SAS – Founder and Future of Data Analytics

SAS stands for Statistical Analysis System. It is a statistical data analysis suite developed by SAS Institute for various data-related activities including but not limited to

• Finding a better way to analyze the data
• Finding a better method to convert data into intelligence
• Finding a solution that is user friendly

The answer to the quest resulted in something groundbreaking which was the SAS software itself. The quest is still a never-ending process which is why there are a lot of upgrades and updates in the software is observed.

SAS with nearly four decades into producing quality data analytics results and with thousands of staff helps people across the globe to analyze a billion rows of data every second. Having said that, SAS is no wonder the pioneer in the Data Analytics Suite.

SAS was originally intended to analyze Agricultural data. It all started when North Carolina University rehired Anthony Barr in 1966 for his aid in building a logic on variance and regression to run on IBM Systems. The project was funded by the National Institutes of Health. Anthony Barr and James Goodnight further developed new multiple regression and analysis variances into the system and went on to release the first version. Further the project had other team members including John Sall who contributed to econometrics, time series, and matric algebra. The first version of SAS was released in 1971 and was named SAS 71 which was a limited release. The initial version of SAS can be used only in IBM Mainframe Systems and had the main fundamentals of SAS, i.e., Data Step and Proc Step. Subsequently, a new full version of SAS was released the following year and it was named SAS 72. SAS 72 had vital features of Merge Statements, handling missing values, and combining data sets. Later in 1976, Barr, Goodnight, Sall, and Helwig went on to remove the project from North Carolina State and they incorporated SAS Institute Inc.

SAS was redesigned in 1976 with open architecture for compilers and procedures; also in the same version of the software, the INPUT and INFILE statements were optimized to read data formats from IBM Mainframes. PUT and FILE statements were introduced to take reports from the SAS. In later years several other features were introduced. Significantly in 1985, SAS was rewritten in C Language which made it run on other operating systems such as UNIX, MS-DOS, and Windows. SAS introduced SAS GRAPH and SAS ETS during the 1980s and 1990s which supported time series analysis and econometrics. SAS PH-CLINICAL was released in the 1990s for Pharma Users and in 2002 FDA standardized SAS PH-CLINICAL for new drug applications. SAS products for Financial Management and Human Capital Management were released as CFO Vision and HR Vision were released. JMP – a GUI-based SAS was introduced by John Sall, especially for Macintosh in 1989. Since then SAS has released several versions of the software with both major and minor upgrades. The current version of SAS is 9.4 (As on December 2022).

SAS is one of the most advanced and integrated Data Analytics Software suites for multivarious functionality including Data Management, Advanced Analytics, Business Intelligence, and Predictive Analytics. Following are the tasks which you can do using SAS:

• Access data from various Data Sources including but not limited to SAS Tables, Microsoft Excel Tables, and other Database Tables/Files
• Manipulate and effectively manage the existing data to get the data that is fruitful, i.e., creating a subset of the data or creating new columns
• Analyze the data using various statistical methods ranging from Descriptive Statistics to more modern methods such as model selection and Bayesian hierarchical models
• Render the results in a more meaningful way so that the end users can read them. You can take the results in the format of HTML, PDF, and RTF

SAS renders comprehensive solutions to myriads of industries. SAS has been the only solution in the market for more specific industries. Industry solutions include

• Agriculture: SAS Agri Tech Analytics Solutions aim in solving the most critical food and sustainability problems in the World.
• Banking: SAS Banking Analytics Solutions aim in rendering Digital Transformation powered by Embedded AI.
• Education: SAS Education Analytics Solution aim in providing deeper insights from the ever-growing data stream in the education industry.
• Healthcare: SAS Healthcare Analytics aims in rendering value-based healthcare by improving patient outcomes and experience through advanced analytics.
• Insurance: SAS Fraud Analytics aim in minimizing fraud-related losses, improve sales opportunities and solve complex problems in the industry
• Life Sciences: SAS Life Science Analytics solutions aim to transform raw data into life-changing insights improving health and well-being.
• Sports: SAS Sports Analytics Solutions aim in transforming data into meaningful insight for better performance and results.
• Utility: SAS Utility Analytics Solutions aims to digitally transform your utility with advanced analytics and cutting-edge technology.

SAS has a huge potential for aspirants who are keen on entering the Data Analytics industry. Not only the SAS is widely used across various industries, but also offers one of the most highly paid jobs in the domain. Here is the list of positions you can apply for in the SAS domain.

• SAS Analyst
• SAS Programmer
• Customer Analytics Manager
• Decision Analyst
• SAS Developer
• Clinical SAS Programmer

• SAS Executive
• SAS BI Developer
• SAS Administrator
• SAS Enterprise Consultant
• SAS Technical Architect

SAS offers various certification options for students based on the stream of study they are taking. One can enroll for SAS Certifications post the course completion. SAS Certification is globally recognized and accepted. Here are the few values for SAS Certification

• Credibility
• Career Advantage

• SAS Badge
• Academic Discounts for Students

Here’s the partial list of SAS Certification which you can take up:

• SAS Certified Associate: Programming Fundamentals Using SAS 9.4
• SAS Certified Specialist: Base Programming Using SAS 9.4
• SAS Certified Professional: Advanced Programming Using SAS 9.4
• SAS Certified Clinical Trials Programming

For sure Data Analytics is the most demanding career opportunity in the current trend, however, if you’re dubious about what will happen to the Data Analytics industry, fret not, Data Analytics is not going to die soon. Data Analytics and career in SAS will improve by at least 33% by the year 2026 generating career opportunities in the Data Analytics domain.

SAS has been in the industry for more than four decades expanding its horizon to various industries and formulating life-changing solutions for various complex problems. If you’re looking towards starting a career in the Data-related field, SAS is the best software to learn.