Item: SAS Data Management Platform
Rating: 7
Author: Ravi Lagu

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

My organization is using the SAS Data Management Platform at an enterprise-level i.e., across multiple companies. The business problem was to have a single source of data for reporting and analysis as well as creating a 360-degree customer view to identify common customers across companies to improve cross-sell and up-sell. As there are multiple systems across multiple systems, a common data management platform was required to create an EDW for the same.

Pros and Cons

Easy to use even for non-technical people
Connects to a variety of data sources
Statistical transformations available as part of the module
Graphical drag & drop interface

Requires third-party drivers to connect to common data sources like SFDC, MS SQL, Postgres.
Debugging errors from the logs is a complicated process.
E-mail alert system is very primitive and needs customization to make it more modern,
Cannot send SMS alerts for jobs.

Return on Investment

The platform enabled us to have a single repository of customers to run campaigns on.
Feedback from various campaigns is stored in a single database, which makes running A/B analysis easier.
Helped improve data quality due to SAS Dataflux being a part of the SAS Data Management Platform.

Alternatives Considered

Informatica PowerCenter, IBM Netezza Data Warehouse Appliances and SQL Server Integration Services

SAS Data Management Platform requires third-party drivers to connect to common data sources like SFDC, MS SQL, Postgres. Has almost all features present as compared to the alternatives we evaluated. On top of it, SAS offered statistical transformations and strong metadata management. SAS Data Management Platform was also the most cost-effective solution despite having to purchase a couple of connectors for SAP and Salesforce. The easy of applying security templates was also a feature that can be easily used as compared to others mentioned.

Support Rating

SAS Tech Support is one of the best tech supports available. Not only do they respond faster, but they also have a global 24x7 support team that helps in case of production server issues. The staff is quite knowledgable and accommodating. They help you via e-mail, phone, or even WebEx if the issue demands. The solutions they provide are quite detailed and easy to implement even for someone who hasn't worked on SAS.

Key Insights

Do you think SAS Data Management Platform delivers good value for the price?

Yes

Are you happy with SAS Data Management Platform's feature set?

Yes

Did SAS Data Management Platform live up to sales and marketing promises?

Yes

Did implementation of SAS Data Management Platform go as expected?

Yes

Would you buy SAS Data Management Platform again?

Yes

Other Software Used

SAS Visual Analytics, SAS Enterprise Guide, Talend Cloud Integration, Oracle SQL Developer, PostgreSQL, Microsoft Dynamics 365 (formerly Microsoft Dynamics CRM), Salesforce Lightning Platform (formerly Salesforce App Cloud)

Likelihood to Recommend

SAS Data Management Platform is very well suited if you have common data sources like Oracle, SAP, MS SQL, etc.. Still, if there are a bit more obscure, then you need to purchase additional connectors to connect to those data sources. It is well suited when you don't have a business team with strong technical/coding background as the drag and drop interface makes creating jobs and scheduling them quite easy.

Easy to use Data Integration Software for Business Users

Overall Satisfaction with SAS Data Management Platform