SAS Visual Analytics - Detailed Review
Data Tools
SAS Visual Analytics - Product Overview
Introduction to SAS Visual Analytics
SAS Visual Analytics is a comprehensive data analysis and visualization tool that enables users to explore, analyze, and share insights from their data through an intuitive and self-service interface.
Primary Function
The primary function of SAS Visual Analytics is to facilitate data exploration, reporting, and analytics. It allows users to visually discover and share powerful insights, helping them make data-driven decisions. The tool combines self-service reporting, data visualization, and easy-to-use analytics, making it accessible to a wide range of users.
Target Audience
SAS Visual Analytics is designed for various roles within an organization, including decision makers, business analysts, report creators, and citizen data scientists. It also caters to IT professionals who need to govern and manage data integrity and security. The tool is versatile enough to serve different audiences, such as executives, middle management, and individual contributors, each with their specific needs and requirements.
Key Features
- Interactive Reporting and Visual Discovery: Users can create stunning interactive reports and dashboards, summarizing key performance metrics and sharing them via the web and mobile devices. This feature allows for dynamic interaction and collaboration on insights.
- Augmented Analytics: The software uses machine learning and natural language explanations to identify related measures, highlight key relationships, outliers, clusters, and more. This helps in uncovering insights buried in the data quickly and efficiently.
- Location Analytics: By combining traditional data with location data, users can analyze data in a geographical context, which is crucial for identifying location-specific opportunities and understanding the “where” dimension of their data.
- Predictive Analytics: The tool offers easy-to-use predictive analytics, enabling business analysts to assess possible outcomes, perform automated forecasting, scenario analysis, goal seeking, and decision trees without requiring programming skills.
- Scalability and Governance: SAS Visual Analytics operates in a powerful in-memory environment, ensuring scalability and governance. It supports high availability, faster in-memory processing, and native cloud support, making it resilient and scalable for various BI and analytical workloads.
- Mobile and Web Access: Users can access and interact with reports through native mobile apps for iOS and Android, as well as via web interfaces, ensuring flexibility and accessibility.
- Custom Visualization and Integration: The tool allows users to bring in custom interactive visualizations using third-party JavaScript libraries like D3 and C3, and integrate insights into Microsoft applications such as Excel and Outlook.
By combining these features, SAS Visual Analytics provides a comprehensive platform for data exploration, analysis, and visualization, making it an invaluable tool for organizations seeking to derive actionable insights from their data.
SAS Visual Analytics - User Interface and Experience
User Interface of SAS Visual Analytics
The user interface of SAS Visual Analytics is crafted to be highly intuitive and user-friendly, making it accessible to a wide range of users, from non-technical personnel to advanced data scientists.
Intuitive Interface
SAS Visual Analytics features a drag-and-drop interface that simplifies the process of exploring and visualizing data. This interface allows users to manipulate and transform data without the need for complex coding, significantly reducing the time to insight and enhancing decision-making agility.
Ease of Use
The platform is designed with a self-service approach, enabling users of all skill levels to visually explore data on their own. The interface is easy to use, with point-and-click access to sophisticated analytics and visualization tools. Users can create queries simply by selecting items from a sidebar or dynamically filtering and grouping data items, making the process straightforward and efficient.
Data Visualization
SAS Visual Analytics offers rich data visualization options, including bar charts, scatter plots, heat maps, and geographic maps. These visualizations can be combined into interactive dashboards that provide a comprehensive view of key performance indicators (KPIs). The autocharting feature selects the most appropriate visualization for the type of data chosen, further simplifying the process.
Interactive Reports and Dashboards
Users can create stunning interactive reports and dashboards that summarize key performance metrics. These reports can be shared via the web and mobile devices, allowing executives and front-line staff to interact with and collaborate on insights easily. The platform supports native mobile apps for iOS and Android, enabling users to view and interact with dynamic reports and dashboards on tablets and smartphones.
Real-Time Data Access
The platform integrates with various data sources, including databases, spreadsheets, and big data platforms like Hadoop, allowing for real-time data access. This integration enables businesses to work with up-to-the-minute data, providing immediate insights without the need for batch processing or manual uploads.
Augmented Analytics
SAS Visual Analytics includes augmented analytics capabilities that automatically suggest related measures and identify key relationships, outliers, and clusters in the data. This feature helps users discover hidden stories and insights in their data quickly and efficiently.
Collaboration and Sharing
The platform facilitates collaboration through features like report sharing, annotations, and comments. Users can email reports to others and set up email alerts for updates or changes in the data. Integration with Microsoft productivity tools, such as Excel and Outlook, further enhances the sharing and collaboration capabilities.
Overall, the user interface of SAS Visual Analytics is designed to be highly intuitive, easy to use, and highly interactive, making it an effective tool for a broad range of users to derive insights from their data.
SAS Visual Analytics - Key Features and Functionality
SAS Visual Analytics Overview
SAS Visual Analytics is a comprehensive data analysis and visualization tool that integrates various features to help users gain insightful and actionable information from their data. Here are the main features and how they work:Data Access, Preparation, and Quality
SAS Visual Analytics provides an intuitive interface for accessing, profiling, cleansing, and transforming data. This self-service capability allows users to prepare their data without needing extensive technical skills, ensuring data quality and readiness for analysis.Interactive Reporting and Visual Discovery
Users can create stunning interactive reports and dashboards that summarize key performance metrics. These reports can be accessed and interacted with via the web and mobile devices, enabling executives and front-line staff to collaborate and find their own answers.Visual Data Exploration and Discovery
The tool offers a visual interface for exploring data, using various visualization types such as bar charts, histograms, box plots, heat maps, bubble plots, and geographic maps. This helps in quickly interpreting complex relationships and identifying key variables that influence modeling outcomes.Predictive Analytics
SAS Visual Analytics includes easy-to-use predictive analytics that allow business analysts to assess possible outcomes without requiring programming. Smart algorithms automatically select the most appropriate forecasting models, and users can perform scenario analysis to see how changes in different variables would affect forecasts. Forecasting confidence intervals are also generated on the fly.Location Analytics
By combining traditional data with location data, users can analyze data in a geographical context. This adds the “where” dimension to the analysis, helping identify location-specific opportunities and make more informed decisions.Augmented Analytics
The software uses machine learning and natural language explanations to find, visualize, and narrate stories and insights within the data. It automatically highlights key relationships, outliers, clusters, and more, making it easier to uncover vital insights that inspire action.Embedded Insights
Users can embed individual visual insights or entire interactive reports into custom web applications or Microsoft productivity tools like Excel and Outlook. This allows for seamless integration and sharing of insights with collaborators.Custom Visualizations
SAS Visual Analytics supports the integration of custom interactive visualizations using third-party JavaScript libraries such as D3.js and C3. This flexibility enables users to bring their own visualizations into the platform, ensuring all visualizations are driven by the same data.Integration with Generative AI
Users can integrate content generated by Large Language Models (LLMs) into their SAS Visual Analytics reports. This involves generating text based on data from the report and using it within the context of the analysis, such as creating emails or other text-based content. This integration is achieved through custom web applications and APIs.Self-Service Analytics
The tool offers automated forecasting, goal seeking, scenario analysis, and decision trees, all accessible through a user-friendly interface. This makes advanced analytics capabilities available to users regardless of their skill level.Scalability and Governance
SAS Visual Analytics operates within a single, powerful in-memory environment, ensuring scalability and governance. This environment supports large datasets and multiple users, maintaining data integrity and security.Mobile Access
Native mobile apps for iOS and Android allow users to view and interact with dynamic reports and dashboards on tablets and smartphones, both online and offline. By integrating these features, SAS Visual Analytics provides a comprehensive platform for data exploration, visualization, and predictive analytics, all while leveraging AI to enhance the discovery and sharing of insights. SAS Visual Analytics - Performance and Accuracy
Performance of SAS Visual Analytics
SAS Visual Analytics is a powerful tool for data visualization and analytics, but it does come with some performance considerations.Optimizing Performance
To improve the performance of SAS Visual Analytics reports, users can leverage the Report Review Pane. This feature analyzes the report, categorizes findings, and provides recommendations to enhance performance and accessibility compliance. For instance, moving the construction of aggregated data sources and data joins to a data preparation stage, rather than executing them at runtime, can significantly reduce report loading times.Infrastructure and Architecture
The performance of SAS Visual Analytics is also heavily dependent on the underlying infrastructure. Ensuring that the SAS Viya environment is well-architected and that all components are highly responsive is crucial. This includes monitoring and optimizing the various layers of the system, from the application service to the client workstation, to identify and address bottlenecks.Best Practices
Following best practices can also enhance performance. For example, pre-calculating text items in the underlying data source before loading into LASR (SAS’s in-memory analytics engine) can speed up report rendering. Consistency in dashboard design and avoiding unnecessary queries by linking each object to a single table are additional strategies to improve performance.Limitations and Areas for Improvement
User-Friendliness and Customization
One of the notable limitations of SAS Visual Analytics is its user-friendliness and customization capabilities. Users have reported that it is less customizable compared to tools like Excel or Power BI, and the interface can be quite rigid. This can make it more challenging for users to create dashboards quickly and embed them on websites.Data Integration
Data integration is another area that needs improvement. While SAS Visual Analytics can mask data, the process is often clunky and could benefit from a more streamlined approach. Better integration with different computer languages and more API features are also desired.Graphics and Visualization
The visualization capabilities, although strong in some aspects, have room for improvement. Users have suggested that the solution should include more 2D graphics in addition to the current 3D graphics. The front-end visualization and the support for custom graphs also need enhancement.Installation and Support
The installation process of SAS Visual Analytics can be complex, and the support provided is not always satisfactory. Users have reported that updates take too long and come with additional costs. The lack of comprehensive support, especially compared to competitors like Microsoft BI, is a significant drawback.Accuracy
Data Analysis
SAS Visual Analytics is highly accurate in data analysis, thanks to its integration with the SAS Viya engine, which provides high-performance, in-memory processing. The tool offers automated forecasting, scenario analysis, and goal-seeking capabilities that help in making precise and data-driven decisions.Automated Insights
The software includes automated analysis features that determine which variables contribute to an outcome and provide natural language explanations for essential insights. This helps in identifying patterns and trends accurately without the need for advanced data scientist skills. In summary, while SAS Visual Analytics offers strong performance and accuracy in data analysis, it has several areas that require improvement, particularly in user-friendliness, data integration, visualization, and support. By following best practices and optimizing the underlying infrastructure, users can enhance the performance of their reports and dashboards. SAS Visual Analytics - Pricing and Plans
Pricing Structure
The pricing structure for SAS Visual Analytics is outlined in the context of its cloud-based offerings, specifically through the SaaS Now environment. Here are the key details:Pricing Tiers
SAS Visual Analytics is available in several tiers, each with different capacities and features:- VA 4: This tier includes 4 software cores, 61 GB of memory, and 150 GB of storage. It is priced at €1,195 per month (or $1,365 per month).
- VA 8: This tier includes 8 software cores, 122 GB of memory, and 300 GB of storage. It is priced at €2,895 per month (or $3,395 per month).
- VA 16: This tier includes 16 software cores, 244 GB of memory, and 600 GB of storage. It is priced at €5,695 per month (or $6,695 per month).
User Capacity
Each tier supports a different number of users:- VA 4: 1-2 heavy users (analysts), 5 report builders (authors), and 25 report readers (viewers).
- VA 8: 2-3 heavy users (analysts), 10 report builders (authors), and 50 report readers (viewers).
- VA 16: 3-5 heavy users (analysts), 20 report builders (authors), and 100 report readers (viewers).
Additional Storage
If additional storage is needed, it is available at a cost of €0.50 ($0.50) per GB per month.Features
All tiers include licenses and hosting infrastructure, allowing immediate use of SAS Visual Analytics. Key features across all tiers include:- Interactive reporting and visual discovery
- Self-service analytics
- Location analytics
- Augmented analytics
- Embedded insights
- Mobile apps for iOS and Android
- Open integration for developers
Free Options
There are no free perpetual licenses for SAS Visual Analytics. However, SAS offers a 14-day free trial for SAS Viya, which includes access to advanced analytics capabilities, including those of SAS Visual Analytics. This trial allows users to experience the software’s features firsthand before committing to a purchase. SAS Visual Analytics - Integration and Compatibility
Integration with Other Tools
SAS Visual Analytics is designed to integrate seamlessly with a variety of tools and platforms, making it a versatile solution for data analysis and visualization.
Data Sources
SAS Visual Analytics can connect with various data sources, including databases, spreadsheets, and big data platforms like Hadoop. This allows businesses to work with real-time data and gain up-to-the-minute insights without the need for batch processing or manual uploads.
SAS Products
It integrates well with other SAS products, such as SAS Visual Statistics, and can be used in conjunction with SAS Job Execution Web applications to execute SAS jobs, transform data, and perform complex calculations.
Microsoft 365
SAS Visual Analytics supports integration with Microsoft productivity tools, enabling users to access and interact with reports directly from Microsoft applications like Excel and Outlook. This facilitates seamless collaboration and the embedding of insights into various Microsoft applications.
Third-Party Applications
The platform allows for open integration with third-party JavaScript libraries, such as D3 and C3, providing full interactivity within SAS Visual Analytics. Developers can also use REST APIs to access SAS analytics, data, and services from any client language.
Compatibility Across Different Platforms and Devices
SAS Visual Analytics is compatible with a range of platforms and devices, ensuring broad accessibility.
Operating Systems
The SAS Visual Analytics Apps are supported on iOS and Android devices, as well as on PCs and tablets running Microsoft Windows 10. These apps can be downloaded for free from the Apple App Store, Google Play, or the Microsoft Store.
Web Browsers
The platform supports various web browsers, with the classic appearance of the SAS Visual Analytics user interface compatible with browsers listed on the SAS 9.4 Support site. However, it’s important to note that the classic appearance requires Adobe Flash Player 11.1 or later, although Adobe Flash has been discontinued since January 2021.
LASR Analytic Server Deployments
SAS Visual Analytics can be deployed on both distributed and non-distributed SAS LASR Analytic Server environments. However, if the middle tier and server tier are deployed on dissimilar operating systems (e.g., one on Linux and the other on Windows), certain features like audit and relationship data extraction and reporting are not supported.
Version Compatibility
Forward and Backward Compatibility
Visual Analytics reports are forward compatible but not backward compatible. This means reports built in a later version cannot be moved back to an earlier version. For instance, reports built in version 7.52 are not compatible with version 7.1.
In summary, SAS Visual Analytics offers extensive integration capabilities with various data sources, SAS products, and third-party applications, while also being compatible across multiple platforms and devices. However, users need to be aware of the version compatibility limitations to ensure smooth operation.
SAS Visual Analytics - Customer Support and Resources
SAS Visual Analytics Support Options
Support Options
- Standard Support: This includes phone or email support where your questions and technical issues are addressed as quickly as possible by SAS experts. Users have access to an extensive customer support site and educational resources to advance their skills and get questions answered.
- Premium Support: For more advanced needs, SAS offers premium support, which includes enhanced Support Service Level Agreements (SLAs), a Technical Support Account Manager, premium support workshops, and regular status reports and meetings. Premium support also provides access to a case dashboard and all the standard support features.
Additional Resources
- Videos & Tutorials: SAS provides a library of free tutorials and videos to help users learn how to analyze data and make sound decisions with SAS Visual Analytics. These resources cover topics such as accessing and preparing data, creating interactive charts and reports, and building predictive models.
- Documentation: Users can find detailed user guides and technical documentation for SAS Visual Analytics Apps, including specific guides for iOS, Android, and Windows platforms. This documentation includes information on mobile device administration, security, and offline mode.
- Learning Subscriptions: SAS offers a Visual Analytics Learning Subscription that provides structured learning programs to help users sharpen their skills. This includes access to various courses and training materials.
- Community Support: SAS has active communities where users can connect with other users, share knowledge, and get help from peers. This includes forums and social media channels like Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn.
- SDK for Mobile Apps: For developers, SAS provides an SDK that allows the creation of customized mobile apps incorporating SAS Visual Analytics content. This SDK enables personalization, preconfiguration, and management of the user experience on mobile devices.
Online Resources
- Customer Support Web Site: Users have access to an extensive customer support website that includes resources such as hot fixes, important software updates, and educational materials to help them advance their skills.
- GitHub Repository: For hands-on practice, SAS provides a GitHub repository with sample data and quick start guides to help users follow along in their own SAS Viya environment.
These resources are designed to ensure that users of SAS Visual Analytics have the support and tools they need to effectively use the product and achieve their analytical goals.
SAS Visual Analytics - Pros and Cons
Advantages of SAS Visual Analytics
SAS Visual Analytics offers several significant advantages that make it a powerful tool in the data analytics and visualization category.
Comprehensive Data Handling
It can handle large volumes of data and complex data structures, making it suitable for enterprises dealing with extensive datasets.
Advanced Analytics
The software provides advanced analytics capabilities, including predictive modeling, machine learning, and automated forecasting. This enables users to assess possible outcomes and make smarter, data-driven decisions without requiring programming skills.
Interactive Reporting and Dashboards
Users can create stunning interactive reports and dashboards, summarizing key performance metrics that can be shared via the web and mobile devices. This facilitates collaboration and allows executives and front-line staff to interact with insights easily.
Location Analytics
SAS Visual Analytics integrates traditional data with location data, enabling geographical analysis and providing a deeper context to the data. This helps in identifying location-specific opportunities and analyzing data in new ways.
Seamless Integration
The software integrates seamlessly with other SAS products and Microsoft productivity tools like Excel and Outlook, allowing for smooth access to analytics and embedding insights into various applications.
Augmented Analytics
It uses machine learning and natural language explanations to find, visualize, and narrate stories and insights within the data, making it easier to identify key relationships, outliers, and clusters.
Multi-Language Support
SAS Visual Analytics supports a wide range of languages, making it accessible to a global user base.
Disadvantages of SAS Visual Analytics
Despite its many advantages, SAS Visual Analytics also has some notable disadvantages.
Scalability Issues
The software faces challenges with scalability, which can be a significant concern for growing organizations.
Complex Installations
The installation process can be complex, which may require additional technical support and resources.
High Licensing Costs
SAS Visual Analytics is more expensive compared to other data visualization tools, with pricing based on various factors rather than just user count.
Steep Learning Curve
The software has a steep learning curve due to its complexity and the requirement for SAS programming skills, which can intimidate some users.
Coding Requirements
While it offers some features without programming, certain advanced functionalities still require coding knowledge, which can be a barrier for non-technical users.
Support Services
The support services for SAS Visual Analytics need enhancement, which can affect the overall user experience and implementation success.
By considering these pros and cons, organizations can make informed decisions about whether SAS Visual Analytics aligns with their specific needs and capabilities.
SAS Visual Analytics - Comparison with Competitors
When comparing SAS Visual Analytics with other AI-driven data analysis tools, several key features and differences stand out.
Unique Features of SAS Visual Analytics
- Augmented Analytics: SAS Visual Analytics stands out with its augmented analytics capabilities, which use machine learning and natural language explanations to identify key relationships, outliers, and clusters in the data. This feature helps users quickly find and narrate insights from their data.
- Location Analytics: The tool integrates geographical context into analyses, allowing users to combine traditional data with location data. This adds a crucial ‘where’ dimension to the analysis, enabling location-specific insights.
- Self-Service Analytics: SAS Visual Analytics offers automated forecasting, goal seeking, scenario analysis, and decision trees, all accessible through a self-service interface, making advanced analytics available to users of various skill levels.
- Mobile and Embedded Insights: The software provides native mobile apps for iOS and Android, and users can embed individual visual insights or entire reports into custom web applications, enhancing accessibility and collaboration.
Comparison with Competitors
Microsoft Power BI
- Integration: Power BI integrates seamlessly with Microsoft Office applications, which can be a significant advantage for users already within the Microsoft ecosystem. However, it may require additional tools to integrate with non-Microsoft data sources.
- AI Capabilities: While Power BI has strong AI capabilities, particularly with Azure Machine Learning, it can be costly and has a learning curve for advanced features.
- Contrast: SAS Visual Analytics offers more comprehensive augmented analytics and location analytics, which might be more appealing for users needing deep data insights and geographical analysis.
Tableau
- User Interface: Tableau is known for its intuitive drag-and-drop interface but can be challenging for new users. Tableau’s AI tools, such as Tableau GPT and Tableau Pulse, enhance data analysis but may not be as extensive as SAS’s augmented analytics.
- Integration: Tableau integrates well with Salesforce data, which is beneficial for users within the Salesforce ecosystem. However, it may not offer the same level of geographical analysis as SAS Visual Analytics.
Domo
- AI Service Layer: Domo has a strong AI service layer that supports the creation and integration of AI models, including pre-built models for forecasting and sentiment analysis. However, Domo’s focus is more on delivering data insights through AI-enhanced data exploration rather than the deep analytical capabilities of SAS Visual Analytics.
- Customization: Domo allows for more customization in its AI features compared to some other tools but may not match the self-service analytics and location analytics of SAS Visual Analytics.
IBM Cognos Analytics
- AI-Powered Automation: IBM Cognos Analytics uses AI-powered automation and insights, including natural language query support and automated pattern detection. However, it has a complex interface with a steep learning curve, which might be a barrier for some users.
- Customization: IBM Cognos Analytics lacks customization options in its AI features, which could be a limitation compared to the more flexible and user-friendly approach of SAS Visual Analytics.
Potential Alternatives
- AnswerRocket: For users looking for a more straightforward, natural language-based querying system, AnswerRocket could be an alternative. It is easier to use, especially for those without technical expertise, but lacks the advanced features and functionalities of SAS Visual Analytics.
- Qlik: Qlik offers robust analytics through its associative data model and is user-friendly, but it has a higher cost and limited AI functionalities compared to SAS Visual Analytics.
Conclusion
In summary, SAS Visual Analytics stands out with its strong augmented analytics, self-service capabilities, and location analytics. While competitors like Microsoft Power BI, Tableau, Domo, and IBM Cognos Analytics offer powerful AI-driven tools, they each have their own strengths and weaknesses that may make them more or less suitable depending on the specific needs of the user.
SAS Visual Analytics - Frequently Asked Questions
Frequently Asked Questions about SAS Visual Analytics
What are the key features of SAS Visual Analytics?
SAS Visual Analytics offers a range of features that enable users to discover and share insights effectively. These include interactive reporting, visual discovery, self-service analytics, and scalability and governance. It also provides augmented analytics, automated forecasting, scenario analysis, and the ability to add geographical context to analyses. Users can create stunning interactive reports and dashboards and collaborate on insights using mobile devices and Microsoft productivity tools.How does SAS Visual Analytics handle data visualization?
SAS Visual Analytics allows users to visually explore data and create interactive reports and dashboards through a self-service interface. It supports various visualization types such as graphs, charts, scorecards, and dashboards. Users can also bring in custom interactive visualizations using third-party JavaScript libraries like D3.js and C3. Key value visualizations and cell visualizations like bars and heat maps are also available to quickly identify trends and problem points.What advanced analytics capabilities does SAS Visual Analytics offer?
SAS Visual Analytics includes advanced analytics features such as automated forecasting, where the most appropriate forecasting model is automatically selected. It also offers scenario analysis to see how changes in variables affect forecasts, goal seeking to determine the values needed to achieve target forecasts, and decision trees for hierarchical segmentation of data. Additionally, it provides network diagrams and path analysis to visualize complex data relationships.How does SAS Visual Analytics support collaboration and sharing?
The platform allows for seamless collaboration through interactive reports and dashboards that can be shared via the web and mobile devices. Users can embed individual visual insights or entire reports into custom web applications, and there is support for collaboration workflows. This enables both executives and front-line staff to interact with and share insights easily.Can SAS Visual Analytics integrate with other tools and platforms?
Yes, SAS Visual Analytics integrates well with other tools and platforms. It supports integration with Microsoft 365 applications like Excel and Outlook, allowing users to access and interact with reports directly within these tools. Additionally, it offers open integration for developers using REST APIs and third-party JavaScript libraries like D3 and C3.What kind of data can SAS Visual Analytics handle?
SAS Visual Analytics can handle a wide range of data types, including traditional data sources (transactional, customer, operational) and location data. It combines these data sources to provide geographical context, enabling location-specific analysis. The platform is also scalable and can handle large volumes of data in a consistent and governed manner.Is SAS Visual Analytics user-friendly for non-technical users?
Yes, SAS Visual Analytics is designed to be user-friendly for non-technical users. It provides an intuitive interface that combines self-service reporting, data visualization, and easy-to-use analytics. Automated forecasting, scenario analysis, and other advanced analytics features are accessible without requiring programming skills, making it easier for business analysts to make data-driven decisions.Does SAS Visual Analytics support mobile access?
Yes, SAS Visual Analytics offers native mobile apps for iOS and Android, allowing users to view and interact with dynamic reports and dashboards on tablets and smartphones. This ensures that insights are accessible anywhere, anytime.How does SAS Visual Analytics ensure data quality and preparation?
SAS Visual Analytics provides features for data access, preparation, and quality. Users can access, profile, cleanse, and transform data using an intuitive interface. This self-service data preparation capability helps ensure that the data used for analytics is accurate and reliable.Is SAS Visual Analytics cloud-native and cloud-agnostic?
Yes, SAS Visual Analytics is built on the SAS Viya platform, which is cloud-native and cloud-agnostic. This means users can consume SAS services in a cloud environment managed by SAS or self-managed, providing flexibility in deployment options. SAS Visual Analytics - Conclusion and Recommendation
Final Assessment of SAS Visual Analytics
SAS Visual Analytics is a comprehensive and powerful tool in the data tools and AI-driven product category, offering a wide range of features that cater to various business needs.Key Benefits
Data Integration and Real-Time Insights
SAS Visual Analytics allows users to connect with multiple data sources, including databases, spreadsheets, and big data platforms like Hadoop. This capability enables businesses to work with real-time data, providing up-to-the-minute insights without the need for batch processing or manual uploads.
Advanced Analytics and Machine Learning
The platform goes beyond basic analytics by offering tools for predictive modeling, machine learning, and statistical analysis. These features help businesses forecast trends, predict customer behavior, and assess risks with greater precision.
Data Visualization and Dashboards
SAS Visual Analytics provides rich data visualization options, including bar charts, scatter plots, heat maps, and geographic maps. Users can create interactive dashboards that offer a comprehensive view of key performance indicators (KPIs), making it easier to monitor and analyze business performance in real-time.
Self-Service Analytics and Augmented Analytics
The platform supports self-service data preparation, automated forecasting, goal seeking, scenario analysis, and decision trees. Augmented analytics automatically suggests related measures and identifies key relationships, outliers, and clusters, making it easier for users to uncover hidden insights.
Location Analytics
By combining traditional data with location data, users can analyze data in a geographical context, which is particularly useful for identifying location-specific opportunities and trends.
Who Would Benefit Most
Executives and Strategic Decision-Makers
SAS Visual Analytics is highly beneficial for executives who need a bird’s-eye view of their organization. It provides executive dashboards that track key performance metrics such as sales, marketing, finance, and customer acquisition costs, helping leaders make informed decisions quickly.
Middle Management and Tactical Teams
Middle management can use the platform to create tactical dashboards that focus on specific operational metrics, enabling them to manage day-to-day operations more effectively.
Individual Contributors and Operational Teams
Operational teams can benefit from detailed, operational dashboards that help them monitor and manage specific tasks and processes in real-time.
Marketers
Marketers can use SAS Visual Analytics to centralize customer information, create comprehensive customer profiles, and optimize their messaging to deliver a larger impact. The platform also helps simulate marketing campaigns through automated predictions.
Overall Recommendation
SAS Visual Analytics is a highly recommended tool for organizations seeking to enhance their data-driven decision-making capabilities. Its ability to integrate various data sources, perform advanced analytics, and provide interactive visualizations makes it an invaluable asset for businesses across different sectors.
The platform’s user-friendly interface and self-service analytics features make it accessible to a wide range of users, from non-technical business analysts to advanced data scientists. Additionally, its scalability, governance, and integration with other tools like Microsoft 365 enhance its utility and flexibility.
Overall, SAS Visual Analytics is an excellent choice for any organization looking to leverage data insights to drive business growth and improve operational efficiency.