SAS
What it is: Enterprise analytics platform specialized in pharma validation, financial modeling, government reporting, regulatory compliance.
What It Does Best
Validated workflows. FDA-approved processes for pharmaceutical clinical trials. Documented, traceable, compliant.
Enterprise scale. Handles massive datasets across organizations. Robust, reliable, proven over decades.
Support and stability. Premium support contracts. Backward compatibility. Enterprise SLAs. Critical for regulated industries.
Key Features
SAS/STAT: Comprehensive statistical procedures and methods
SAS/BASE: Data manipulation, reporting, programming language
Enterprise Integration: Connect to any data source, scale to terabytes
Validation: FDA 21 CFR Part 11 compliant for clinical trials
SAS Visual Analytics: Modern BI and visualization tools
Pricing
Enterprise: Custom pricing, typically $50k+ per year
Academic: Reduced pricing for universities
SAS On Demand: Free learning tier (limited features)
When to Use It
✅ Regulated industry requiring validation
✅ Enterprise-scale analytics
✅ Budget supports premium software
✅ Team already trained on SAS
✅ Pharmaceutical clinical trials
When NOT to Use It
❌ Small team or startup (expensive licensing)
❌ Need modern ML capabilities (Python/R better)
❌ Budget-conscious projects
❌ Agile, fast-moving data science
❌ Open source requirement
Common Use Cases
Clinical trials: FDA-validated statistical analysis for pharma
Financial risk: Credit scoring, fraud detection, regulatory reporting
Government analytics: Census data, policy analysis, compliance
Enterprise BI: Large-scale business intelligence and reporting
Actuarial analysis: Insurance pricing, reserving, forecasting
SAS vs Alternatives
vs R/Python: SAS better validation/support, R/Python more flexible/cheaper
vs SPSS: SAS more powerful/scalable, SPSS easier for beginners
vs Stata: SAS enterprise-focused, Stata academic-focused
Unique Strengths
Validation: FDA-approved, documented processes for compliance
Enterprise support: SLAs, training, consulting included
Proven reliability: 40+ years, trusted by Fortune 500
Backward compatibility: Code from 1990s still runs
Bottom line: Gold standard for pharma and finance. Expensive but trusted where compliance matters most.