Back Then

For years I used SAS® software in my professional career.   I have always been impressed with its flexibility, its ability to manage large data sets and its ability to take input from just about any source.   These characteristics help to explain its ubiquity in businesses throughout the world.  In the early days of data analysis business users had few choices for tools when it came to doing ad-hoc analysis.

One of the tools available then was Base SAS® software.  For clarity, we will refer to SAS and Base SAS as the language as opposed to the company,  SAS Institute Inc.  Back then there was no concept of self-serve so users were left to queue their requests for analysis and reports to a central IT group.

Eventually,  a few intrepid users discovered that SAS software was used for mainframe capacity planning.   Mainframes were the dominate systems back then,   and their costs were large enough to warrant the practice of analyzing utilization.   SAS was the dominate software used for this activity.  After all, CEOs needed to know when they were obliged to deliver a substantial capital expenditure check to IBM.

By taking matters into their hands users learned the mechanics of submitting SAS batch jobs (no interactive processing back then) and soon discovered they too could access data,  munge it,  and produce the sorts of reports and analysis that had meaningful impacts.   As the number of computing platforms expanded thought the 1980’s and 1990’s SAS became available for them as well.   All of which lead to a substantial number of SAS users.

Today

All of this sounds quaint in light of today’s ability to visit a web page and by simply clicking a few buttons,  spin-up a cluster of hundreds or even thousands of machines with an enormous number of open-source and proprietary software components.  All of this is available in a matter of minutes by just using a credit-card.

A lot has changed since back then.  And that’s my motivation to write these examples, in the spirit of learning additional ways to analyze data.

A trained historian might call the foregoing an insurgency,  and indeed,  that is what is was.   The rebels were the business users who sought to overthrow the stifling order of the day.  They looked for work-arounds to gain access to useful data locked-down by rules and rulers and SAS was their agency.

In effect,  SAS is the original insurgent in the data openness movement.   That said,  history can provide clues about what may happen next.   As with most insurgencies the rebels eventually become the establishment and before long a new generation of rebels seek to overthrow the existing order.

Looking Ahead

An insight I gained while working with customers around the world is how significant the investments in analytical know-how is and at the same time,   from the executive viewpoint results do not comport with anticipated returns.

Executives I have spoken with recently tend to see the enormous growth in the data collection rates (and of course costs) negatively correlated with insights delivered.   But,  they also see how the open source insurgency inside their own organizations can be a positive force to alter the existing order.