What are the most important trends for SAS developers?
Trends in BI follow each other up in rapid succession. SAS Institute attempts to provide answers by continuing to add functionality to its existing solutions. It’s impossible to respond to every single trend with new functionality alone, however.
These are the most important trends SAS specialists should be aware of:
- Business Intelligence is democratizing: BI increasingly belongs to everyone, and SAS has been playing into that for some time. This calls for an SAS consultant who can become more of an advisor and delegates part of “their” work to end-users by using interactive dashboards.
- Explosive growth in volume of data sources: organizations are accessing more and more data sources, and Big Data is becoming a part of everyday life. That means that organizations are becoming further removed from reporting about the past. The SAS developer has to get better and better at using data to predict the future.
- Cloud is the future: data is increasingly stored in the cloud, and data processing also happens in the cloud more frequently. This puts pressure on technical functions, primarily, because they can be performed externally.
- Internet of Things taking off: sensors are storing more and more data, and the amount of sensors that can register data is growing exponentially.
- Algorithms are becoming essential: the volume of available and stored data is growing exponentially, which raises the question: how can you see the data forest for the trees? Using the right algorithms makes it much easier to maintain a clear overview. Using and developing the right algorithms is essential.
As an SAS Developer or consultant, you have to be prepared and keep up with all these trends, and keep innovating. If you don’t, your knowledge and expertise will end up outdated, and your job security will be at risk.
Required skills for an SAS consultant
Of course, experience with various SAS solutions is a must. Thanks to their quick iteration, staying up-to-date is a challenge in and of itself. The most important skills are:
- The ability to think analytically and conceptually, while working together with end-users.
- Giving independent advice and translating new developments in SAS into solutions for end-users using solid BI architecture.
- Accuracy in data processing and interpretation, often advisory, because clients are making their own BI reports more and more frequently.
- The ability to communicate with and advise all stakeholders in the organization.
- Presenting complex problems to end-users in simple terms.
In short: SAS software expertise is a must, but good advice and communicative skills have become equally important.
Things to look out for re: SAS developers/consultants
The most important points are:
- How do you demonstrate your added value?
- Where can you find the SAS consultant who can help you predict the future?
- What are the benefits of hiring through Passionned Group?
- How do you adapt to changing circumstances as an SAS consultant?
- What are the most important skills that SAS developers should possess?
How do you become a (better) SAS developer and consultant
Of course you can follow SAS training courses or other authorized SAS tooling trainers. But that alone won’t cut it anymore. SAS developers and consultants are expected to be customer-focused and provide clients with top-of-the-line advice. This last part separates the good SAS consultants from the great ones. SAS developers have to possess these skills too. The question is, how can you develop these skills?
SAS-related roles
Training courses: customer-focused, analytics & BI
Passionned Academy has various training courses, from customer-focused training to BI consultancy skills. During this training, you can learn how to better interpret the customers’ demands, and you can learn how to considerably improve your communication with the business side. If you want to know more, check out our offerings at Passionned Academy.
The SAS consultant looks ahead using our knowledge base
Passionned Group has more to offer. Consult our knowledge base and gain access to hundreds of articles related to BI and intelligent organizations. We’ve also written various books about this topic that will broaden your perspective on Business Intelligence. All in all, plenty of resources to become an SAS consultant who can look forwards, not just backwards.
Do you want to hire an SAS specialist?
SAS consultants and developers can be hired anywhere. There are specialized agencies just for that purpose. But Passionned Group has the right people with the right experience, who can help your organization look into the future. Passionned Group is a completely independent agency. We’re not tied to any vendors, including SAS. That gives us a unique position in the market.
If you’re looking for an experienced SAS developer or consultant, place a request with us. Within 24 hours, we’ll get in touch to discuss the kind of candidate you’re looking for. Typically we’ll introduce two candidates, which gives you the chance to make a well-considered choice. After choosing one of our candidates, we can usually complete the process within 48 hours, after which the chosen candidate can start working in your organization.
What are the advantages of hiring through Passionned Group?
Besides our extensive experience we are, as mentioned above, completely independent, and we strive to provide clients with the best possible solutions. Our experienced SAS developers and consultants also have access to extensive tooling to help organizations get ahead.
Our philosophy is that success isn’t determined by the right tooling or reporting alone. Use and implementation of the entire business intelligence process determines success, in the end. This tooling isn’t just available for our SAS experts; your own organization has access to it too. That, together with our independence, distinguishes us from our competitors. Experience what we have to offer and get in touch for an introduction.
SAS solutions that work for you
SAS has a large installed base, often with larger organizations. That’s good, but they’re not untouchable. Vendors like Tableau, Yellowfin, and open source solutions are defying the status quo in the business intelligence market.
SAS has to follow suit and is focusing on three pillars: self-service BI, Big Data, and Cloud. Their products for self-service BI have set the standard in the market, and the same goes for Big Data. They’re taking their first steps in Cloud technology, and time will tell how successful they’re going to be.
When it comes to statistics, SAS is the market leader, and the same goes for its various BI solutions in some markets. But the world is changing, and SAS is changing with it. It’s a challenge for all involved in SAS to change with the times. That definitely goes for SAS consultants and SAS developers.
Opening SAS consultant
We’re regularly looking for SAS consultants and developers who are looking toward the future. If you see yourself in this profile and you want to know what distinguishes Passionned Group, contact us, and experience the difference.
Are you interested in learning more?
If you’re interested in a certain training course, you want to know more about hiring an interim specialist, or you’re looking for a new environment in which to test your skills, we’re eager to hear from you. Contact us here and we’ll get in touch with you as soon as possible.
About Passionned Group
Passionned Group is a leading firm in designing and implementing Business Analytics. Our senior Data Scientists and consultants assist both large and small companies towards a smarter enterprise. Every two years we organize the election of the smartest company. 
