BOSTON, MA--(Marketwire - December 9, 2009) -
Aberdeen
Group, a Harte-Hanks Company (
NYSE:
HHS), announces the release of its
latest report, "
Demand Management: Enabling Sell Side
Collaboration to Improve Sales Revenue." This study highlights the
specific approaches that companies with different types of supply chains
need to adopt with respect to demand management.
"In these times of economic uncertainty and global credit crunch, companies
are actively seeking smart strategies for managing demand volatility," said
Nari Viswanathan, vice president and principal analyst, Aberdeen.
"Traditional approaches of solely focusing on being demand driven from a
demand planning perspective are not adequate. Companies need to balance
demand planning with short term responsive strategies."
To identify top performing companies in demand management, Aberdeen looked
to four key measures: forecast accuracy at the product family level;
forecast accuracy at the SKU level; cash conversion cycle; and customer
service levels. Top performing companies are able to achieve markedly
better performance across these measures, which have a significant impact
on business results.
Between those top performing enterprises and their peers, there are some
notable differences in the tools they use for demand management.
Specifically, high-performing companies are 1.6 times more likely to
utilize a "best of breed" solution, and are thirty percent less likely to
be using spreadsheets to be solving demand management problems. "In
leveraging demand management technologies, top performers are focusing on
leveraging the tools beyond out-of-the-box statistical forecasting and
doing external collaboration, allocation of forecasts to lower levels, and
customer level forecasting for improving customer service levels," notes
Viswanathan. Beyond technology adoption, top performers are also more
likely than their peers to create a single demand forecast with inputs from
multiple roles in the company, as well as to have the ability to include
promotions and other demand-shaping activity into demand forecasts.
A complimentary copy of this report is made available due in part by the
following underwriters: Kinaxis and SAP. To obtain a complimentary copy
of the report, visit:
http://www.aberdeen.com/link/sponsor.asp?cid=6003.
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.
© 2009 Aberdeen Group, Inc., a Harte-Hanks Company
451 D Street, Suite 710
Boston, Massachusetts 02210-1928
Telephone: (617) 854-5200
Fax: (617) 723-7897
www.aberdeen.com
Contact Information: Media Contact:
Nari Viswanathan
Aberdeen Harte-Hanks
(972) 580-0940
Nari.Viswanathan@aberdeen.com