AS Big Jim’s personal Boeing 737-7BC taxied to a halt in Sydney early on Thursday morning, 1200 senior executives were waiting.
They were assembling at the Hilton for the SAS business forum, with Dr Jim Goodnight the star attraction.
It was the SAS founder and chief executive’s first visit to Australia in 12 years, but it was brief.
Dr Goodnight was back on board his palatial jet — reputedly fitted out like a gentlemen’s club — and heading home the same day.
But the importance of his visit was not lost on SAS staffers and customers: business in Australia and New Zealand is extremely brisk for the data analytics leader.
Local software revenues were up by 20 per cent in the first half of this year, while sales of customer intelligence systems were 50 per cent higher than the same period a year earlier. In Canberra, SAS Australia holds long-running software and services contracts with Centrelink, Medicare, Health and the Federal Police, along with a slew of smaller agencies. In June, SAS signed a new $5.5 million three-year contract with the Tax Office, and in April a $2.8m three-year contract with Defence.
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