Event Summary
Business intelligence and data warehousing software vendor Sagent (NASDAQ: SGNT) has announced a strategic agreement with SAS Institute (the largest privately held software company in the world), a strong presence in e-intelligence, data mining and data warehousing, and best known for its statistical software. Under the agreement, Sagent will integrate and license select SAS analytic and customer relationship management (CRM) software within its business intelligence solutions. The target market for these SAS-enhanced offerings from Sagent will be the mid-market (generally defined as companies with revenues up to $750 million). That market will include sectors such as credit unions, community banks, and select property and casualty insurance companies, among others.
As a result of this agreement, Sagent will offer SAS' world-renowned data mining and CRM software as part of its business intelligence solution. "SAS' credibility in the marketplace, as well as its broad and deep analytic and e-intelligence offerings, made it the clear choice as a partner and a provider of analytics and CRM solutions to integrate with Sagent's existing offerings," said Bob Flynn, senior vice president, marketing and strategy, Sagent. "We are pleased that SAS and Sagent have agreed to work together on this important initiative."
Market Impact
One of SAS Institute's biggest problems has been its lack of visibility and name recognition beyond Global 2000 companies. The majority of business professionals have worked with SAS software at some point in their career, but usually aren't exactly sure what SAS does as a company. The agreement with Sagent supports SAS' objective of developing additional channels for sales and distribution to accelerate revenue growth and increase market presence by reaching market sectors that it has not traditionally served. SAS has stated that they will continue to focus the efforts of its direct sales force on expanding its presence among large enterprise customers.
According to Graeme Woodley, SAS' senior vice president for business development and channel operations, "Sagent has a proven track record of providing business intelligence and data warehousing solutions to mid-markets, enabling their customers to streamline operations and improve decision-making. Our agreement with Sagent brings powerful SAS analytical solutions to the vertical mid-markets served by Sagent." The agreement between SAS and Sagent covers the Americas and Europe, and includes development assistance for the integration of SAS Enterprise Miner and other software, as well as training for the Sagent sales force in the positioning of the new combined offerings. The integrated offerings are scheduled for release in the first half of 2001.
User Recommendations
Customers evaluating e-CRM and business intelligence solutions should keep an eye on developments between SAS and Sagent, with the potential of including their offerings on a long list of candidates for business intelligence and/or customer relationship management technology selections. SAS offers some of the most powerful statistical software in the world, and combined with Sagent's existing offerings should provide compelling vertical solutions. Sagent has long been interested in vertical markets as a differentiator (see Sagent Technology Teams for Telco e-Business, for one example), and will likely continue in that direction.
Potential customers should question Sagent during the vendor interview process as to its support for the required vertical, and, if required, possibly explore options to co-develop a new vertical that fits their need. (Obviously, the customer should receive pricing discounts and other concessions from the vendor for their assistance in the development of the new solution.)