SAS, the leading provider of business analytics software and services, said it has achieved a record global revenue of $2.87 billion in 2012 with the Europe Middle East and Africa (EMEA) region contributing 41 per cent to the growth.

Dubbed big data analytics 'powerhouse' by an independent research firm, SAS spent 2012 as it has the previous 36 profitable years; helping customers make precise, proactive, breakthrough decisions.

"In 2012, many companies began to rethink conventional ways of doing business when they realized big data analytics could deliver results almost instantaneously," said Jim Goodnight, CEO, SAS. "When high-performance analytics can solve the world's toughest business problems thousands of times faster, there's no limit to what organizations can achieve."

SAS' 2012 predictive analytics offerings have momentum across industries and customer segments. SAS Visual Analytics, particularly well received and lauded by analysts in July, August and earlier this month, is a new way to explore large amounts of data in an instant.

2012 was also a banner year for workplace culture recognition. Great Place to Work named SAS No. 1 on its World's Best Multinational Workplaces list, capping a year in which SAS Belgium and SAS Sweden were also No. 1 on their countries' Best Companies to Work For lists.

SAS, which has been ranked as one of Fortune's Best Companies to Work For in the US every year since the list's 1998 inception, was a top workplace in 17 other countries.

"The link is solid between SAS' financial performance and treating employees and customers well. When people feel trusted, the results are phenomenal. It's reflected in our commitment to innovation. It's deeply gratifying that we've created a great place to work, not just in the United States, but also worldwide," said Goodnight.

The revenue grew worldwide despite continuing economic uncertainty in some regions. The Americas generated 47 per cent of SAS' total revenue; while Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) netted 41 per cent and Asia Pacific 12 per cent.

Shukri Dabaghi, the general manager of SAS Middle East said, "The record revenue that we have posted in 2012 is indicative of the continued trust and confidence that we enjoy from our partners and customers. Our impressive performance last year reflects the strong commitment that we have placed in helping companies and organizations discover the importance and significance of properly managing big data."

"Rest assured that we intend to outdo this record by continuing to provide our rapidly growing customer base with highly efficient business analytics and software solutions," remarked Dabaghi.

SAS Visual Analytics quickly found traction after its March 2012 launch and will remain a focus in 2013. The big data visualization tool was hailed by analysts as customers embraced the value of easy, self-service data exploration.

Creditreform, Cosmos Bank, Hong Kong Efficiency Unit, the Internal Revenue Service, SM Marketing Convergence, XL Group and others use SAS Visual Analytics to derive insight from their data.

On the future outlook, SAS said it expects the demand for business insight from big data to increase through 2013. SAS High-Performance Analytics Server combines the speed of large scale in-memory software with the industry's most trusted advanced predictive analytics, offering near-real-time data mining, optimization, text mining and other features.

"Dramatic reductions in processing times have bolstered new offerings such as visual analytics and high-performance applications for business. We're also designing and distributing these innovations on iPads and Android devices. Our value proposition has never been stronger," said Jim Davis, the senior VP and chief marketing officer.

Demonstrating steadfast commitment to innovation and customer service, SAS reinvested 25 per cent of 2012 revenue into research and development. Altogether, SAS increased its workforce by seven per cent, ending 2012 with 13,442 employees worldwide.-TradeArabia News Service