Holistic SOA Governance Drives Substantial Reductions in Application Development Time and Operating Costs

Market Wire, October, 2008

In the newly released benchmark report, "SOA Governance: Separating Success From Chaos," Aberdeen Group, a Harte-Hanks Company (NYSE: HHS), found that Best-in-Class organizations realized a 18% decrease in operating expenses as a direct result of establishing comprehensive SOA governance -- an average reduction in costs that is 127% greater than all other organizations. To obtain a complimentary copy of the report, visit: http://www.aberdeen.com/link/sponsor.asp?spid=30410182&cid=4668 .

This report examined and analyzed organizations' planning, deployment, use, security, and management of their Service Oriented Architectures' (SOA) to provide a roadmap for constructing a holistic, business-advancing SOA governance initiative. As part of their comprehensive governance initiatives, Best-in-Class organizations were 93% more likely than Laggards to incorporate defect tracking and reporting tools to support their SOA governance initiative. Using tools that track and report defects in the SOA infrastructure allows organizations to significantly reduce the costly timeframe existing between problem identification and problem resolution. In addition, the Best-in-Class are over 6 times as likely as the Industry Average to use SOA performance reporting software. By incorporating technology that provides visibility into how services are performing, their defects, and subsequent remediation prioritization, Best-in-Class organizations are 108% more likely than Laggards to report a decrease in integration costs.

"As the sophistication of SOA technologies advances, organizations are realizing the potential impact an SOA governance strategy can have on their ability to provide their customers with higher quality deliverables, in less time, and with an improved level of service," said Stephen Walker, senior associate, Aberdeen. "Measuring the success of the overall SOA governance initiative by the impact it has on customers allows organizations to quickly react to problems that negatively impact service and quality. In addition to customer retention, pursuing a customer-centric strategy is critical when attracting new clients. By pursuing an SOA governance strategy that places an emphasis on increasing customer service, through both measuring how satisfied existing customers are and ensuring reliable service by constantly monitoring and improving applications, Best-in-Class organizations were able to reduce application development time by 21%; a reduction that is 124% greater than all others."

The report first identifies how Best-in-Class organizations structure and govern internal capabilities and technology solutions to maximize the benefits of their SOA frameworks, then provides a roadmap of actionable recommendations for companies seeking to incorporate SOA into their business for the first time, or optimize the effectiveness of their current initiative.

A complimentary copy of this report is made available due in part by the following underwriters: iTKO and Layer7 Technologies. To obtain a complimentary copy of the report, visit: http://www.aberdeen.com/link/sponsor.asp?spid=30410182&cid=4668 .

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 .

© 2008 AberdeenGroup, Inc., a Harte-Hanks Company
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Media Contact: Stephen Walker Aberdeen Harte-Hanks (617) 854-5349 Stephen.walker@aberdeen.com