Business intelligence software developer SAS Institute this week will announce an extension of its existing supply chain analytics applications, SAS officials said. The new product suite, known as SAS Supply Chain Intelligence, will consist of four solution sets: SAS Supplier Relationship Management, SAS Process Intelligence, SAS Value Chain Analytics and SAS Demand Intelligence.
Of these, Demand Intelligence is a new solution, while the others are existing SAS technologies. Demand Intelligence forecasts customer demand patterns and enables companies to shape demand through pricing and promotions while ensuring high customer service levels, officials said. In this way, the software allows companies to optimize promotions, pricing and production plans and provides a view of the influences and immediate effects of consumer demand.
Sources said SAS will also introduce applications for demand planning, inventory planning, pricing optimization, warranty analysis and quality assurance, although SAS officials would not confirm that.
The Value Chain Analytics solution repackages Oros Value Chain Analyzer, which came from SAS acquisition of ABC Technologies early last year.
All products are built on the SAS 9 analytical platform and will include SAS services. The Supply Chain Intelligence suite, parts of which are available now, is expected to compete with existing offerings from supply chain management and analytics applications vendors.