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CRM software and data warehousing specialist SAS Institute announced Thursday that it has taken an equity stake in the UK based Enterprise Marketing Automation company, Intrinsic.
The announcement was made at the annual SAS Europe Users Group conference in Dublin.
As part of the deal SAS has agreed to resell Intrinsic CRM solutions through the pooling of both customer databases. The agreement means that the privately owned SAS Institute will be better positioned in the market ahead of a planned IPO in 2001. Valued at around USD5b, the SAS Institute is the world’s fifth largest privately owned software company. Owned by former university lecturer Dr Jim Goodnight, SAS is aiming for sales of USD2b per annum by 2003.
The agreement with Intrinsic follows SAS's purchase earlier this year of Dataflux.
The European user group conference SEUGI in Dublin’s RDS attracted an estimated 4000 visitors to examine and discuss SAS related issues and CRM trends in what analysts believe to be a USD2 trillion industry.
The SAS Institute has a number of key competitors in its sector in the shape of IBM and Informix. It established its Irish operation in 1998 and now has a staff of 10 led by Martin Duffy in Baggot Street. "We are the number one in data warehousing in the world and unlike some of our competitors this is our core business," said Marketing VP Phil Winters from SAS. "When others dilute their business we tend to stick to the knitting."
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