In the past, before the advent of the sophisticated technology we have today, business was based on some analysis and a lot of guesswork. The odds of success were lowered by the difficulty of collecting high-quality data in sufficient quantity. Moreover, analysis was difficult because it was almost impossible to visualize the abstract data. As a result, business decisions did not always match up with the reality of the marketplace.
Today, it’s possible to grow your business with the help of smart technicians, streamlined processes, and robust technology. The better the quality of your collected data, the more accurate your decisions will be; and, of course, the better your overall decisions, the more likely every aspect of your business will be successful.
When trying to decide what type of Business Intelligence (BI) tools to use amid the wide range of choices available, two names are heard repeatedly when searching for recommendations, SAS and SAP. In trying to get some clarity in the SAS vs SAP debate, you have to ask three basic questions: What is SAS, what is SAP, and which one is better for my needs?
What is SAS?
SAS (Statistical Analysis System) is a powerful BI tool. It took 10 years to refine, developed from 1966 until 1976 at North Carolina State University. It’s a very versatile software and can be used for any large project. In fact, North Carolina is even using it to get tough on crime.
The software provides a business with five distinct ways to understand your data better:
- Advanced analytics
- Multivariate analyses
- Business intelligence
- Data management
- Predictive analytics
One powerful feature of the software is self-service analytics. This allows you to automate forecasts, seek goals, and analyze scenarios or review decision trees. The software also has a feature that helps you get insights into social media topics through text analysis, a feature that helps you get insights through interactive reports, and a feature that helps you get insights from location-based data. Finally, it’s easy to deploy on various platforms, from on-premise infrastructure to private or public cloud, and it can also be viewed on tablets and smartphones.
What is SAP?
SAP BusinessObjects Business Intelligence (BI) Suite simplifies data manipulation and makes it easy for users in a corporate setting to access, navigate, analyze and share data.
The suite consists of 8 specialized apps:
- SAP Lumira helps you to get answers from big and small data.
- SAP BusinessObjects Dashboards helps you extrapolate business scenarios.
- SAP BusinessObjects Design Studio helps you with data visualizations and make multi-dimensional dashboards.
- SAP Crystal Reports helps you make rich formatted reports from any source of data.
- SAP BusinessObjects Analysis for Microsoft Office helps you analyze business data from within Microsoft’s Office apps.
- SAP BusinessObjects BI platform helps you analyze large quantities of data because of its scalability.
- SAP BusinessObjects Explorer helps you gather large amounts of data from Internet search for analysis.
- SAP BusinessObjects Mobile helps you make decisions from anywhere at anytime.
Which is Better for My Needs?
SAS and SAP are both robust applications with plenty of features, flexibility, and scalability to help you grow your business. Deciding which one to use depends on the nature of your enterprise and on your business needs.