Aberdeen Publishes New Service Management, Human Capital Management, and Retail Services Research

Research Addresses Contact Center, Employee Assessment, Point of Service Devices, and HR Shared Services


BOSTON, MA--(Marketwire - May 11, 2011) - Aberdeen Group, a Harte-Hanks Company (NYSE: HHS), today announced the publication of new research reports from its Service Management, Human Capital Management, and Retail and Banking research practices.

"The Contact Center in a Profit-Centric Service Organization," prepared by Sumair Dutta, senior research analyst, Service Management research practice, illustrates how Best-in-Class service and support organizations are enabling their contact centers to deliver service that meets or exceeds customer expectations. Best-in-Class companies focus around workforce management; call management, knowledge management and performance management, leading to a 42% improvement in customer retention performance over all other organizations, and a nearly 8% decrease in support costs. To obtain a complimentary copy of the report visit: http://www.aberdeen.com/link/sponsor.asp?spid=30410182&cid=6961&camp=2.

"Assessments 2011: Selecting and Developing for the Future," authored by Mollie Lombardi, Senior Research Analyst, Human Capital Management at the Aberdeen Group, shows how organizations using assessments in both the pre- and post-hire achieved, on average, 19% more of their organizational goals in the past year as compared to organizations not using assessments. To obtain a complimentary copy of the report, made available part by the following underwriters: Assess Systems, CPP, Kenexa, PDI Ninth House, PI Worldwide and SHLPreVisor, visit: http://www.aberdeen.com/link/sponsor.asp?spid=30410182&cid=6996&camp=2.

"Extended Points of Service: The Next Generation of Customer-Centric Retailing," prepared by Greg Belkin, Aberdeen Retail and Banking Research Analyst, examines how retailers are preparing Point of Service (POS) devices for increased reliability as a dynamic, interactive consumer interaction point. Results indicate 42% of these organizations are moving beyond simple transaction processing, integrating POS systems with marketing, merchandising, and inventory, to offer a personalized, unique, and interactive experience for consumers. However, despite this focus, challenges remain. Forty-one percent (41%) of retailers are challenged to efficiently achieve this integration, a disconcerting trend at a time when 43% of retailers consider the POS device crucial to managing evolving consumer preferences. To obtain a complimentary copy of the report visit: http://www.aberdeen.com/link/sponsor.asp?spid=30410182&cid=7061&camp=2.

"Building the Business Case for HR Shared Services," prepared by Jayson Saba, research analyst, Human Capital Management research practice, revealed that HR shared service gives adopters a clear advantage over non-adopters. When streamlining processes and reducing the burden on HR, those organizations even outperformed the Best-in-Class, experiencing a 30% reduction in the manual transactions handled by HR representatives. Moreover, 64% of companies with HR shared service cited HR service as having a positive impact on employee engagement, compared to 51% without shared services. Not surprisingly, these organizations are 78% more likely to indicate that overall HR programs managed in-house are cost-effective. To obtain a complimentary copy of this report visit: http://www.aberdeen.com/link/sponsor.asp?spid=30410182&cid=7153&camp=2.

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.

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