SAS acquires IDeaS Revenue Optimization

Aug 5, 2008

Business intelligence and analytics company SAS has acquired IDeaS Revenue Optimization.

Published: 05 Aug 2008

Business intelligence and analytics company SAS has acquired IDeaS Revenue Optimization.

IDeaS, with 200 employees, is now a wholly owned subsidiary of SAS but it will continue operating under its current management.

IDeaS will continue to focus on the hospitality industry. Its solutions, combined with SAS capabilities including forecasting, optimisation and statistics, will also be applied to other industries outside of travel and hospitality.

Jim Goodnight, CEO, SAS said, "SAS will build on that for other industries while remaining attentive to the extremely loyal IDeaS customer base. SAS has the will, the resources and the domain expertise to nurture the potential of IDeaS."

"In addition to building on the success of IDeaS, SAS will tackle business problems in revenue management that are being ignored," said Randy Guard, SAS Senior Director of Product Management. "We will integrate revenue-management capabilities with SAS' powerful analytics, data integration and business intelligence applications to solve business problems spanning distribution, pricing and customer experience management."

"SAS is a perfect fit for IDeaS. Customers of neither company are locked into long-term licenses, so we both have to earn our customers' business on a daily basis," said Ed Booth, CEO and Chairman of IDeaS.

SAS solutions will leverage revenue- and price-optimisation capabilities to help organisations gain deeper insights into their customers and operations to maximise profitability.

According to SAS, this acquisition further establishes the company as a leader in this area by complementing SAS' retail revenue optimisation suite, which is currently deployed by global retailers such as Hudson's Bay Company of Canada and Kohl's Department Stores.

IDeaS delivers solutions via "software as a service." Customers access applications over the Internet, eliminating costs for new hardware and software installation. Software upgrades are painless, as IDeaS makes the changes on its Internet host. Its global customers include: Hilton, Hyatt International, Mandarin Oriental, Intercontinental Hotels Group, The Venetian Hotel and Casino, Stations Casinos, Lindner Hotels, Fairmont Hotels, Manchester Airport Group and BAA.