In this webinar, Aldermore Bank and SAS share how two disconnected SAS®9 environments were transformed into a unified SAS® Viya® cloud platform. Learn how they overcame data silos, empowered teams with self-service analytics and sparked a culture of innovation.
This webinar is not part of the Ask the Expert series, but has helpful content for SAS users thinking about migrating from SAS 9 to SAS Viya.
Watch the Webinar
You will learn:
- How to build a smart, practical plan for moving from SAS®9 to SAS Viya in the cloud.
- Tips for simplifying migration, modernizing code and getting teams up to speed.
- The tangible benefits you can expect once you’re up and running – speed, automation and expanded analytics use cases.
A summary of the webinar is below followed by the questions from the Q&A segment held at the end of the webinar and recommended resources. The slides from the webinar are attached.
Introduction
This is a summary of the SAS webinar “A Modernization Success Story: How One Bank’s Move to the Cloud Sparked a Culture of Innovation” which focused on Aldermore Bank's modernization and migration from SAS 9.4 servers to the cloud-based SAS Viya platform. It covers the technical, organizational, and user engagement aspects of the migration by highlighting tools, challenges, outcomes, and future innovation initiatives. The webinar was held on December 2, 2025.
Executive Summary
Aldermore Bank successfully modernized its analytics estate by consolidating multiple on‑premises SAS 9.4 environments into a single cloud‑based SAS Viya platform, a transformation that immediately delivered a 25% performance improvement and automated 36 previously manual processes. The migration was grounded in a structured, data‑driven approach using the SAS Content Assessment Tool and the SAS Migration Estimation Calculator to define scope, strategy, effort, and governance. Executed in partnership with SAS and Katalyze Data, the project modernized connectivity, improved environment reliability, enabled self‑service analytics, and streamlined monthly provisioning across business lines. Adoption was accelerated through hands‑on launch‑day hackathons and targeted user enablement, reducing reliance on legacy workflows and expanding the use of Visual Analytics and Model Studio. Post‑migration, Aldermore continues to innovate—exploring APIs, synthetic data, and financial‑crime applications—demonstrating how SAS Viya is now a catalyst for ongoing efficiency, automation, and advanced analytical capability.
Introduction and Context
The webinar begins with an overview of the customizable webinar interface and introduces the speakers: Stewart Jardine, Credit Risk Manager at Aldermore Bank with over 15 years of experience in the Financial Services industry, and Prasanna Gawade, Principal Data Engineer Consultant at SAS UK specializing in data management and modernization. The main topic is Aldermore Bank's migration journey from multiple on-premises SAS 9.4 environments to SAS Viya in the cloud, emphasizing how this move catalyzed a culture of innovation within the bank.
Aldermore Bank, a mid-sized UK challenger bank born from the 2008 financial crisis, specializes in savings, business to business lending, and specialist and commercial mortgages. In 2018, it was acquired by FirstRand, Africa's largest financial services group, which also owns MotoNovo Finance (MNF), a leading UK car finance company. The migration project combined the previously separate SAS 9.4 environments of Aldermore and MNF into a single, modern SAS Viya 4 cloud environment, addressing connectivity and performance issues.
Migration Planning and Tools
The migration process started with a comprehensive assessment using the SAS Content Assessment Tool (CAT), which inventories SAS 9 artifacts, profiles projects, and checks code compatibility for SAS Viya. This iterative assessment helped define the migration scope. Additionally, the SAS Migration Estimation Calculator (MEC), an in-house tool from SAS UK Professional Services, was used to estimate effort, cost, timelines, and define migration strategies including data migration, testing, and governance plans. The Calculator includes effort estimations for activities such as:
- Detailed assessment review: Analyzing the CAT output and understanding the implications.
- Strategy and roadmap development: Defining the migration approach, phasing, and timelines.
- Environment setup and configuration: Planning the target Viya environment.
- Data migration strategy: Determining how data will be moved and transformed.
- Application migration strategy: Planning the order and approach for migrating different SAS applications and code.
- Testing strategy and planning: Defining test scenarios and resources.
- Training and knowledge transfer: Planning for user adoption of the new Viya environment.
- Project management and governance: Defining communication plans, risk management, and reporting structures.
The MEC helps in establishing clear accountability by allowing the definition of roles involved in the migration and applying the RACI (Responsible, Accountable, Consulted, Informed) matrix. To provide a granular and manageable view of the migration effort, the MEC breaks down the overall project into smaller, more specific tasks. These tasks are then associated with the roles defined within the project.
Technical Execution and Collaboration
Katalyze Data partnered with SAS to execute the migration, including building and configuring the SAS Viya environment with security models, VPN connections to on-premises databases and SAS libraries, and data migration using the Data Migration Manager tool to handle encoding differences. Migration was phased, involving bulk export/import of SAS Enterprise Guide projects, code refactoring for compatibility, and establishing dependencies. A detailed validation and testing checklist was used collaboratively to ensure quality and user acceptance. This detailed checklist covered essential migration activities, including repointing data sources, updating hardcoded paths, configuring custom and program steps, and setting up swim lanes where applicable.
The migration resulted in an immediate 25% performance improvement. Users gained self-service data access via Visual Analytics reports, and automation increased, with 36 previously manual code executions now scheduled automatically by leveraging Viya’s enhanced scheduling features. Monthly provisioning processes for all business lines were migrated, saving significant processing hours.
Support Model Post-Migration
A multi-stakeholder support model was established, involving technical and application support teams, operational monitoring teams (including Katalyze Data and SAS application teams), a dedicated cloud manager, and the SAS cloud delivery services team handling administration, patching, user access, and monitoring. SAS R&D and Technical Support provided additional migration assistance.
User Engagement and Adoption
To ease the transition, Aldermore Bank organized a launch day across three UK sites with 60 colleagues, featuring demonstrations ("hackathons") of SAS Studio, Model Studio, and Visual Analytics. This hands-on approach helped users familiarize themselves with the new environment. Post-migration, the focus was on embedding the new system and returning to business as usual, addressing challenges such as changes in file paths, permissions, (both due to changing operation systems) and differences in the GUI between SAS Enterprise Guide and SAS Studio. Workarounds were implemented for cloud-specific limitations, like exporting data via managed file transfer and SFTP.
Further adoption efforts included expanding use of Visual Analytics to reduce reliance on Excel and PowerPoint, exploring model development and deployment via SAS Model Studio and Model Manager, and leveraging scheduling and automation capabilities to improve workflows. Advanced features such as APIs and SAS Viya endpoints were also investigated to enhance productivity.
Innovation and Future Directions
Aldermore Bank continues to engage with SAS through tailored customer success plans, training sessions, monthly expert forums, and drop-in sessions to support ongoing learning and innovation. They have explored new initiatives such as financial crime solutions using Visual Investigator and Intelligent Decisioning, synthetic data generation to enhance model building, and further automation using SAS Viya APIs to automate DQ checks on ETL.
Q&A Highlights
Q1. What was the biggest lesson learned during the migration?
A: “The biggest thing for us was taking the time to get organized beforehand — putting a clear structure in place so everyone understood what they were migrating and why. That upfront discipline made everything much smoother later.”
Q2. Why did Aldermore choose a lift‑and‑shift approach instead of optimizing code first?
A: “We didn’t want to have two sources of the truth. Moving everything in one go, then optimizing afterward, gave us clarity, consistency, and a faster path to getting everyone fully onto Viya.”
Q3. What should organizations keep in mind when starting to refactor code for Viya?
A: “If you're going through a migration or considering one, this is the point to grab a pen. Folder structures, libnames, ODBC configurations, permissions, and platform differences — especially Windows to Linux — can all change. These details matter.”
Q4. What impact did the move to SAS Viya have on performance and operations?
A: “We became one of the first banks in Europe to fully migrate our SAS stack to Viya 4. We immediately saw performance improvements — around 25% — and automated 36 previously manual processes.”
Q5. How did Aldermore drive user adoption during the transition?
A: “We knew change can be scary, so we focused on getting users excited. Our launch day across three sites, with hands‑on hackathons, gave people a real taste of Viya and built early momentum.”
Q6. What new capabilities is Aldermore exploring post‑migration?
A: “Now that we’re comfortable on Viya, we're diving into Model Studio, Model Manager, APIs, synthetic data, and even new financial‑crime solutions using tools we didn’t have before.”
This comprehensive account illustrates Aldermore Bank's successful migration to SAS Viya, the enhanced capabilities gained, and the ongoing commitment to innovation and user empowerment fostered by the cloud platform and strong collaboration with SAS and partners.
Recommended Resources
Moving to SAS Viya Community
SAS® Viya® Customer Migration Stories
Why is SAS 9 Content Assessment Key in Migrating to SAS Viya?
Viya Jobs and Flows – Time-Based Scheduling Capabilities
SAS Visual Analytics Guided Path
Effortless SAS EG to Viya Migration: Modernize Workflows Without Disrupting Business Continuity
Want more tips? Be sure to subscribe to the Ask the Expert board to receive follow up Q&A, slides and recordings from other SAS Ask the Expert webinars.
