Integrated Demand-Supply Networks: Five Steps to Gaining Visibility and Control

BOSTON, MA--(Marketwire - April 9, 2009) - A new study, announced by Aberdeen Group, a Harte-Hanks Company (NYSE: HHS), finds that supply chain globalization, increased complexity, rising costs, and the need to respond rapidly to customer demand changes are forcing companies across industries to re-think their old approach to supply chain management. "The evolution of today's multi-tiered supply and demand networks is driven by the need to reduce costs and achieve long-term competitive advantage," says Viktoriya Sadlovska, research analyst who co-authored the report. "Our study shows that companies understand the new reality of today's business environment and are prioritizing multi-enterprise visibility and process collaboration to regain control over their extended demand and supply networks."

Best-in-Class differentiators in this study include the following process capability differentiators:

     *Clearly defined executive sponsor or champion for supply chain
      collaboration

     *Effective integration of trading partner data into internal processes

     *Effective supply chain partner collaboration across Sales and
      Operations Process (S&OP), customer demand forecasting, inventory
      management and invoice reconciliation

Nari Viswanathan, VP/ principal analyst, who co-authored the report, concludes: "Supply chain complexity has gradually led companies to lose visibility and control over their network-wide supply chain operations and performance metrics. The report emphasizes that the flow of goods and services needs to be optimized simultaneously with the information and financial flows across multiple tiers of the network. Finally the report concludes by stating that visibility and responsiveness have become the necessary ingredients for success in today's multi-tiered supply-demand networks."

A complimentary copy of this report is made available due in part by the following underwriters: Inovis, QLogitek. To obtain a complimentary copy of the report, visit: http://www.aberdeen.com/summary/report/benchmark/5845-RA-integrated-supply-networks.asp

For additional access to complimentary Supply Chain Management Research, please visit http://research.aberdeen.com/index.php/-supply-chain-management

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://research.aberdeen.com/index.php/about-aberdeen/methodology or call (617) 723-7890, or to learn more about Harte-Hanks, call (800) 456-9748 or go to http://www.harte-hanks.com.

© 2009 Aberdeen Group, Inc., a Harte-Hanks Company
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Boston, Massachusetts 02210-1928
Telephone: (617) 854-5200
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www.aberdeen.com

Contact Information: Media Contact: Viktoriya Sadlovska Aberdeen Harte-Hanks Nari Viswanathan Aberdeen Harte-Hanks (617) 854-5239 Viktoriya.Sadlovska@aberdeen.com Nari.viswanathan@aberdeen.com