Modernizing from SAS 9.4 to Viya with SAS Managed Cloud Services

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If you’re currently running SAS 9.4, you’re probably already feeling the pressure to modernize. Not because the platform suddenly stopped working, but because the expectations around analytics have changed.

Today, business leaders expect insights, models, and AI capabilities to move from idea to production exceptionally quickly. In a cloud-first world, speed isn’t just a competitive advantage anymore, it’s assumed. And when that speed isn’t there, it’s often seen as failure.

At the same time, the environment around analytics has become more complex. Moving to the cloud introduces more choice, but also more responsibility. You’re operating a distributed, cloud-native system that needs to be secure, compliant, scalable, and always available.

That’s where many organizations realize: modernization isn’t just about moving platforms. It’s about changing how analytics is delivered and operated.

Why simply “lifting and shifting” doesn’t work

A common starting point for modernization conversations is the idea that SAS 9.4 can simply be moved into the cloud.

“If it runs, we’re done.”

But that mindset is exactly what leads to problems later.

Modernization is not the same thing as migration. When you move to Viya, you’re not just moving your SAS content. You’re moving to a completely different operating model. Workloads behave differently. Identity and security models shift. The underlying architecture changes. And the way environments are managed, through automation, orchestration, and continuous delivery, is fundamentally different from what most SAS 9 users are used to.

The reality is that most SAS code will still run. In many cases, the majority of it can move without major modification. But the value of modernization doesn’t come from simply getting code to run somewhere else. It comes from selectively improving it by taking advantage of new capabilities like parallel processing, APIs, and modern pipelines.

When organizations treat modernization like a lift-and-shift exercise, they don’t modernize. They just recreate legacy problems in a new environment.

What “modern” actually means with Viya

To understand why modernization matters, it helps to look at what Viya actually changes.

At its core, Viya is a cloud-native analytics platform. That means it’s designed to scale dynamically as demand changes, whether that’s more users, more models, or more data. Compute and storage are separated, workloads can scale elastically, and environments are built to be repeatable and automated.

Instead of manually configuring environments, deployments are driven by code. Instead of closed systems, Viya is open - integrating with Python, R, APIs, and modern development tools. And instead of static security models, it aligns with identity providers, centralized access control, and modern “zero trust” patterns.

All of this creates a foundation where analytics can move faster and integrate more easily into business processes. But it also introduces a new reality: the platform only delivers value if it is operated correctly.

The real challenge: running analytics in the cloud

Getting into the cloud is not the hardest part. Running analytics successfully in the cloud is the real challenge.

Running a modern analytics platform requires a combination of skill sets that most organizations simply don’t have in one place. You need expertise in analytics, cloud infrastructure, security, Kubernetes, automation, and performance tuning - all working together.

And even if you have those skills, managing them across multiple teams or vendors introduces friction. Gaps start to form between layers, between infrastructure and applications, between security and operations. That’s where things break. That’s where delays happen. That’s where risk increases.

Managed services do not remove your control or visibility of the platform. What it removes is the operational friction.

How SAS Managed Cloud Services changes the equation

With a managed approach from SAS Managed Cloud Services, the focus shifts from running infrastructure to delivering outcomes.

Instead of assembling and coordinating multiple skill sets, organizations operate within a unified, expert-led environment. There are over 650 SAS experts here to support you, with a 99.5% guaranteed uptime. And, there’s a single point of accountability managing the full stack - everything from infrastructure and security to application management and service operations.

That translates into real, measurable impact.

Environments deploy faster. Time to market improves. Teams stop spending time on patching, monitoring, and firefighting and start focusing on models, insights, and innovation.

Security and compliance become part of how the platform is operated every day, not something that’s bolted on or revisited during audits. Monitoring and incident response happen continuously, not reactively. And scaling becomes predictable, rather than something that results in unexpected cloud costs at the end of the month.

Most importantly, the organization can focus on what the analytics platform was meant to do in the first place: deliver business value.

Customer spotlight: What modernization looks like in practice

One example shared at SAS Innovate 2026 highlights how this plays out in a real organization.

Aldermore Bank was operating across multiple SAS 9.4 environments, facing challenges with data connectivity, manual processes, and limited scalability. Maintaining the environment was becoming a burden, and teams struggled to access the right information at the right time.

By modernizing to a unified SAS Viya platform with SAS Managed Cloud Services, they were able to consolidate environments, simplify operations, and improve consistency across the business.

The impact was both immediate and measurable. Aldermore saw a 25% performance improvement and automated 36 previously manual processes. Data connectivity improved across business units, enabling broader and more consistent access to analytics. And modernizing code instead of “making old code work” saw improvements in their longest running step by 400%.

Just as importantly, the organization was able to shift focus from maintaining infrastructure to delivering insights that support decision-making and growth.

If you’d like to hear Aldermore share about their journey to a managed cloud, check out their spotlight session here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9cVTZ3W--ns

A practical path to modernization

For organizations starting this journey, the key is to approach modernization as a structured process, not a single event. It begins with understanding the current environment in detail. What’s in use, what dependencies exist, how workloads behave, and which assets actually need to move forward.

From there, a clear strategy is defined. What should be migrated as-is? What should be modernized? What should be retired entirely? These decisions are made collaboratively, aligning technical possibilities with business priorities.

Only then does the design of the target environment begin. Architecture, security models, and operational expectations are defined upfront so there are no surprises halfway through delivery. The migration itself is iterative. Workloads are moved, tested, refined, and optimized. Code is evaluated and selectively modernized where it delivers the most value.

And once the platform is live, the journey doesn’t end. In many ways, it begins. Continuous optimization, monitoring, and improvement ensure that the environment evolves alongside the business. That’s why modernization works best when it’s treated not as a project, but as a long-term operating model.

What organizations ultimately gain

When modernization is done correctly, the benefits extend well beyond technology.

Organizations move from fragmented, legacy environments to unified platforms that support growth. Data becomes more accessible. Analytics becomes more consistent. Teams spend less time managing systems and more time delivering insights.

Performance improves. Processes that were once manual become automated. And as the business grows, the platform scales with it, without requiring constant re-architecture.

Simply put, organizations gain confidence. Confidence that their platform is secure. That it can pass an audit. That it can handle increased demand. And that it can support the next wave of analytics innovation.

The bottom line

Modernization isn’t about replacing SAS 9.4. It’s about evolving how analytics works within your organization.

• It’s the shift from managing infrastructure to delivering outcomes.
• From reactive operations to continuous improvement.
• From isolated systems to a unified, scalable ecosystem.

And remember, it’s not something you do alone.

Successful modernization is a partnership between your teams, SAS, and the broader ecosystem supporting your journey. When that partnership is in place, modernization becomes less about risk and more about opportunity.

This article builds on concepts shared during a session at SAS Innovate 2026 focused on modernizing from SAS 9.4 to Viya with SAS Managed Cloud Services. To listen to the whole session, check out: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a3aPNP1WIPI