Fujitsu Limited today announced that it is expanding its alliance with SAS Institute Japan Ltd.⁽¹⁾ , which started in June 2011, and will now become the first in Japan to deliver SAS analytics solutions as a cloud service.

As a first step, from mid-June Fujitsu will offer a SAS budgeting management solution, which provides a rapid grasp and analyses of budget compilations and consolidated financial results for companies, within the Fujitsu Enterprise Application Budget and Performance Management Cloud.

With this offering, customers can quickly and securely use the SAS budgeting management solution as a cloud service. In addition, for deploying and operating this service, total support will be provided by Fujitsu engineers, who have a wealth of experience in deploying SAS analytics solutions.

As a technology partner that helps customers strategically use data in their digital transformations, Fujitsu will phase in the offering of a variety of SAS analytics solutions as cloud services, thereby contributing to the business transformation of its customers.

Background

Since beginning an alliance in the field of Business Analytics (BA)⁽²⁾ in June 2011, Fujitsu and SAS have helped companies raise their corporate value through the strategic use of data. Realizing that, in recent years, customers' cloud needs have been increasing through the transformation of such digital technologies as AI and IoT, in May 2017 the two companies reached an agreement for Fujitsu to offer as a cloud service the SAS analytics solutions it had already been providing as on-premises solutions. As a first step, Fujitsu will offer the SAS budgeting management solution "Budget and Performance Management Cloud".

About the Budget and Performance Management Cloud

The SAS budgeting management solution enables users to grasp and analyze consolidated financial results for group company management, and can also perform budget compilations and sales forecast simulations. It can handle a variety of languages and currencies, enabling consolidated management of subsidiaries inside and outside Japan. Because it performs analyses with reference to past financial results, users can quickly grasp sales, costs, and profitability. It also makes it possible to create more detailed budget compilations and earnings forecasts.

The Budget and Performance Management Cloud combines the SAS budgeting management solution that Fujitsu had already been providing on-premises with task-specific standardized templates, developed by Fujitsu for inputting budgets and results, and creating reports. It also delivers the service via Fujitsu's high-performance and secure cloud service. Leveraging its track record to date with SAS analytics solution deployments, Fujitsu will also provide comprehensive support, from deployment to operations and maintenance, in accordance with customers' system environments. As a result, customers can quickly use the SAS budgeting management solution as a cloud service delivered from a secure environment.

Figure: Overview of Budget and Performance Management Cloud

Pricing and Availability

Pricing and AvailabilityProduct NamePriceAvailabilityFujitsu Enterprise Application Budget and Performance Management Cloud・Initial set-up costs from 4 million yen ・Monthly fees from 550,000 yen (50 users)Mid-June 2017

Sales Target

Deployments at 100 companies during the first three years.

Fujitsu Initiatives

In addition to the Budget and Performance Management Cloud being offered now, Fujitsu plans to offer, via its cloud service, other SAS analytics solutions that are being used in a variety fields, thereby supporting rapid decision making on the part of customers in a constantly changing business environment.

Comment by Tetsuya Hotta, President and Representative Director, SAS Institute Japan

We have had a partnership with Fujitsu since 2011, and we have worked together on many on-premises analytics projects. Now we are taking our alliance to a new level. By combining Fujitsu's strategic cloud platform solution with the SAS budgeting management solution, which has a global track record, and by providing for the first time in Japan the MASP (Managed Analytics Service Provider) service, which SAS is rolling out globally, I am confident that we can quickly deliver new value to many customers in the form of a new cloud service. SAS provides a wide variety of analytics solutions, from data visualization to sophisticated analyses driven by the latest AI technologies, and we will further strengthen our collaboration with Fujitsu in providing cloud-based analytics services to support customers advance their digital transformations.