Microsoft Fabric and SAS have announced a strategic partnership to integrate SAS Decision Intelligence, a leading intelligent decisioning software, into Microsoft Fabric, an end-to-end analytics solution with full-service capabilities.
This integration will enable users and enterprises to leverage the best of both worlds: the power and flexibility of Microsoft Fabric’s data lake, data engineering, and data integration services, and the sophistication and accuracy of SAS Decision Intelligence suite — all without any infrastructure configuration, thanks to Microsoft Fabric SaaS solution.
SAS is a leader in the analytics market, with a global presence and a loyal customer base. According to the IDC Worldwide Business Analytics Software Tracker, SAS had a 30.8% market share in advanced and predictive analytics software in 2020. SAS also ranked first in the Gartner Magic Quadrant for Data Science and Machine Learning Platforms in 2021.
How Does This Integration Impact Users?
The integration of SAS into Fabric is important because it will provide users and companies with a unified and seamless analytics experience that leverages the strengths of both platforms.
The integration of SAS into Fabric will also contribute value to users and companies by enabling them to:
- Reduce the time and effort required to deploy and update decisions, as well as the risk of errors and inconsistencies, by using a common decision authoring and deployment environment.
- Ensure accuracy and transparency of decisions by using robust governance and testing features, such as version control, change tracking, and validation.
- Enhance collaboration and communication across teams and roles, such as data engineers, data scientists, business analysts, and decision makers, by using shared experiences and assets.
- Simplify and optimize the analytics infrastructure and operations, by using a cloud-based, SaaS platform that is highly integrated, scalable, and secure.
Users will be able to access and analyze data from Microsoft Fabric’s data lake, which supports a wide range of data sources and formats, using SAS Intelligent Decisioning’s business rules and analytical models. Users will also be able to take advantage of Microsoft Fabric’s data engineering and data integration services, which enable data transformation, orchestration, and movement across different environments.
In essence, users will be able to create, manage, and deploy decisions from a single interface, without having to switch between different tools or platforms and without worrying about setting up any infrastructure.
Considerations of Using SAS with Fabric
While the integration of SAS into Fabric will offer many benefits and opportunities, there are also some considerations that users and companies should be aware of before using SAS into Fabric. Some of these considerations are:
- The integration of SAS into Fabric is currently in preview, and may not have all the features and functionalities that are available in the standalone versions of SAS and Fabric. This it means that not everything is fully functional or available yet.
- The integration of SAS into Fabric may require some changes and adaptations in the existing workflows and processes of users and companies, such as data ingestion, data preparation, data modeling, decision definition, decision deployment, and decision monitoring. Users and companies should evaluate the impact and feasibility of these changes and adaptations before using SAS into Fabric.
- The integration of SAS into Fabric may involve some costs and trade-offs, such as licensing fees or data transfer fees. It is recommended that companies check the scope of their user agreements and licenses before making any decision.
Conclusion
Any technology integration is always welcomed by the market, and this is not an exception for SAS and Fabric; however, users and enterprises should also consider the availability, compatibility, impact, feasibility, costs, and trade-offs of using SAS and Fabric together before diving in.
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