Enterprise Information Integration (EII) Delivers Significant Business Benefits: Greater Agility, Lower Costs, and Higher ROI

Market Wire, February, 2008

Companies are increasingly enjoying new and significant business benefits from their investments in enterprise information integration (EII) solutions and processes, according to research reported in "Enterprise Information Integration: The Foundation for Business Success and Transformation," a newly published Benchmark Study from Aberdeen Group, a Harte-Hanks company (NYSE: HHS).

The new benchmark study is based on the results of surveys and interviews with more than 145 companies across multiple industry segments, including banking and finance, high technology, and government. The study offers specific, vendor-neutral, business-centric analysis and recommendations, to help all types and sizes of enterprises to take maximum advantage of EII, and to leverage EII efforts in support of multiple other initiatives.

"Among those companies identified by Aberdeen Group research as 'Best-in-Class,' 71% reported increased ROI for their integration infrastructure investments," said Michael Dortch, Senior Analyst at Aberdeen Group. "Fifty percent of those companies reported integration project cost reductions five times the rates achieved by Industry Average companies. And Best-in-Class companies are twice as likely as others to have senior executive visibility into their EII efforts. These findings clearly demonstrate the high business value of effective EII initiatives."

Every enterprise relies upon accurate, consistent, and timely information. However, business-critical data is typically scattered across multiple locations in multiple forms and versions. EII seeks to address this problem by providing a consolidated, task-optimized view of actionable information, whatever its source. EII enables users to focus on their business tasks, and developers and architects on the business logic and alignment of the applications and services they develop and manage. EII can also improve the business value, performance, and ROI of other information-intensive IT initiatives, ranging from Business Intelligence (BI) and Master Data Management (MDM) to Information Lifecycle Management (ILM) and SOAs.

Among Best-in-Class companies identified by Aberdeen Group for this study, 50% are using commercial, off-the-shelf XML middleware for EII, compared with only 35% of Industry Average and 29% of Laggard companies. In addition, 26% of Best-in-Class companies are using standards-based data access layers for better re-use of common access components, an approach used by only 9% of all other survey respondents.

However, such technologies alone will not result in effective EII. Two of the most significant challenges to EII cited by all survey respondents include gaining senior executive buy-in and successfully calculating and reporting ROI. "Effective policies, processes, and tools are all necessary to realize the full potential of EII," according to Dortch.

A complimentary copy of this report is made available due in part by the following underwriters: BEA Systems, Inc. and Stone Bond Technologies, LP. To obtain a complimentary copy of the report, visit: http://www.aberdeen.com/link/sponsor.asp?cid=4454 .

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(TM) 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 .

© 2008 Aberdeen Group, Inc., a Harte-Hanks Company
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Boston, Massachusetts 02110-3112
Telephone: (617) 723-7890
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 www.aberdeen.com 

Media Contact: Michael Dortch Aberdeen Harte-Hanks (707) 576-7565 michael.dortch@aberdeen.com