Global Chief Procurement Officers (CPO) Set Their 2008 Agendas

BOSTON, MA--(Marketwire - March 4, 2008) - The gains made by procurement executives over the past decade are significant and have helped elevate the function to new heights, according to "CPO Rising: The CPO's Agenda for 2008," a new study published by Aberdeen, a Harte-Hanks Company (NYSE: HHS). This "State of the Union" report on the procurement function and its leadership captures the plans and priorities of over 350 procurement organizations and highlights the key strategies, capabilities and solutions they will utilize to drive performance in 2008.

"The proper blend of talented people, efficient processes, and enabling technology is needed to achieve a broad procurement transformation. Achieving this mix is often iterative and incremental," notes Andrew Bartolini, vice president global supply management research, Aberdeen. "What differentiates Best-in-Class CPOs is not what is on their agenda, but how they prioritize their efforts and maximize their impact on the larger enterprise."

Aberdeen provides a series of recommendations for Chief Procurement Officers and other procurement executives seeking to accelerate the transformation of their departments including:

--  Formalize people management programs
--  Intensify efforts to collaborate with business and functional
    stakeholders
--  Expand supplier development and improvement programs
--  Partner with finance to define and track performance metrics
    

A complimentary copy of this report is made available due in part by the following underwriters: Ariba, Ketera and SAP. To obtain a complimentary copy of the report, visit: http://www.aberdeen.com/link/sponsor.asp?cid=4643.

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 Aberdeen Group, Inc., a Harte-Hanks Company
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Boston, Massachusetts 02110-3112
Telephone: (617) 723-7890
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www.aberdeen.com

Contact Information: Media Contact: Andrew Bartolini Aberdeen Harte-Hanks (617) 854-5310 andrew.bartolini@aberdeen.com