SAS Launches SAS High-Performance Forecasting
New SAS9 product quickly produces millions of high-quality, automated forecasts
CARY, N.C. (Sept. 27, 2004) -- SAS today unveiled SAS® High-Performance Forecasting, a powerful analytics-driven product built on the SAS®9 Intelligence Platform. SAS High-Performance Forecasting provides large-scale automated forecasting that allows companies to significantly reduce forecasting error, increase operational efficiency and improve the bottom line. The automated sophistication of this offering means forecasters no longer need to be statistics experts to create trustworthy, accurate forecasts.
The analytic sophistication and scalability of SAS High-Performance Forecasting generates large volumes of reliable forecasts to support the planning needs of all levels of business, including the operational level. With this product, forecasts can consider the realities of business, automatically accounting for outliers in the data and key business drivers, including holidays, promotions and other events reflective of a company's unique environment.
"SAS' products and services span the entire analytical spectrum, of which forecasting is certainly a part," said Mike Schiff, vice president of data warehousing and business intelligence at Current Analysis. "The new features and enterprise-class scalability of SAS High-Performance Forecasting enhance the overall value of the SAS®9 platform while complementing the interactive project-oriented forecasting capabilities of SAS/ETS." SAS High-Performance Forecasting, which is now the most analytically advanced large-scale forecasting product available, performs automatic forecasting in a batch environment, enabling users to produce millions of forecasts, while significantly reducing forecasting error. Unlike any other product currently on the market, this product can predict future demands that affect a company's inventories whether by product type, location or detailed supply-and-demand factors providing fact-based, trustworthy forecasts that offer unbiased glimpses into the future.
SAS High-Performance Forecasting helps organizations across the industry spectrum plan at the most operational level where day-to-day decisions take place. For example:
Retail: To ensure that retailers can take into account seasonal variations and promotions so they don't run out of products during high demand, which can result in customer loss, or overstock, resulting in cut prices and lost revenue.
Manufacturing: To help consumer product goods and other types of manufacturers forecast product demand far in advance so they can plan more effectively knowing what to produce when and avoiding the costly scenario of warehouses full of excess goods that must eventually be discarded.
Banking: To help banks accurately plan for daily demands of multiple ATM's located throughout a specific location.
"Any industry can benefit from better forecasting," said Dr. Jim Goodnight, CEO of SAS. "And within one company, forecasting can help multiple departments unite their plans. For example, marketing promotions must be reflected in the forecasts for production and distribution. Thanks to the SAS®9 platform, SAS is uniquely capable in enterprise forecasting."
Many companies today need such a large number of forecasts on so many inventories that human interaction is not always realistic; in fact, it often greatly slows down the forecasting process, creating unnecessary error. SAS combines sophisticated modeling techniques and scalability to create dependable forecasts that eliminate the human-error factor and automatically adjust to fluctuating conditions.
SAS High-Performance Forecasting is now available and is currently shipping; see http://www.sas.com/technologies/analytics/forecasting/hpf/index.html for details.
About SAS
SAS provides a new generation of business intelligence software and services that create true enterprise intelligence. Visit us at http://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. ® indicates USA registration. Other brand and product names are trademarks of their respective companies. Copyright © 2004 SAS Institute Inc. Cary, NC, USA. All rights reserved.