multi-National Corporations to Work for.”

SAS’s plan is to keep providing their customers with cutting-edge analytical software that will help the organizations innovate. The word innovation is a very important term to SAS because they believe for an organization to stay successful in today’s world they need to be able to innovate and thats what SAS provides them. Also SAS recognized that technology is starting to become more mobile, SAS is planning to create programs and apps that will help organizations present and find data in a mobile device. Since the 1980’s SAS has only grown and become more profitable I expect them to keep this up in the next 30 years as well. Overall, I thought the presentation SAS gave our class was very informative and some day I hope to work for a company that cares so much about their employees like SAS does.

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Today we went to SAS, an informational and big data analytics company. It is considered one of the best companies to work for in the entire world and has campuses everywhere from Greensboro to Singapore to France.

Their main customers are made up of companies needing information analyzed and stored. They tend to take big data and find what parts of it are relevant to a company. Once they have broken up the data they then have systems that allow their clients to move the data into a graph or other visual to be used in a presentation or report.

The customers are given easy access to information and an easy way to organize it because of SAS and it’s programs. That’s exactly what the customers want. Plus they are able to take the massive amounts of data they have access to and be given what’s actually important from it.

After being a start up company in a single building back in the 80’s SAS has become one of the worlds biggest players in business analytics. The customers of SAS are extremely satisfied due to small things such as a free customer service team that is available at a moments notice. There’s no waiting on the phone being told that “your call is very important to us”, and no computer voice telling you to press certain numbers to point you in the right direction. Customers have even gone to SAS  to learn more about their company culture and how to simulate their business model. Another great feature is that SAS products are leased, therefore when there is an upgraded version created companies simply change their lease, they never have to buy a new product.

In the future SAS plans on simply staying at the top of it’s industry. The only real competitor it has is SAP, a german company that also deals with big data. The other competitors tend to only be able to compete in one sector or one area of SAS’s business.

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Ben Doster

What is our Mission?

It is the mission of SAS to turn data collected in by a company into insightful information that can be used by a company to profit and grow.  They have the capability to discover why a company’s current data system is not working and fix the problem with it.  The main purpose of this company is to turn large amounts of data into information that businesses can actually use.

Who is Our Customer?

The Customer of SAS is any company or organization that feels as though they could better themselves by retrieving and utilizing useful data concerning their company.  Organizations anywhere from the US Coast Guard to large corporations use the services of SAS in order to become more efficient by using data that concerns their company.

What Does the Customer Value?

According to our tour guide, customers of SAS value the ability of SAS to organize their data into useful groups, which could make a company more efficient and profitable.  Our tour guide mentioned how many of the customers of SAS are repeats and that she believes that is due to the values of the company and how much respect they have for their employees.

What are the Results?

The results of all this are pretty clear, the company is a huge success.  With a campus of 900 acres and a little under fifteen thousand employees, it is clear that their business model of treating their employees well is paying off.  They are currently one of the top Big Data companies in the world with offices in countries like Singapore, Mexico, and France.

What is our Plan?

According to our tour guide, the plan for SAS in the future is to better adapt to software that works on tablets and smart phones.  They said the way to grow is to see the need for something in the future and adapt to it now because otherwise, something else will be used by the time they adapt to tablets.  I found this to be interesting because they are taking a proactive approach to a matter that many people simply don’t.

Overall, I really enjoyed our visit to SAS.  This has a lot to do with the fact that it correlates directly to my major unlike our visits to places like Lab Corp.  Even if it were not ranked the number one place to work last year, I would still enjoy working for this company.

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SAS’s Mission

The mission of SAS is very unique in comparison to most business analytics companies out there.  While they provide top of the line services with incredibly powerful data-mining programs that are user friendly, they also manage to create a cohesive and welcoming community to all that they come in contact with.  Not only do they provide top of the line service for clients, but they also have world class benefits for their employees including child care, car detailing, on campus Starbucks, massages and more.  They have invested heavily in their own employees and that is one of the reasons the employees of SAS have remained so loyal to their company.  Similar companies in the industry have a turnover ratio of 15%, but SAS has a turnover ratio of 4%.

SAS’s Customers

SAS serves an incredible amount of top companies around the world.  In fact they are the world leader in advanced analytics with a commanding 36.2% share of the market.  With over 13,000 employees in 55 countries SAS is able to serve its customers from basically anywhere in the globe.  A few notable customers of SAS are the government, Kohls, American Eagle, Financial Agencies and numerous others.

What do SAS’s Customers Value?

There are many things that the customers of SAS value.  First, as we talked about in the discussion, the customers value the innovation that SAS is always making to their products.  As a leading technological company, SAS is never sitting back and letting the market decide their next move.  Conversely, they make changes before the market so that they are on the leading edge of different movements in the industry.  Also, as they change their products, they have a system in place to keep their customers up to date with that software by leasing them the product instead of forcing them to buy the different programs.  Next, as employees are very loyal to SAS and rarely leave, this also helps serve their customers even better.  The majority of the people who are in direct contact with clients have been at SAS for a long time and with the same company as well.  With a deep understanding of not only SAS, but also the client’s company, both SAS and the client company will benefit greatly.

What were SAS’s results?

SAS has certainly done extremely well in their field as evidenced by their commanding 36.2% share of the market.  I truly think that their success lies in their refusal to convert to a public company.  As a privately owned company, the leadership team has the only and final say in everything that SAS does.  And they have continued to have steady economic growth for 36 years and will most certainly continue to grow well into the future.  Another key indicator that SAS is one of the top advanced analytic companies in the world is all the awards that they have received over the years including Best Places to Work, spots on the Oprah and Today Show and numerous other instances of publicity.

 What is SAS’s Plan?

When this question was asked in class, I was very interested in what the response would be.  Although SAS is a world class technology based company, every company needs to find ways to change to stay up to date with other companies.  Their response was not that surprising; going mobile and more user friendly.  Smart phones have revolutionized the way we interact with our world, and SAS is trying to get their foot in the door with increased user friendly apps that automatically sync to computer devices.  This is the future of advanced analytics and SAS is leading the way with their technology. Overall, it was a great trip to SAS today and I am definitely interested in how big of a company they are yet always manage to put people first.

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What is SAS’s mission?

SAS’s mission is to help organizations and businesses transform the large amount of data each business has into meaningful and purposeful information that the business can use to remain competitive in their industry. By analyzing any company’s data, SAS is able to tell the company its history, what is and isn’t working, and what opportunities are available for them in the future.  SAS originally stood for Statistical Analytic Software and has been a privately owned business since it was founded. SAS has spread from a single building business in Raleigh, North Carolina assisting agricultural business to being used in more than 65,000 different businesses in over 135 countries. Of all of these businesses, ninety of the top one hundred companies in the Fortune 500 list have used SAS.  

Who is their customer?

As mentioned above, SAS has had over 65,000 customers during its history and its customers are from a variety of industries. Their customers include 99 of the top 100 banks in the world, including Scotiabank. The Federal Government, Foxwoods Resort Casino, and CAN Insurance, also use SAS for various purposes. In addition, one of the industries has its strongest grip on is the retail industry. Retail giants such as Polo Ralph Lauren and Kohl’s use SAS regularly to gain an edge over competitors in the clothing market.  

What does the customer value?

Despite the variety of industries their customers come from, all SAS customers value the innovation, efficiency, and high quality of software they receive by using SAS as their software provider. In addition, they value the stability SAS has always has, whether it be the loyalty of their employees or the rules they have in place to protect themselves from crimes such as money laundering.  The customers  know that SAS is always ahead of the curve because they have the most sophisticated analytical tools for data and the customers value this expertise.   

What are their results?

The results of SAS’s business are very plain and positive. In 2012 they collected worldwide revenue of $2.87 billion dollars, and by doing so improved on their revenue from the previous year. 2012 marked the 36^th year in a row that SAS has grown its revenue, which is almost unheard of in today’s economy. In addition, it has grown to 13,814 employees spread across four different continents with customers in 140 countries. Look inside the company, while the U.S. average for a company’s employee turnover rate is 15.5%, SAS has a turnover rate of only 4%, which demonstrates the extreme loyalty its employees have to their company.

What is their plan?

SAS is the leading business in its industry but despite this it plans on continuing to innovate and develop cutting edge software that will give its customers an even greater advantage in their respective industries. A huge area they are hoping to improve on in the coming year is in mobile technology which is more user friendly than past technology. With the invention of iPhones, iPads, tablets and other portable devices, they plan on creating apps and shortcuts for customers to make it easier for them to business and other transactions.

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I personally thoroughly enjoyed this company and its presentation. With such a big company it is tough to not let it go public while still maintaining success. They are the world leader in analytics, which is extremely impressive because there are several data analytics companies. I also found that their way of running the business is very interesting and out of ordinary. They have very extensive benefits and their salaries are above the average for this type of industry meaning SAS is and has been on top of their game.

The mission of SAS is to help organizations anticipate and optimize business opportunities. They do this through advanced analytics that turn data about customers, performance, finances, and more into meaningful information. They highly valued the customer saying that their values consist of being approachable, customer-driven, innovative, swift and agile to stay with the market, and trustworthy.

SAS does not have one main customer because data is involved in pretty much every business and organization. It’s amazing when you think about it because the world is now revolving around computer and data storing so heavily so there is literally data analytics in almost everything. The general categories for their customers are the government, retail stores, and healthcare. This is where they get their largest amount of customers because these industries are so large and heavily computer-based.

The customers of SAS value their innovation, which is a main reason why they are the world leader in analytics. SAS is always trying to look for a new way to analyze data quicker and more effectively in order to present to their customer in an easier to understand way. Big data can get to be a huge problem if you are trying to organize it, so SAS gives their customers a way to organize their data in a very simple way and analyze the trends that the companies have that SAS is dealing with. These services are what the customers value and what SAS tries to improve upon every day. The customers value their dedication to helping their own companies improve by analyzing their data and showing them trends to provide innovation in the customer’s company.

The results of SAS are employee satisfaction, new innovative ideas, customer satisfaction and world recognition. In the first presentation we were given, the presenter had a slide discussing the total rewards, which included benefits, compensation, recognition, work life, and development. All of these are amazing results for a private company. The benefits and work life of the company are extensive from day care for children to an on-campus gym and work out facilities. It only makes sense why this is on the list of the top companies to work for.

The plan for SAS moving forwards is to continue to provide their employees and customers with over-the-top satisfaction but also to improve their company in any areas possible. Towards the end of the presentation they discussed what their plans were moving forwards and they stressed the importance of being able to use their services and using visual analytics on mobile devices. They are developing solutions that are user-friendly on mobile devices. They could not stress the importance of innovation in their company and using innovation, along with their values, to make their company run more swiftly and effectively.

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Today we visited SAS in Carry on their 900-acre headquarters campus. SAS stands for statistical analytical software and they are the leaders in advanced analytical software and have a commanding 36.2% market share. One unique aspect of SAS is that they do not sell their software, but rather lease it so that the customers can just switch it out when a new version comes out and no one gets left behind with an out of date version. They have more than 13,000 employees worldwide in 55 different countries. SAS has had a sustained revenue growth for the past 36 years and in 2012-2013 they had revenue of $2.871 billion. The company also gives its employees incredible benefits, but not for not reason, this is a business strategy and they seem to be all about strategies. One area that SAS prides themselves on is their very low employee turnover, the industry average is 15.5% and SAS average is 4%. They have been voted the world’s best multi-international workplace and one of the best companies to work for.

The mission of SAS is to provides its many clients with the best analytical software that they can get, as well as pride themselves on culture and a set of values. They value approachability, innovation, swift and agile thinking and strategizing, trustworthy employees and are customer-driven.

SAS has many customers and they are all using the software at different levels, from big data to smaller amounts. Some of the big name customers are Kohls, the Federal Government, Ralph Lauren, the Coast Guard, Playboy and American Eagle. SAS has worked themselves into the elite status and have obtained some of the biggest names in the retail market and even the government to use their product.

The customers value the highest quality of analytical software from SAS. The customers also value innovation, anti-money laundering, and the longevity of employees. For example a retail-clothing store will use the software to tell it when to have a sale and how much to mark items down and for how long. If SAS does not provide the best software, then these companies could potentially lose substantial amounts, because they had a sale when it was not the proper time or financial time.

The results of what SAS has done are vast, from having a revenue over two billion to wining countless awards for being such a favorable company to work for. They provide benefits on campus such as childcare, recreation and fitness centers, health care and pharmacy, work-life center, cafes and coffee bars, spa, massages and more. These have all helped SAS reach where it is, but have also being a pivotal business strategy for them.

The plan for SAS is to develop solutions for the changes in technology through visual analytics and making them more user friendly. They have to adapt to new things such as iPhones and having to create apps for customers to use on their phones and tablets. They also have to deal with todays customers wanting the easiest to use software that someone who knows no statistics could easily use and not have to waist time learning how to use.

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