Tag Archives: SAS Institute

AmCham Financial Forum: Operationalizing Analytics & Effective Compliance Programs

Accounting / Financial, AmCham News, ,

AmCham Financial Forum: Operationalizing Analytics & Effective Compliance Programs

On the one-year anniversary of the lockdown in Norway, financial leads from Schjødt, BAT, Citi, Connectum Capital Management, Crawford & Company, Escalon Services, IBM, KPMG, Microsoft, OSM Aviation Management, Raise Gruppen, Roche, SAS Institute, Sonitor, and Wavetrain Systems gathered virtually for the first Financial Forum of 2021.

Operationalizing Analytics: Reacting Faster

The past year’s unforeseen events left many financial leaders with data and models that were no longer relevant. The ability to pivot existing processes proved vital to staying ahead. SAS Institute’s Ina Conrado shed light on the importance of operational analytics and how companies can use data to react quickly and confidently in response to changing data.

Source: Ina Conrado, SAS Institute

Presenters

Ina Conrado – Advanced Analytics & AI Advisor

SAS FINAL

Helge Kvamme – Senior Strategic Partnership Manager

As an Advanced Analytics and AI Advisor, Conrado has had the opportunity to work with a variety of industry supply chains, amongst them healthcare, retail, financial, and the food and beverage sectors. When the country shut down a year ago – leading to major changes in consumer behavior and the economy – the models that were relied upon to make decisions became obsolete. In the case of credit scoring models, a reevaluation of risk assignment and approval of loans was needed. By having an analytical framework, it becomes easier to adapt and at times predict change.

Data is the new gold, but not before its extracted and refined. The value comes from the decisions we make based on the data.

Ina Conrado, SAS Institute

Conrado also touched on the different roadblocks to efficient dataflow, with major challenges being communication, collaboration, inability to scale and a lack of governance of analytic assets.

Integrity Breaches & Effective Compliance Programs

Helge Kvamme of Kvamme Associates shared his experience in international investigations, covering integrity breaches through his various leadership roles within law enforcement (including Kripos and Økokrim) as well as at PwC and law firm Selmer. He is also the co-founder of the Oslo Anti-Corruption Conference.

Kvamme detailed the hallmarks of an effective compliance program as well as Kvamme Associates’ unique corporate investigations model. The six-step process is designed to fully diagnose underlying issue(s) and to prevent future compliance breeches. Investigation results are used to building a stronger culture of trust and increased transparency. Kvamme also endorsed the US Department of Justice’s 2020 Evaluation of Corporate Compliance Programs and the US Foreign Corrupt Practices Act’s 2020 resource guide.

Source: Helge Kvamme, Kvamme Associates

Over the past year, Kvamme has witnessed an increase in misconduct investigations and a positive focus on financial integrity of sustainability projects. He highlighted the lack of focus on the supply side of corruption, bribes often being paid by non-corrupt countries and well-known companies.

About the Finacial Forum

AmCham’s Financial Forum is a platform that gives financial leaders the opportunity to interact, share best practices, and learn from each other – building a better understanding of what it takes to run a successful international finance department in Norway. 

Our Q2 Financial Forum is in the works – for interest in participating, please contact Madeleine.Brekke@amcham.no!

Previous Finacial Forums

Kampanje & SAS Institute: Gode digitale kundeopplevelser har aldri vært viktigere

Business News, Technology

Nær alle av vårens planlagte events er avlyst, og en nylig ANFO-undersøkelse blant norske annonsører bekrefter at ni av ti har endret markedsplanen. For mange virksomheter vil en sterk digital strategi være avgjørende for å kunne oppnå sine mål.

Uansett om det handler om å opprettholde en viss inntjening for å holde bedriften gående, eller om etaten eller kommunen behøver å komme ut med et viktig budskap, blir kunnskap om hvordan å bygge en relevant digital opplevelse stadig mer etterspurt. For hvor skal en starte, og hvordan balanseres budskapet når en tross alt kommuniserer i krisetid?

– Vi har samarbeidet med Futurum Research for å forstå hva som definerer gode kundeopplevelser i dag, og hvordan det kan endre seg mot 2030. Forskningen avslørte fem hovedtemaer som driver utviklingen, samt avdekket noen overraskende forventningsgap. Jeg håper denne innsikten kan være til hjelp for dem som nå er i gang med å bygge nye forretningsmodeller med sterkere digitale fortrinn, sier Wenche Nielsen, markedsdirektør i SAS Institute.

Les hele saken HER.

Creating Analytics Leaders: An Inside Look at the New Strategic Partnership Between Patron Members SAS Institute and BI

AmCham News, ,

Creating Analytics Leaders: An Inside Look at the New Strategic Partnership Between Patron Members SAS Institute and BI

From Digitalization Minister Nikolai Astrup’s comments at AmCham’s annual member reception to headlines in all national newspapers, one thing is abundantly clear: the future is digital – and Norway has tremendous ambition to be global leader in this digital future.

For Norway to realize it’s digital ambitions, however, it will need a digitally competent workforce, a workforce capable of mining, developing, and analyzing large amounts of data – a resource many are calling the world’s new oil.

Despite this future demand, however, unemployment among recent master’s students graduates in fields related to information and communication technology (ICT) is paradoxically nearly double that of the average for Norwegian master’s students, according to a 2018 report from the Nordic Institute for Studies in Innovation, Research and Education (NIFU). One possible explanation noted by the report was a lack of work relevance in theory-heavy ICT master’s programs, a trend that has led ICT students to demand more internship opportunities and learning programs that prepare them to immediately enter the workforce.

SAS Managing Director Jørn Seglem (right) and BI Executive Vice President for Full-Time Programs Marius Eriksen shake hands as they sign the strategic partnership agreement between their two organizations.

Leadership Development Through Collaboration

In response to this increasing student demand and growing employer need for job candidates with sophisticated data analytics skills, AmCham member organizations SAS Institute and BI joined forces to form a strategic partnership aiming to create global analytics leaders through BI’s bachelor’s and master’s programs in business analytics.

“Everyone’s talking about AI, machine learning, and advanced analytics – and we were looking for a partnership with a company that really knows what it’s doing in these areas. Through our new cooperation with SAS Institute, our students will develop their analytical skills in a highly applicable business context,” notes Pål Berthling-Hansen, Associate Professor and Associate Dean of the Master of Science in Business Analytics Program at BI.

BI students enjoying the first session of the program's lecture series featuring Jack Phillips and Drew Smith from the International Institute for Analytics and Dr. Daniel Yar Hamidi from the University of Borås.

The collaborative program will offer students services tailormade to prepare them for tomorrow’s digital, data-based economy. With direct access to SAS software and e-learning courses, students will be able to qualify for internships and awards for thesis projects, participate in Hackathons, and access SAS Learning Labs, which will allow them to practice with real data sets and AI projects.

“BI is at the very forefront of developing leadership and analytical skills that will be truly relevant in the business world going forward. We are truly happy to play our part in the education of future leaders that will possess the digital competence crucial to the competitiveness of our society and for customers,” adds Jørn Seglem, Managing Director for SAS Institute Norway.

Indeed, the Creating Analytics Program is not just a positive for BI and SAS but rather for the entire digital ecosystem in Norway. Through the program, master’s students at BI will be invited to participate in customized internship programs with SAS Institute’s clients and partners, enabling them to gain highly relevant work experience while simultaneously allowing the business community to get to know the next generation of analytics leaders – something crucial to the future success of the Norwegian economy.

It is a sentiment that truly resonates with BI’s Berhling-Hansen. “There is tremendous demand from employers for talent that unlocks the potential of new technologies – not to mention the perpetually growing mass of data out there. Through an internship in the “SAS ecosystem,” our students will be better prepared for the large transformation projects they will work with after they complete their studies,” he concludes.

SAS employees chat with BI students before the program's first lecture session.