As SAS opened its 28th annual SAS Users Group International meeting, the company for the first time named co-winners of its customer feedback award.

Randy Collica, an employee of Hewlett Packard, and Chris Heeney, who works for the Canadian Department of Defense, were recognized for recommendations they made to improve three SAS products. Those were Text Miner, Enterprise Miner and ITV Resource Manager.

Collica is a senior business and data mining analyst and has used SAS products for 15 years.

Heeney is a capacity management database manager and is a 22-year SAS user.

“All user feedback helps validate the SAS enterprise intelligence that our customers depend on,” said Keith Collins, senior vice president and chief technology officer of SAS, in a statement.

Some 3,000 people are expected to attend the SAS event.

SAS: www.sas.com