SAS Institute puts final touches on e-intelligence

NEWS Datawarehousing specialist, SAS Institute, is preparing to take on the ecommerce market with its first e-intelligence software offering. The company has created a software package which enables online companies to record, measure and analyse customer behaviour, allowing retailers to target individual sales, measure marketing return and track site performance. SAS has a strong presence in Fortune 500 companies, but Jeff Yaguda, program director for e-intelligence, admitted 'dot com' companies are an entirely new challenge. "The aim is to provide site 'stickiness' with personal content and added value," he said. "We want to be able to characterise each user in three to five mouse clicks." Used car retailer, Autotrader.com, is one of SAS' first development customers to use the technology. According to David Lilly, VP of product development at Autotrader.com, other Web tracking tools didn't measure up. "With SAS we developed a customised, flexible solution. It provides information ranging from server performance to how each different piece of content is being used," he said. Lilly explained that Autotrader.com has "more than paid for the system in the value gained in the knowledge of our site and how it works". He claimed site traffic has grown by 500 per cent since the system was installed and the company has saved hundreds of thousands of dollars on wasted Web advertising. According to Jon Collins, senior analyst with Bloor Research, the move is a necessity for SAS: "It clearly has a good datawarehousing background, but if it doesn't capture and explore this market they're not offering a full service to their customers." Yaguda admitted the market is crowded, but believes SAS has the experience to do well. "Most of our competitors have segmented products. Some do good Web logging, others do good content management, but SAS has been in the business for 23 years and is the industry leader in data mining and analytics," he said. Bloor's Collins agreed: "There are no clear winners at this stage, it's not certain that big players like IBM and Microsoft will dominate. Every new technological leap is an opportunity for companies to reinvent and repackage themselves. SAS has got every chance - but it'll need to raise its profile." The SAS e-intelligence package will be available from the first quarter next year.