SAS expands Irish big data operations 09 September 2015Dublin Reporter: Stephanie Palmer
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Business analytics firm SAS is expanding its operations in Ireland, opening a new inside sales and customer contact centre supporting big data clients in Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA).
The centre will create 150 jobs over the course of three years, increasing SAS’s Irish workforce six-fold. New positions will include multi-lingual business development and sales specialists, customer engagement specialists, data scientists and software engineers.
According to SAS, businesses are aware of the value that big data can bring, with regards to operational efficiency. The new centre aims to make big data analytics more accessible to mid-market companies that may not have a history of using data, or any in-house expertise.
The move equates to an investment of about €40 million, and is supported by the department of jobs and Ireland’s inward investment promotion agency, the IDA. It is intended to boost the Irish economy in general; according to research by the Centre of Economics and Business Research, the adoption of big data analytics could bring revenues of €27 billion in to Ireland.
Carl Farrell, executive vice president and chief revenue officer at SAS, said: “As a global company with offices all over the world, we wanted to expand in a city as vibrant as Dublin which has such a thriving technology ecosystem.”
He added: “We are now experiencing a ‘democratisation of analytics’, where more and more organisations – including small to medium sized enterprises – are investing in analytical software and services that don’t require a significant up-front investment.
“Our new centre will provide the extra capacity needed to support customers as they embark on this data analytics journey. Organisations in the region will now have access to knowledge, advice and powerful analytics to enable them to make more informed decisions and improve their business operations.”
CEO of the IDA Martin Shanahan said: “SAS is a highly recognisable brand name in the global software industry and a leading player in data analytics. The development of the inside sales and customer contact centre in Dublin is the first of its kind for SAS within EMEA and as such, is an important win for Ireland. SAS’s decision to locate here will further highlight our country as a centre for big data and data analytics – a key emerging sector targeted by IDA Ireland.”
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