SAS Slides v15

SAS and SPSS in Academia:
A Competitive Analysis
Kenan-Flagler Business School
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
MBA Practicum Team
Audrey Gastmeyer
Kyle Sorensen
Ron Wen
Meredith Yoder
March 1, 2006

III-2
The Practicum Team
7 weeks (Jan 6-Mar 1)
Elizabeth Ceranowski
Manager of Student Programs
Dr. Rebecca Ratner
Associate Professor of Marketing
Objectives Research Insights Recommendations Conclusion
Team Member Class Background MBA Focus
Audrey Gastmeyer 2006 Public Sector Marketing
Kyle Sorensen 2007 Technology Marketing
Ron Wen 2007 Technology Marketing
Meredith Yoder 2007 Defense/Consulting Marketing
Goal
To Construct a Competitive Analysis of
SAS and SPSS in the Academic Community
Project Duration
SAS Liaison
KFBS Advisor

III-3
Agenda
 Introduction
 Research Methods
 Insights
 Recommendations
 Conclusion
 Q&A
vs.

III-4
Background

III-5
Research Methods
Identify Competitive
Products in Industry
Identify Key Variables
for Comparison
Measure Current User
Needs & Perceptions
Compare New User
Experiences
Compare Strategies
Exploratory
Research
User
Surveys
Usage
Diaries
Secondary
Research
= Information
Source
• Preliminary data
gathering through
informal interviews
with users
• Internet Surveys used to
measure consumer
perceptions and product
needs
• Documentation of new
user experiences with
installing, learning, and
using software package
• Research in public
domain (e.g., industry
reports, company
websites, etc.)

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Customer Activity Chain
 Identified four main activities in the chain
 Research aimed at uncovering opportunities to:
▪ Differentiate SAS product
▪ Reach more customers
▪ Improve customer experience and perceptions
▪ Transition academic customers → lifetime customers
Customer
Chooses
Product
Customer
Installs
Product
Customer
Learns
Product
Customer
Uses
Product
1 2 3 4
DIFFERENTIATION ACCESS USABILITY APPLICATION

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1 Differentiation
“I’d use SAS if it were point-and-click.”
 Faculty are unaware that SAS has a point-and-click
product: SAS Enterprise Guide
▪ The name “SAS Enterprise Guide” does not clearly
communicate product benefits
▪ Opportunity: Clarify and communicate the product benefits
▪ SAS software is perceived to be more difficult to learn, use,
and teach than SPSS
▪ SAS associated with programming, not point-and-click
▪ Opportunity: Market the point-and-click interface
 Faculty are unaware of job-related advantages
▪ Opportunity: Quantify and communicate professional benefits
of SAS proficiency

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1 Differentiation
Consumer Preferences
Depicts what professors prefer in analytical tool choice.

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1 Differentiation
Easy to Use
Easy to Learn
Easy to Teach
More Powerful
More Complex
More Functional
Hard to Use
Hard to Learn
Hard to Teach
Less Powerful
Less Complex
Less Functional
SAS
SPSS
Consumer Value Curves
Depicts the relative perceptions of SAS and SPSS by professors.

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2 Access
“Getting SPSS was much easier than getting SAS.”
 Three ways to access software on campus
▪ Computer lab
▪ Network license
▪ Individual license
 Students
▪ Are often frustrated by SPSS performance in university
computer labs
▪ Prefer to download and install SPSS from the website
 Faculty facilitate SPSS software access & learning
▪ Instructions included in syllabus
▪ Detailed teaching notes to shrink learning curve
 IT services’ impact
▪ Network download, CDs, distribution information

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3 Usability
“Teaching concepts is more important than teaching tools.”
 What’s important:
▪ Ease of use, teaching, and learning
▪ Functionality
▪ Current level of familiarity
 SPSS is viewed as a tool that accomplishes most
tasks, but is much easier to use
▪ 71% responded that SAS is not easy to learn
▪ 62% responded that SAS is difficult to use
▪ 54% responded that SAS is difficult to teach
▪ 53% responded that SAS is confusing

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4 Application
“We can’t use SAS LE for real-world examples in class.”
 SAS LE is inadequate for many student
assignments
▪ 1,000 row limit
▪ Difficult to export output into Microsoft Office applications
▪ Limited number of accepted data source type inputs
 Faculty prefer textbooks that include software-
specific examples
▪ Facilitate student learning
▪ Reduce burden on professor to teach the tool and prepare
examples

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Recommendations
Customer
Chooses
Product
Customer
Installs
Product
Customer
Learns
Product
Customer
Uses
Product
1 2 3 4
ACCESS USABILITY APPLICATIONDIFFERENTIATION
Customer
Transition
Rec 5- Virtual SAS Academic Community
Rec 1- EG Tagline
Rec 4- Textbook Alliances
Rec 2- Student Reps
Rec 3- Product Enhancements
EMPLOYMENT
5

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Rec 1- Product Tagline WHAT SAS SAYS NOW
Unclear Tagline Faculty?
Students?

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Rec 1- Product Tagline SUGGESTIONS
 Product name “Enterprise Guide” does not
convey ease of use
 New tag line that emphasizes “point and click”
GUI
 Suggestions for tag lines:
▪ SAS Enterprise Guide: Point and Click Solutions
▪ SAS Enterprise Guide: Graphical User Interface
▪ SAS Enterprise Guide: Power without Programming

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Rec 2- Student Reps
 Recruit a “SAS Street Team” to:
▪ Identify programs and courses for SAS marketing
▪ Identify opportunities for “lunch and learn” tutorials
▪ Track access channels for students
 Used by Dell and Apple to target academic
community
 New avenue for reaching faculty and students

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Rec 3- Product Enhancements
 Improved data file import
▪ Allow more data source types in SAS LE
 Improved “cut and paste” of SAS output to
other applications
 Unlimited data rows in SAS LE
 Enhanced online help
▪ SAS EG/GUI-specific

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Rec 4- Textbook Alliances
 Strengthen relationships with lead textbook
publishers and authors in SPSS-dominated
disciplines
▪ Emphasize textbook relationships on website
▪ Tailor embedded examples and guides to
meet changing student and faculty needs
 Greater presence in textbooks will
▪ Facilitate curriculum development
▪ Directly improve ease of learning

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 Electronic distribution of software
 Improves student experience
 Customer feedback opportunity
 Additional SAS support
documentation/services
 First steps towards SAS
Academic Portal
• Student portal
• Faculty portal
Rec 5- SAS Academic Portal
Student Portal

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III-21

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Further Research
Objectives Research Insights ConclusionRecommendations
 Undergraduate and community college students along
the customer activity chain
 Purchase intent if SAS products were distributed online
 University IT departments
▪ Is there any incentive to make software access for hassle-free
for students?
▪ Who are their employees? Students working part-time?
▪ Does help exist for students in choosing the correct modules to
install?
 Job-related advantages
▪ Are they real and quantifiable for those proficient or certified in
SAS?

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Summary of Recommendations
1. Create a new tagline to better communicate the benefits of SAS
Enterprise Guide.
2. Recruit a “SAS Street Team” of student reps to be SAS advocates
on campus.
3. Enhance SAS Enterprise Guide features.
• Unlimited number of rows in SAS Learning Edition’s version of Enterprise
Guide
• Simplify Help search and results
• Allow easy import of more diverse data sources, e.g. SPSS and Excel files
• Simplify “cut & paste” of output into Microsoft applications for reports and
other assignments
4. Partner with additional textbook publishers to proliferate the use of
SAS in the classroom.
5. Design a SAS Academic Portal to build a community of users.
Objectives Research Insights ConclusionRecommendations

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Appendix Work Breakdown Structure
Competitive Analysis
Benchmarking
Competitive Insights
Primary Research
Secondary Research
Recommendations
Exploratory Interviews
Surveys
Diaries of Use
Company Websites
Public Domain Resources

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Appendix Research Evidence: Differentiation
Source Keyword (s), search criteria SAS Jobs SPSS Jobs
Computer Jobs SAS 99
Computer Jobs SPSS 4
socialservice.com SAS 0
socialservice.com SPSS 0
jobscience.com SAS 3
jobscience.com SPSS 2
amstat.org SAS 37
amstat.org SPSS 4
marketingjobs.com SAS 0
marketingjobs.com SPSS 0
Monster SAS >1000
Monster SPSS 633
Monster SAS Statistics 916
Monster SPSS Statistics 278
Monster SAS social science 43
Monster SPSS social science 30
Monster SAS Marketing 742
Monster SPSS Marketing 350
Monster SAS, Salary>100K 114
Monster SPSS, Salary>100K 31
Monster SAS CRM 106
Monster SPS CRM 48
Monster SAS Psychology 46
Monster SPSS Psychology 65
 A majority of professors and students across academic fields believe there are
job-related benefits to skills with specific analytical software packages.
 56% professors indicated they would be influenced to use a specific tool if job
advantages were firmly identified.
Opportunity to
measure
advantages of
SAS Skills?
•# Jobs
•Job types
•Salary

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Appendix Consumer Identity: The Decision-Maker
 Professors generally control the
analytical tool choice (and
purchase) for academic courses
 Familiarity with the product
strongly influences this choice
 In general, most professors are
exposed to SPSS earlier than
SAS (i.e., in undergraduate
studies)
 Focusing attention on SAS
adoption in the undergraduate
community could yield SAS loyal
graduate students and future
professors

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Appendix SPSS, Inc. SWOT Analysis

III-29
Appendix Perceptual Map: Customer Requirements

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