Travel and Expense Management

BOSTON, MA--(Marketwire - October 14, 2008) - Travel and entertainment (T&E) is a dynamic and significant area of corporate spend, often managed by a series of disparate policies, processes and technologies within an enterprise. Despite economic constraints, T&E spend is expected to grow over 5% in 2008, driven by increasingly global operations, acquisitions and rising costs of airfares and accommodations; travel is part of normal business operations for many companies and these rising costs are identified as the top pressure driving transformation of T&E management by 82% of the enterprises. According to a new study published by Aberdeen, a Harte-Hanks Company (NYSE: HHS), top-performing enterprises are leveraging key technologies and services in combination with developing critical organizational capabilities and strategies to manage travel and expenses as a holistic, integrated lifecycle to drive improved visibility and compliance. To obtain a complimentary copy of the report, visit: http://www.aberdeen.com/link/sponsor.asp?cid=5314.

The "Managing the T&E Lifecycle" report finds that the bottom line of a company can be impacted significantly by improving the management of travel and expense processes. Enterprises are therefore looking largely to technology to link the various steps for travel booking, expense reporting, payment and reimbursement into an integrated lifecycle to drive operational efficiencies, reduce costs and drive visibility, but to also raise employee convenience and productivity.

Best-in-Class enterprises are 2 to 3 times more likely than their competitors to utilize a single, end-to-end T&E management solution, but also more readily engage in strategies to integrate disparate T&E technologies to manage travel and expenses as an integrated lifecycle. They have achieved outstanding results:

--  18% higher rates of compliance to corporate T&E policies
--  Processing costs for expense reports that are 63% lower than their
    peers
--  Online booking costs 47% to 72% lower than all other enterprises
    

"By taking a holistic approach to managing travel and expense processes as a unified lifecycle, Best-in-Class enterprises are achieving better policy compliance and higher rates of cost savings," said Bill Browning, Research Analyst, Aberdeen. "And while integrating different T&E management solutions helps this, utilizing a single, end-to-end solution can provide additional benefits in terms of efficiency, data integrity and business traveler convenience and satisfaction."

To reach the level of performance of Best-in-Class organizations for effective T&E expense management, Aberdeen recommends that enterprises undertake the following actions:

--  Formalize travel management programs
--  Leverage T&E data as part of supplier negotiations
--  Maintain focus on improving T&E management policies, processes and
    programs
--  Integrate disparate travel and expense management programs or, where
    possible, utilize an end-to-end T&E management solution
    

A complimentary copy of this report is made available due in part by the following underwriters: Concur and the NBTA. To obtain a complimentary copy of the report, visit: http://www.aberdeen.com/link/sponsor.asp?cid=5314.

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. 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 AberdeenGroup, 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: Andrew Bartolini Aberdeen Harte-Hanks (617) 854-5310 andrew.bartolini@aberdeen.com William Browning III Aberdeen Harte-Hanks (617) 854-5229 william.browning@aberdeen.com