SAS announced that Canadian National Railway Company (CN) has licensed SAS’ forecasting and budgeting software to accurately predict demand, determine infrastructure requirements to achieve revenue goals, and deliver critical business decision support information to multiple levels across the enterprise.
Tapping the industrial-strength capabilities of SAS forecasting and budgeting software, CN will employ SAS to create and deploy forecasts that will support strategic planning and daily operational decision-making processes.
The flexibility, scalability and automated features of SAS forecasting software will give CN the ability to create baseline forecasts that support multiple lines of business and users at every level across the enterprise. The logistics company will also take advantage of the budgeting component of the SAS Financial Management solution to deploy forecasts across the organization and provide business managers and executives with a means to assess risk and accurately plan business outcomes with confidence.
“Today’s competitive landscape leaves companies with no alternative but to operate more efficiently, not just on a day-to-day basis but also in planning for the future. Competitive advantage requires more than estimates and educated guesses,” said Mario Ianniciello, Regional Director of SAS Canada. “To succeed and grow, organizations need an accurate picture of the future and the ability to reliably measure the impact of economic changes and marketplace factors when planning. SAS forecasting will provide CN with a means to assess risks and simulate any business process, and the factors that affect those processes, no matter how complex. Using SAS, CN will fortify its business forecasting and budgeting processes and, ultimately, its leadership position in the transportation industry.”
CN’s forecasting capabilities are fueled by SAS Forecast Server, which facilitates large-scale, automated forecasting, as well as time series mining to uncover time-related patterns and trends. Its interactive GUI brings the power of SAS’ renowned analytical capabilities to even the novice forecaster. Budgeting capabilities will be delivered through the SAS Financial Management solution, a planning and reporting solution that improves the accuracy, relevance and timeliness of financial plans, budgets and reports while promoting the alignment and execution of strategy. Both are both built on SAS(R)9 – a set of integrated software for business intelligence, data integration, optimization and predictive analytics.