SAS commits $1 billion to AI-powered industry solutions

Analytics company SAS will invest $1 billion over the next three years to further develop advanced analytics solutions targeted at the unique needs of specific industries, including government, insurance, health care, retail, manufacturing and energy. The company says it will build on its history in providing tailored solutions for specific industry challenges.

“Businesses face many challenges, from the threat of economic recession and stressed supply chains to workforce shortages and regulatory changes,” said SAS CEO Jim Goodnight.

“With insights from industry-focused analytics, resilient organisations can find opportunity in these challenges.

“Through this investment, SAS will continue to support companies using AI, machine learning and advanced analytics to fight fraud, manage risk, better serve customers and citizens, and much more. We remain steadfast in our ongoing commitment to innovation while delivering the market’s best analytics,” Goodnight said.

R&D innovation + industry expertise = analytics for the people

The billion-dollar investment includes direct research and development, industry-focused line-of-business teams and industry marketing efforts. It will fund the innovative work of SAS data scientists, statisticians and software developers working with consultants, systems engineers and marketers with specific industry experience. The investment is in line with the trend towards democratising data analytics. By putting the power of advanced analytics in the hands of more people with varied experience and job roles, organisations and society will benefit. It’s what SAS calls analytics for everyone, everywhere.

As organisations continue to embrace AI, machine learning, computer vision and Internet of Things (IoT) analytics to gain valuable insights, people of all skill levels can participate in the analytics process through low- or no-code options like those delivered by solutions running on SAS Viya.

Data scientists and statisticians can use SAS’s industry solutions, benefiting from AI, machine learning and other powerful analytics. And importantly, so too can business analysts to better detect and prevent fraud, city planners to improve public health and safety, medical personnel to enhance patient care and frontline workers to optimise manufacturing assembly lines.

Recent SAS industry solutions

SAS already offers a wide variety of industry-specific solutions. These will be further refined through the ongoing investment, and SAS will develop new solutions to address additional needs. Some recent examples include:

Protecting taxpayer dollars

Every year, governments across the world lose huge sums due to tax evasion and avoidance. This weakens a government’s ability to provide essential services to citizens. SAS Tax Compliance helps governments protect their revenue streams by applying advanced analytics to vast amounts of tax data to automatically monitor and detect cases of non-compliance and fraud.

As a result, government tax agencies can increase early identification of potential fraud, uncover emerging tax fraud schemes, accelerate audits and get old cases off the books.

Accelerating digital health transformation and therapeutic development

From advancing the development of lifesaving therapeutics to improving patient outcomes and experience, SAS’s industry-leading expertise is at the forefront of better health care.

SAS Health offers industry-specific applications and AI solutions across population health, operations and finance. It helps healthcare organisations deliver high-quality care that is safer and more cost-effective. Whether turning patient population data into analytic-ready cohorts or informing value-based care and payment models, SAS’s intuitive point-and-click interfaces help clinicians and business analysts advance healthcare transformation and visualise trends once hidden in their data.

SAS also empowers clinical research that leads to new therapies and treatments. For example, about 90% of clinical trials fail to meet enrolment timelines. SAS Clinical Enrolment Simulation uses powerful analytics to inform enrolment planning, helping avoid the devastating delays that often result from missed enrolment targets.

Improving the reliability of electric grids

Nearly one-third of utility power outages are caused by equipment failures. These failures are costly to repair, add risk for employees performing repairs and leave customers — homes, schools, factories and more — without electricity. SAS Grid Guardian AI analyses data flowing from IoT sensors mounted to service vehicles such as garbage trucks. These sensors (from SAS partner Exacter) read data on radiofrequency emissions from transmission lines. Then SAS AI, machine learning and streaming analytics analyse this data. The result? Utility companies can better understand and predict equipment failure before it occurs. And they can prioritise maintenance schedules to reduce service interruptions and crew injuries, all while improving reliability.

Image credit: iStock.com/Shutthiphong Chandaeng