Best-in-Class Companies Improve Time-to-Decision, Customer Satisfaction, and Employee Productivity With Operational BI

Market Wire, January, 2008

Aberdeen, a Harte-Hanks Company (NYSE: HHS), revealed today that Best-in-Class (BIC) companies -- those performing in the top 20% of all survey respondents -- have achieved several business benefits through operational BI initiatives, including management's view to operational information, time-to-decision, customer satisfaction, and employee productivity. Sixty-three percent (63%) of Best-in-Class companies surveyed have decreased the time between actual business activity and decision-makers' ability to take action during the past 12 months -- compared to 23% of Industry Average companies, and only 6% of Laggards.

According to research presented in a new report, "Operational BI: Getting Real Time about Performance," Best-in-Class companies have increased their customer retention rates at over four times the levels of Industry Average companies. Best-in-Class organizations showed significant performance improvements in comparison to Industry Average and Laggard companies in several areas over the previous twelve months. Best-in-Class companies achieved:

--  7% mean average decrease in time-to-information -- measured as the
    time between business activity and delivery of information to decision-
    makers, over the past 12 months
--  5% mean average decrease in time-to-decision -- measured as the time
    between business activity and decision / action taken, over the past 12
    months
--  20% mean average improvement in customer satisfaction, issue
    resolution speed, and issue resolution accuracy in past 12 months
--  12% mean average improvement in customer retention during past 12
    months
--  13% mean average improvement in system up-time / data access and
    availability for end-users over the past 12 months
    

"Companies considering operational BI projects should be thinking strategically about the high-volume, time-intensive transactions and activities where operational efficiency improvements can be made. Best-in-Class companies have established several important strategies and capabilities that are critical to success, including the ability to automate processes and report creation, creation of a corporate culture around BI initiatives, and the support and training of business and IT end-users alike," said David Hatch, Research Director of Aberdeen's Business Intelligence Practice.

A complimentary copy of this report is made available due in part by the following underwriters: Fair Isaac, Inetsoft, Oco, Cognos, Blink Logic, and Nielsen. To obtain a complimentary copy of the report, visit: http://www.aberdeen.com/link/sponsor.asp?cid=4522 .

About Aberdeen Group, a Harte-Hanks Company

Aberdeen is a leading provider of fact-based research and market intelligence that delivers demonstrable results. Having benchmarked more than 30,000 companies in the past two years, Aberdeen is uniquely positioned to educate users to action: driving market awareness, creating demand, enabling sales, and delivering meaningful return-on-investment analysis. As the trusted advisor to the global technology markets, corporations turn to Aberdeen™ for insights that drive decisions.

As a Harte-Hanks Company, Aberdeen plays a key role of putting content in context for the global direct and targeted marketing company. Aberdeen's analytical and independent view of the "customer optimization" process of Harte-Hanks (Information - Opportunity - Insight - Engagement - Interaction) extends the client value and accentuates the strategic role Harte-Hanks brings to the market. For additional information, visit Aberdeen http://www.aberdeen.com or call (617) 723-7890, or to learn more about Harte-Hanks, call (800) 456-9748 or go to http://www.harte-hanks.com .

© 2007 Aberdeen Group, Inc., a Harte-Hanks Company
260 Franklin Street
Boston, Massachusetts 02110-3112
Telephone: (617) 723-7890
Fax: (617) 723-7897
 www.aberdeen.com 

Media Contact: David Hatch Aberdeen Harte-Hanks 617-854-5329 david.hatch@aberdeen.com