With Tough Times Ahead, Procurement Leaders Go "Back to Basics" and Save More by Performing Spend Analysis

BOSTON, MA--(Marketwire - November 12, 2008) - With global enterprises facing, perhaps, the strongest recessionary headwinds in a lifetime, Chief Procurement Officers (CPOs) and other procurement leaders will be forced to do even more with even less over the next 12 to 18 months. While desperate times may call for desperate measures, a majority of procurement departments need only take a "back-to-basics" approach to uncover huge reserves of potential savings, according to a new study by Aberdeen Group, a Harte-Hanks Company (NYSE: HHS). To obtain a complimentary copy of the report, visit: http://www.aberdeen.com/link/sponsor.asp?cid=4891.

"As enterprises struggle to drive top-line growth, managing bottom-line performance is absolutely essential," notes Andrew Bartolini, Vice President of Global Supply Management Research, Aberdeen Group. "Developing or enhancing a spend analysis program and closing process gaps to ensure tight linkage to the sourcing process are clear and efficient ways to drive greater savings and deliver greater value in this period of uncertainty and strict budgets."

The Spend Analysis benchmark quantifies the incremental benefits achieved by the average enterprise that initiates a spend analysis program across a series of metrics including savings from strategic sourcing, the percentage of spend under management, contract compliance, and maverick spending. The report also highlights the strategies employed by leading enterprises to drive performance including:

--  Directly leveraging spend analysis results in strategic sourcing
    initiatives
--  Tightly linking spend analysis systems with contract lifecycle
    management and e-sourcing systems
--  Utilization of web-based reporting and dashboards to track key spend
    and savings metrics
    

A complimentary copy of this report is made available due in part by the following underwriters: Ariba and Zycus. To obtain a complimentary copy of the report, visit: http://www.aberdeen.com/link/sponsor.asp?cid=4891.

For additional access to complimentary Global Supply Management Research, please visit http://research.aberdeen.com/index.php/Global-Supply-Management/

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 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