Tech giant Microsoft and data management and analytics firm SAS announced their partnership on June 15, 2020. The announcement comes as SAS chooses Microsoft’s Azure as its preferred cloud platform for its analytics portfolio as it gears up for its transition to a cloud-first system, reports ZD Net.
The recent partnership puts Microsoft as a leading company that’s poised to take Azure towards companies and businesses, as evidenced by its partnerships with SAP and Oracle in the past year, notes ZD Net.
In light of the demand for cloud migration, chief operating officer and chief technology officer Oliver Schabenberger said that catering to a wider range of audiences and industries will be possible with the help of a public cloud while allowing them to maintain their analytics operations, notes Tech Crunch.
Based on its joint statement, the two companies will allow customers to run their SAS workflows via the cloud, “expanding their businesses solutions and unlocking critical value from their digital transformation initiatives.”
While the tech giant is gearing up to migrate the analytical products of SAS to Azure, the former is also expected to provide value to the firm with its integrations across the Microsoft cloud solutions in Azure, Dynamics 365, Microsoft 365, and Power Platform.
The move will cater to health care and finance among other key industries reveals the press release. In particular, the press release state the analytics products solutions of SAS, including risk, retail, and fraud, will be incorporated across the Azure Marketplace to aid in more productive businesses for its clients.
Executive Vice President of Cloud and AI of Microsoft, Scott Guthrie said the partnership “will help our customers accelerate growth and find new ways to drive innovation with a broad set of SAS Analytics offerings on Microsoft Azure.”
“SAS, with its recognized expertise in analytics, data science, and machine learning, is a strategic partner for Microsoft, and together we will help customers across dozens of industries and horizontals address their most critical and complex analytical challenges,” said Guthrie.
Both companies will also leverage the marketing and sales departments of both companies.
Tech Crunch states the partnership is looking for varied ways to further enhance analytics and machine learning capabilities, while also improving its data visualization tools and services. This would reportedly allow individuals to gain easier access and workability with large data information.
While the analytics and data management firm has announced its partnership with Microsoft, Tech Crunch states there isn’t an exclusive agreement between the two companies. SAS will reportedly continue extending its services to clients who want to work with another public cloud provider.
