Supply Chain Visibility Drives Excellence

BOSTON, MA--(Marketwire - January 7, 2010) - The recession and credit crisis has thrust supply chain visibility -- and the need to gain greater visibility and control over inventory and landed costs within the global supply chain -- to the top of the corporate agenda, according to "Supply Chain Visibility Excellence: Reduce Pipeline Inventory and Landed Cost," the latest landmark research study by Aberdeen Group, a Harte-Hanks Company (NYSE: HHS).

"The economy, global competition, ongoing business transformation, and the increased lead times/complexity of global supply chains are creating a situation where pipeline inventory and landed costs per unit handled have increased dramatically," says Bob Heaney, senior research analyst, Aberdeen Group. "But before you can reduce pipeline inventory or landed cost you need visibility to them. Our survey of 209 companies provides insight into how today's leading companies are deploying best practices to achieve granular visibility across multiple tiers of their supply chains and to utilize automation to create supply chain management processes that are strategic, responsive, and more cost-efficient than before."

For example, leading companies have responded to these challenges and have:

--  decreased by 5.5 % total landed costs per unit in the past year,
    compared to a 7.3% increase for Laggards over the same time.
--  decreased by 7.3% the frequency of out-of-stock inventory compared to
    a 3.5% increase for Laggards over the last year.
    

As the degree of global collaboration grows and global supply chains become even more complex, it is likely that visibility systems will continue to be a collection of discrete systems, with leading companies most successful in integrating them and gaining a more end-to-end and close-to-real-time visibility of their supply chain operations. The report examines the capabilities that top performing companies are deploying and strategic alliances they are using to capture, integrate and optimize the myriad of supply chain events of their overall global enterprise.

A complimentary copy of this report is made available due in part by the following underwriters: GTNexus, JDA and SAP. To obtain a complimentary copy of the report, visit: http://www.aberdeen.com/link/sponsor.asp?cid=6027.

Visit Research.Aberdeen.com for additional access to complimentary Supply Chain Management Research.

About Aberdeen Group, a Harte-Hanks Company

Aberdeen provides fact-based research and market intelligence that delivers demonstrable results. Having queried more than 30,000 companies in the past two years, Aberdeen is 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 or call (617) 854-5200, or to learn more about Harte-Hanks, call (800) 456-9748.

© 2010 Aberdeen Group, Inc., a Harte-Hanks Company
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Telephone: (617) 854-5200
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Contact Information: Media Contact: Bob Heaney Aberdeen Harte-Hanks (617) 854-5360 bob.heaney@aberdeen.com Viktoriya Sadlovska Aberdeen Harte-Hanks (617) 854-5239 Viktoriya.Sadlovska@Aberdeen.com