SAS Points Big Data Guns at Fraudsters
Anti-fraud is emerging as a potentially lucrative front in Big Data analytics.
Business software maker SAS hopes to capitalize on the growing demand for anti-fraud and security analytics with an expansion of its Security Intelligence initiative, an enterprise analytics solutions suite that detects suspicious activity within an organization's business processes. The software is designed to help businesses combat money laundering and stem losses from fraud and regulatory hiccups.
The move seems to be influenced, at least in part, by growing demand for the company's own fraud-fighting products. According to SAS, “2012 brought a 22 percent growth in customers choosing SAS for anti-fraud, compliance and security efforts.”
SAS also announced it will create a new R&D division and leverage high-performance technologies like its in-memory analytics platform, as well as distributed computing and data streaming, to help businesses keep fraudsters at bay.
Analytics a Cure for Health Care Fraud
One industry in which SAS hopes to make a difference — and a mint — is health care.
Highlighting the toll financial crimes are taking on the health care system, SAS says that over $260 billion is lost annually to fraud, waste and abuse. Julie Malida, principal for Health Care Fraud at SAS, believes her company's technologies can claw back some of those billions from scammers by deriving insights from stores of unstructured data.
“SAS' advanced network analysis enables us to identify crime rings in unique ways. The SAS Fraud Framework for Health Care uses text analytics to bring medical records, free-form claims text, call-center logs and customer service records into the analysis,” says Malida in a company statement.
SAS also plans to target financial firms and government entities, but the company is likely to encounter some fierce competition from IBM, which is also investing heavily in growing its business analytics product slate. Last year, the company snapped up i2, a Cambridge, UK-based anti-fraud analytics specialist with over 4,500 customers in 150 countries. In March, the IT giant unveiled its Smarter Analytics Signature Solutions suite. Among its offerings is fraud detection software for government agencies and insurers.
Pedro Hernandez is a contributing editor at InternetNews.com, the news service of the IT Business Edge Network, the network for technology professionals. Follow him on Twitter @ecoINSITE.
Pedro Hernandez contributes to Enterprise Apps Today, and 11Press, the technology network. He was previously the managing editor of Internet.com, an IT-related website network. He has expertise in Smart Tech, CRM, and Mobile Tech, Helping Banks and Fintechs, Telcos and Automotive OEMs, and Healthcare and Identity Service Providers to Protect Mobile Apps.
