SAS and ESRI to Integrate BI and GIS Functionality

SAS (NC, USA) has unveiled integrated business intelligence applications that will allow organisations to visualise and analyse data relationships in new ways by considering both
location and traditional Business Information (BI) dimensions together.
Both ESRI (CA, USA) and SAS have designed their latest software releases to integrate BI and GIS functionality into a Web-based, zero-download application running in a browser. This new application allows users to explore and visualise complex data relationships in the context of location. Users will access the new functionality through the SAS Web OLAP Viewer, one of the analysis and reporting interfaces to SAS Enterprise BI Server and now ESRI's ArcGIS Server.
Users will have access to SAS data analysis and reporting functions as well as ESRI location analysis and display functions and data. This integration of the SAS and ESRI platforms allows companies to analyse and display traditional business data and location-based data to multiple departments across the enterprise from a single, integrated platform. BI and GIS
functions will also be available to developers for creating focused, custom marketing, sales, logistics, real estate, and other applications that blend seamlessly into their existing desktop, browser, dashboard, or portal environments.
Advantages of integrating ESRI GIS with the SAS BI platform are:

• ability to explore and visualise GIS and BI relationships in a familiar Web-based analysis and reporting environment
  
• more rigorous and actionable BI from existing data
  
• intuitive communication of discovered intelligence through maps.