SAS is bringing its SAS Viya analytics platform to Microsoft Azure, building on the partnership the two companies began in 2020.

SAS Viya is a powerful analytics platform but was previously not available as a cloud-based, pay-as-you-go service. The announcement from SAS is a significant departure for the company, which has a long history that is firmly entrenched in the enterprise as it expands its cloud-based offerings.

“Our commitment to cloud and AI innovation is critical to our customers’ success – whether they are building simple reports or developing advanced AI solutions to answer critical business questions,” said Bryan Harris, Executive Vice President and Chief Technology Officer at SAS. “Making SAS Viya available to entire analytics organizations is our goal, regardless of skill level, team or preferred programming language. We want Viya to be the foundation of our customers’ innovation stories.”

SAS customers will be able to leverage the power of the company’s analytics innovations with SAS Viya on Microsoft Azure, including SAS Visual Analytics, SAS Visual Statistics, SAS Visual Data Mining and Machine Learning, and SAS Model Manager.

“We’re excited to offer customers a new way to gain access to SAS Viya while continuing to provide all the powerful capabilities our users already know and love,” SAS CEO Jim Goodnight said. “We’ve spent decades building the most comprehensive suite of analytics on the market, with next-generation AI that addresses the complete analytics life cycle. We design and test our software to be the fastest and most productive. And now we’re making it all available with a few clicks in the Microsoft Azure Marketplace.”

Analysts believe the move is a major win for SAS and its customers.

“In this strategic move, SAS makes access to its analytics easier,” said Dan Vesset, Group Vice President, Analytics and Information Management at IDC. “SAS Viya is one of the most comprehensive analytics platforms on the market today. Presenting users with the complete analytics life cycle – from data to a deployed and managed model – available for immediate use and deployment via the Microsoft Azure Marketplace, is key. And offering it with built-in support and training is expected to bring significant productivity benefits to analytics, IT and business groups around the world.”

Customers can try SAS Viya on Microsoft Azure here.