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Building off the successful launch of its channel business unit last year, SAS, one of the leader in business intelligence (BI), is intensifying its partnering efforts in the government market. New programs targeted at value-added resellers (VARs), systems integrators and independent software vendors (ISVs) are underway to help drive the power of SAS BI into the local, state and federal levels.

"Government entities need access to business intelligence as much as any commercial enterprise, and the breadth of our software gives them - and our partners - the ability to work with one vendor for all their BI needs rather than multiple companies," said Miles Mahoney, Vice President of SAS' Global Alliances and Channels division. "This leads to greater efficiency and a more streamlined approach to building out a stable and reliable BI foundation, which is beneficial in a space that must adhere to regulations, policies, etc. as cost-effectively as possible."

Added Tom Mazich, Vice President of SAS US Government Operations, "While SAS can be found in all 15 federal departments, all 50 states and in many local governments, there's still so much opportunity out there for us. We have many existing partner relationships with integrators that are major players in the government market. We want to work with those companies to help them bring SAS into state and local governments, while at the same time developing new relationships with other resellers who have strong government ties. The combination of an intense channel effort focused on government and SAS' established direct sales abilities will allow us to go after those opportunities like never before."

Launched in 2006, the SAS Global Reseller Program has already enjoyed early success, reaching its initial goal of 50 resellers in eight months. To support the government reseller effort, SAS is leveraging its established infrastructure that includes dedicated partner development teams focused on government, internal channel sales teams and system engineers. Like the overall channel program, government teams will focus on the SAS Enterprise Intelligence Platform, including business intelligence, data integration and advanced analytics. SAS also has started a partner technical series in its Washington office for interested channel and existing partners.

While efforts are ongoing on the federal side, the go-to-market strategy primarily focuses on the program's expansion at the state and local level, where the sheer number of governments and municipalities make it difficult to go after business only through direct sales. To do that, the company will build upon existing alliances with partners and systems integrators, such as SAIC, SRA, Booz Allen Hamilton, Deloitte, IBM and CACI, while pursuing new partners.

The company is having early success in its efforts. Last week, SAS received the SLED (State, Local and Education) Program of the Year honor from GovernmentVAR magazine, which also gave SAS' government partner program a 5-Star Award for excellence in March. Also, Stephanie Kuhnel, SAS Director of Government Alliances and Channels, was recognized as a top 25 public sector channel leader.

In addition, SAS and Tyler Technologies have created a strong partnership to help local governments and K-12 schools increase efficiency and effectiveness in budgeting and program management. By adding SAS software solutions to Tyler's MUNIS software, customers can use an intelligence platform that includes data integration, analytics, and targeted business and government-specific solutions.

"From the beginning, SAS worked closely with us to understand the advanced data analysis requirements of our customers," said Dick Peterson, President of Tyler's MUNIS Division. "Through our joint business intelligence capabilities, we have developed a product that enables public sector customers to do highly advanced analytics and forecasting in budgeting, payroll and human resources."

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. www.sas.com

SOURCE: SAS