Contact Center Solutions Featured Article

August 04, 2008

SAS Forms Profit Optimization Global Practice

By Susan J. Campbell


As the economy is experiencing a continuing slump and competitive intensity increases in nearly all industries, new profit-optimization techniques are needed in order to ensure that a company can not only make money – but also that it can survive. Traditional practices are no longer adequate to ensure profitability and organizations are demanding change.
 
To help enterprises ensure that they can maximize profitability, SAS (News - Alert), a major player in the area of business intelligence and analytics, has formed a new Profit Optimization Global Practice.

This division will apply revenue-management techniques that are designed to help companies to optimize profitability through the use of advanced analytics to scientifically and proactively determine the most profitable market segments and prices.

To achieve this goal of optimizing profitability, SAS will build a new profit-optimization solution that will effectively integrate revenue management, customer relationship management (CRM), pricing and distribution.

"You might call it seller's remorse when you realize you could have priced something you sold higher – perhaps much higher," said Barry Smith, consultant and former Chief Scientist for Sabre Holdings and Senior Vice President at American Airlines, in a Monday statement.

"Revenue management ensures maximum profitability at the time of sale by factoring in future demand and revenue potential," Smith said. "These techniques, most valuable in periods of high demand, are becoming equally important in low-demand periods by directing marketing initiatives to fill gaps."

Considered an expert in revenue management, Smith views the new SAS unit as being on the leading edge of technology that first allowed U.S. airline deregulation, spread to other segments of the travel and hospitality industry, and is now poised for adoption by many other industries.

SAS has also announced the successful acquisition of IDeaS Revenue Optimization, a provider of revenue-optimization solutions for the hospitality industry. The addition of solutions from IDeaS to SAS capabilities including forecasting, optimization and statistics, are expected to be applied to other industries outside of travel and hospitality.

“In addition to building on the success of IDeaS, SAS will tackle business problems in revenue management that are being ignored,” said Randy Guard, SAS Senior Director of Product Management, in Monday’s statement.

“We will integrate revenue-management capabilities with SAS’ powerful analytics, data integration and business intelligence applications to solve business problems spanning distribution, pricing and customer experience management.”

The Mandarin Oriental San Francisco is one IDeaS customer that has come to rely on their company’s solutions to drive revenues and profitability.

“As market demand continues to change, I need to be able to communicate the necessary information to the organization in the most concise, efficient way,” said Melanie Cooke-Kridech, Director of Revenue Management for Mandarin Oriental San Francisco, in the Monday statement.

“We chose to upgrade to the newest IDeaS version because it provided smart, simple technology that allowed me to generate reports and process information quickly and accurately.

“With the increased pressure of being required to pull data quickly and stay ahead of the game, I need the information at my fingertips – even to the extent of printing information right out of the system to use in my yield meetings,” Cooke-Kridech added.

The SAS Profit Optimization Global Practice will include revenue management experts from a variety of industries. One such expert, Steve Pinchuk, senior team member and leader, previously served as Corporate Vice President of Revenue Management and Distribution at Harrah’s.

The new practice builds on SAS’ continued success in delivering revenue-optimization solutions to leading global retailers. It is on this proven strategy that SAS will continue to focus, while also streamlining its work on the retail industry. The Profit Optimization Global Practice will specifically serve industries other than retail.

Susan J. Campbell is a contributing editor for TMC (News - Alert) and has also written for eastbiz.com. To see more of her articles, please visit Susan J. Campbell’s columnist page.
 
 
 
Don’t forget to check out TMCnet’s White Paper Library, which provides a selection of in-depth information on relevant topics affecting the IP Communications industry. The library offers white papers, case studies and other documents which are free to registered users. Today’s featured white paper is ApplianX IP Gateway as a VoIP-Enabled Programmable Switch, brought to you by Aculab (News - Alert).


Related Contact Center Solutions Articles

    From Contact Environment to Interaction Ecosystem: The Future of the Customer Contact Center

    Few areas of business operation have been called into greater question in recent years than customer contact centers. Between impersonal automated systems, frustrating menus, and the hot potato topic of overseas outsourcing, the operational model of the customer service contact center has lost touch with its core reason for being - to service the customer. [ Read More ]
    02/13/2012

    TMCnet Contact Center Solutions Week in Review

    It is almost difficult to know where to begin, given all of the interesting contact center activities around the world. However, a great place to begin is with the Editors Choice feature by TMCnet contributor Tracey E. Schelmetic about a terrific webinar sponsored by Interactive Intelligence, "2012: Key Contact Center Trends and Priorities for the Upcoming Year - How you can be read.," The webinar featured Forrester Research principal analyst, Art Schoeller, Interactive Intelligence senior vice … [ Read More ]
    02/11/2012

    Aegis Lands in Magic Quadrant

    Global outsourcing provider Aegis Limited has been named as one of 16 firms in Gartner Inc's 2011 Magic Quadrant for Customer Management Contact Center BPO Worldwide. [ Read More ]
    02/10/2012

    Interactive Intelligence Hires Mitchell Phillips as Australian Territory Manager

    Interactive Intelligence Group, Inc., a global provider of unified business communication solutions for contact centers, unified communications, and business process automation, was in need for someone to take over their Australian territory. The company announced that Mitchell Phillips seems to be the new man for the job. [ Read More ]
    02/10/2012

[ View all Contact Center Solutions Articles ]

Socialize with us

FREE Contact Center Solutions eNewsletter

Click here to receive your targeted Contact Center Solutions Community eNewsletter.[Subscribe Now]

Industry News

Featured Resources

Contact Center Solutions Glossary of Terms

Press Releases

About the Contact Center Solutions Community

    Welcome to the Contact Center Solutions Community The Contact Center Solutions Global Online Community, Sponsored by Interactive Intelligence, is designed to serve as the industry's premier resource for information and research on Contact Center Solutions technology and deployment strategies.