As global data and AI leader SAS celebrates half a century of advancing the world through its “THE POWER TO KNOW®” vision, the company continues to carry its leadership in trusted AI and data analytics forward into the technologies of the future.
Beginning as a piece of software developed at North Carolina State University to analyze agricultural research data, SAS’s journey has grown into one of the world’s leading data and AI companies, now operating in more than 150 countries and helping organizations make more accurate, faster, and more reliable decisions. Supporting the most critical decision-making processes of institutions across sectors ranging from banking to healthcare and from the public sector to manufacturing, SAS today combines its expertise in analytics with trusted AI technologies.
SAS CEO and co-founder Jim Goodnight said: “Over the past 50 years, we’ve witnessed extraordinary advances in technology. But the one thing that hasn’t changed is the importance of helping people solve real problems. Technology only matters when it helps organizations make better decisions and achieve better outcomes. This understanding, which has guided SAS since day one, continues to shape our work with our customers, communities, and industries around the world today.”
SAS’s global track record is also reflected in its roughly 30 years of operations in Türkiye. The company accompanies organizations through their data-driven transformation across a range of sectors, including finance, the public sector, telecommunications, insurance, manufacturing, and retail. Through advanced analytics and AI technologies, SAS helps organizations make more accurate decisions, boost operational efficiency, and accelerate their digital transformation processes, while also supporting institutions in the areas of trusted AI, data governance, model management, and explainable AI.
SAS Türkiye and Central Asia General Manager Rasim Eğri commented: “By combining our global analytics and AI expertise with our local experience in Türkiye, we help organizations manage their AI transformation with confidence. Artificial intelligence is no longer just a new technology — it has become a strategic factor shaping competitiveness, operational efficiency, and sustainable growth. We’re seeing data-driven transformation accelerate, particularly in the finance, public, telecommunications, and manufacturing sectors. While supporting our customers in confidently carrying out this transformation through trusted, transparent, and scalable AI solutions, we believe Türkiye holds significant potential in this field thanks to its strong technology ecosystem and qualified workforce. At SAS, we see supporting qualified employment as vital not only for the development of our sector, but also for delivering more effective, higher-value services to our citizens and creating sustainable value across society. We believe that investments in human capital and technology will help accelerate Türkiye’s digital transformation and contribute to building a stronger, more inclusive, and more sustainable future.”
Fifty years of trust-based global impact
As artificial intelligence takes on an increasingly central role in decision-making processes across business and public administration, SAS helps organizations integrate AI into their operations responsibly and reliably, through an approach built on governance, transparency, model management, and human oversight.
This approach carries particular importance in heavily regulated sectors. Financial institutions, for instance, rely on SAS’s analytics and AI solutions to detect fraud, manage risk, and stay prepared against increasingly sophisticated AI-driven fraud techniques. Healthcare and life sciences organizations use SAS’s AI and analytics technologies to power groundbreaking disease research and develop new treatments and procedures. Public institutions likewise draw on SAS solutions to deliver more effective services to citizens, uncover new areas of efficiency, and build safer, more sustainable communities.
Through every major shift in the world of computing — from mainframes to personal computers, from the internet to cloud computing, and now the age of artificial intelligence — SAS has combined deep industry experience and domain expertise with an approach to innovation rooted in customers’ real needs.
The next 50 years: from trusted AI to quantum computing
SAS is building the next 50 years on its long-term vision, its discipline in adapting to — and often leading — a constantly evolving technology landscape, its strong, mutually beneficial relationships with customers, and its ability to attract some of the most capable experts in data and AI.
These strong foundations will continue to guide SAS’s mission of turning the promise of artificial intelligence into tangible progress delivered with confidence. To that end, the company will continue investing in the SAS® Viya® platform, industry-specific AI solutions, agentic AI, digital twin technologies, synthetic data, AI governance, and future technologies such as quantum computing research.
Goodnight concluded: “We take great pride in what we’ve achieved over the past 50 years. But what truly excites us is the new chapter ahead. As artificial intelligence reshapes the way business gets done, organizations are facing unprecedented opportunities and challenges. We have led, and successfully navigated, many major technological transformations before. That experience puts us in a unique position to help our customers bring AI to life with confidence. And we will continue to do so guided by the same commitment to trust, responsibility, and long-term impact that has defined our company since day one.”
