CARY — SAS and Microsoft are teaming up, and both could stand to win big, according to some analysts.

On Monday, the companies jointly announced a strategic partnership making Azure the preferred cloud platform for SAS’s analytics portfolio. The uptick: a “coming out party of sorts” for SAS, the Cary-based software analytics firm, as they transition towards going cloud-first. It’s also another notch for Microsoft as a more “enterprise-focused” cloud after previous partnerships with SAP and Oracle.

“With SAS planning to build integrations across Microsoft’s entire cloud portfolio (Azure, Microsoft 365, Dynamics 365 & Power BI) it opens up a lot of joint solution potential,” said Steve White, Program Vice President, Channels and Alliances at IDC, in a statement.

On both sides, potential targets are ridiculously fat, wrote Tony Baer in ZdNet on Monday.

“For Microsoft, there’s the Azure Synapse Analytics data warehouse and data lake platform; the open source-oriented data science platform, Azure Machine Learning; the low-code/no-code Power Platform (including Power BI); along with front office applications including Dynamics 365 and Microsoft 365. On the SAS side, there’s not exactly a shortage of assets either, as there is model lifecycle management to decisioning (decision management), forensic analysis, vertical industry models, and model lifecycle management.”

Both companies said they “will also explore opportunities” to integrate SAS analytics capabilities, including industry-specific models, within Azure and Dynamics 365 and build new market-ready joint solutions for customers.

Already, customers are  combining Microsoft’s Azure IoT platform with SAS’ edge-to-cloud IoT analytics and AI capabilities. For example, the Town of Cary, NC, is using a joint IoT offering from Microsoft and SAS to power a critical flood prediction solution.

“Localized flooding is something all communities experience, and ours is no exception,” said Nicole Raimundo, Cary’s Chief Information Officer, in a statement. “Using sensors, weather data, SAS IoT analytics and the Azure IoT platform, we expect to increase situational awareness of rising stream levels, predict where flooding might occur, and improve our emergency response through automation. Cary is also proud to be able to share this data with our neighboring communities to help them better serve their citizens.”

Cary-based SAS launches COVID-19 data hub as resource for businesses, individuals