When South African marketing research specialists Synovate needed a technology solution to improve the efficiency at which it processes its survey data, the company turned to Qinfo, an SAS Alliance partner, and a new set of business intelligence tools.
Synovate is a multi-award winning marketing research company that provides customer loyalty intelligence to more than 110 blue-chip clients throughout sub-Saharan Africa. Being an ISO 9001:2001 certified entity; adherence to best-practice methodologies are always top-of-mind for the company.
"Our clients need us to make sense of the noise around their products and services, using our marketing research expertise to do this. Data processing is therefore core to our business, and there is no room for error when we are crunching the data we collect through our research practices, as we look to turn this into meaningful information that will benefit our customers," says Mirna Wessels, head of operations at Synovate.
"While we have used the SAS toolset for a number of years, we hit a real challenge when we decided to move our environment from the then ageing PC-based SAS to a server-based environment. We needed a partner that could help us with our infrastructure environment, and it was then that we turned to Qinfo because of their knowledge of the SAS system we were working with."
Wessels adds that while there are a lot of business intelligence tools available in the market, the true value of SAS lies in its analytics and its ability to perform complicated tasks that are way beyond that of basic query and reporting tools.
Synovate selected the server-based environment as a key link for improved system flexibility as well as automation of many of the manual processes that the detailed research it conducts entails. Benefits it hoped to glean from its relationship with Qinfo were optimisation of the SAS system as well as assistance with its migration.
Says AJ Coetzee, Business Intelligence director at Qinfo: "We worked together with Synovate to understand their needs and provide the most cost-effective, yet optimal solution for their business. Once we had established what these were, we then drew up a roadmap to help better map its SAS processes, therefore allowing the business to start focusing on what it knows best, which is delivering market intelligence instead of worrying about their SAS investment. This methodology in turn assists our clients to grow and innovate instead of constantly being aware of what impact their technology systems are having on the business."
Qinfo began work on the six-month project in October 2007 and provided Synovate with on-the-job knowledge transfer and advice, right through to reconfiguring servers according to SAS-recommended best practices. In addition, the company ensured that Synovate's human capital and infrastructure is now operating optimally.
Adds Wessels: "We have seen batch times being reduced by 50% or more due to system configuration and programming recommendations given by Qinfo. Due to Qinfo's total-solution focus, we have seen our staff increasing their efficiency and confidence in using the SAS tools available to them. This will definitely have a positive impact on all our clients and greatly improve our ability to deliver the results they have requested."
Synovate currently uses the analytical capabilities of Base SAS, SAS STAT and SAS Graph to assist it in providing client-friendly reports on the research information it collects.
"I have been very happy with the service we got from our partners on this project and now that the system is running fully optimised I can translate that into a true business benefit for our company. One outstanding element of the Qinfo project team was their commitment to us as a company, they really did their homework and went to great lengths to get to know us as a client," ends Wessels.
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