Control Your Order-to-Cash Cycle: Best-in-Class Are 13 Times More Likely to Automate Major Process Steps

Market Wire, April, 2008

Cash is king. It is also the lifeblood of any company and it flows through the order-to-cash cycle. In order to preserve the health of the company it must flow freely and unobstructed. The recently published, "The Order-to-Cash Cycle: Integrating Business Processes to Improve Operational Performance" benchmark report, announced by Aberdeen, a Harte-Hanks Company (NYSE: HHS), found that Best-in-Class:

--  Achieve 31% reduction in order-to-fulfill cycle time

--  Are 44% more likely to be able to trigger an alert based on process
    and performance exceptions

--  Are twice as likely to measure order-to-cash KPIs as transactions
    occur

--  Are 59% more likely to employ workflow automation technology

--  Have 41% lower Days Sales Outstanding
    

"Top performing companies have better control over cash. Best-in-Class companies take full advantage of Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) to standardize, integrate, and automate processes from initial quotation management to delivery and cash collection. Yet many companies also turn to complementary applications, often plugged into ERP, to streamline interoperability and coordinate the movement of materials, services, and funds. They further enable the process by applying technologies, such as workflow automation and event management to manage by exception, trigger alerts, and streamline processes," said Cindy Jutras, Vice President & Group Director, Aberdeen. "The automation of various manual hand-offs between departments and individuals is an effective means of speeding the cycle from order to cash. If it is possible to 'walk' an order through the process significantly faster than it flows naturally, regard this as a symptom of a problem that can be addressed with workflow automation."

A complimentary copy of this report is made available due in part by the following underwriters: SAP and Plexus Systems. To obtain a complimentary copy of the report, visit: http://www.aberdeen.com/link/sponsor.asp?cid=4671 .

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 .

© 2008 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: Cindy Jutras Aberdeen Harte-Hanks (617) 854-5247 Cindy.Jutras@aberdeen.com