Only Actionable Information on Network and Application Performance Prevents Disruption of Business Processes

"The Value of Network and Application Visibility: Improving the Usability of Performance Data," a new benchmark report by Aberdeen Group, a Harte-Hanks Company (NYSE: HHS), found that even though 85% of organizations increased the amount of network and application performance data collected over the last two years, only 41% of these organizations improved their ability to prevent issues with network and application performance over the same period of time. The report also reveals that Best-in-Class organizations are, on average, spending $146 per user annually on labor cost to manage network and application performance while all other organizations are spending $253 per user annually. To obtain a complimentary copy of the report, visit: http://www.aberdeen.com/link/sponsor.asp?cid=5297 .

"The research shows that 44% of organizations that increased the amount of data collected on network and application performance over the last two years experienced no improvements in their ability to prevent performance issues," comments Bojan Simic, research analyst, Aberdeen. "This poses the question: Is a basic ability to monitor and analyze network and applications associated with any operational and business benefits for end-user organizations? The answer is: Not necessarily. As complexity of managing network performance is increasing, the key for gaining benefits from achieving full visibility into network and application performance is not in the quantity of performance data collected, but in developing capabilities that would allow organizations to improve usability of this information."

The report also reveals that there is no significant difference between Best-in-Class, Industry Average and Laggard organizations in the percentages of network and application performance management budgets that are being allocated to network and application visibility solutions. What is making the difference between Best-in-Class performance and that of all others is a set of characteristics that Best-in-Class organizations incorporated in their network and application visibility strategies. These characteristics can be summarized as the following: 1) deployment of technology capabilities that allow not only an increase in the amount of performance information collected, but also the improvement in usability of this information; 2) strong focus on visibility into application performance; 3) ability to measure network and application performance from an end-user's perspective.

A complimentary copy of this report is made available due in part by the following underwriters: InfoVista, Mazu Networks, NetEvidence Highlight, and Streamcore. To obtain a complimentary copy of the report, visit: http://www.aberdeen.com/link/sponsor.asp?cid=5297 .

To access all of Aberdeen's complimentary research please visit http://research.aberdeen.com .

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 .

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Media Contact: Bojan Simic Aberdeen Harte-Hanks (617) 854-5281 bojan.simic@aberdeen.com