Driving Double Digit Profit Growth Using Executive Dashboards

BOSTON, MA, Jun 10 (MARKET WIRE) --
In the newly released report, "Executive Dashboards: The Key to Unlocking
Double Digit Profit Growth," Aberdeen Group, a Harte-Hanks Company (NYSE:
HHS), found that leading organizations were able to produce an average
8.4% improvement in sales performance, more than 4 times the increase of
all other companies, by leveraging a comprehensive and pervasive strategy
for dashboard use. This study collected data from 285 end-user
organizations globally and found that these companies are combining a
tactical approach to business visualization with a strategic
forward-looking vision in order to achieve substantial improvements in
customer service and service performance.

Many companies today suffer from a lack of visibility into the key metrics
that drive business for the organization. With most organizations
tightening their belts and focusing inward, some are finding themselves in
the uncomfortable position of "not knowing what they don't know." In other
words, the performance indicators that truly dictate business efficiency
are constantly changing and fluctuating. Prior Aberdeen research revealed
that many organizations had turned to business intelligence (BI) dashboard
tools in order to help discover and improve those key areas of their
operations. Aberdeen's data demonstrates a multitude of applications for
dashboard tools. Performance reporting dashboards and other strategic
tools can be instrumental in anticipating changes in the market and
preparing for long-term changes that can affect the business. On the other
hand, dashboards have also proven to be useful from an operational
standpoint in order to determine what is happening on a real-time basis
and make decisions on the fly. A key notion uncovered in this research is
that the top performing companies are not choosing between a strategic or
tactical approach to dashboard implementation but rather are combining the
two approaches to generate a comprehensive strategy for data
visualization. Perhaps just as important, these Best-in-Class companies
have made efforts to deliver dashboard visualization capability to a
wider set of users within their organization. Once upon a time,
dashboards were used primarily as a tool for executive management to
understand the highest level metrics like revenue growth and general
profitability. Now, these tools have expanded in scope to help
operational managers understand changes in inventory levels, supply chain
efficiency, human resources metrics, and a wide variety of other business
factors. Data from this report shows that Best-in-Class companies are
delivering dashboard visibility not just to more departments within the
company, but also to more roles within each department. By spreading this
dashboard capability to more users within the organization, the
Best-in-Class were able to drive considerable improvements in operating
profit, customer service, and sales performance.

"In the entire universe of business intelligence -- from data warehousing
through ETL and integration to analytics and visual reporting --
dashboards are perhaps more palatable to non-technical users than any
other element of that stack," explains Michael Lock, Research Analyst for
Business Intelligence at Aberdeen Group. "However, that does nothing to
mitigate the fact that the solutions need to be easy to understand and
use, as well as truly improve an employee's ability to perform at his or
her job. Best-in-Class companies report user satisfaction that far
eclipses all other companies across a wide range of different metrics,
including ease-of-use, and response time to information requests."

The report is aimed at educating the end-user community as to how
Best-in-Class organizations are combining a comprehensive base of
organizational capabilities with a strategic and tactical approach to
dashboard visualization in order to achieve a higher degree of business
visibility and ultimately bring about major improvements to key business
metrics. The report recommends clear actions for Industry Average and
Laggard compannies to achieve these types of performance improvements and
draw closer to the Best-in-Class.

A complimentary copy of this report is made available due in part by the
following underwriters: Dundas Data Visualization and Niteo Partners. To
obtain a complimentary copy of the report, visit:
http://www.aberdeen.com/link/sponsor.asp?cid=5874.

For additional access to complimentary Information Technology Research,
please visit
http://research.aberdeen.com/index.php/-information-technology

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(TM) 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.

Copyright 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

Media Contact:
Michael Lock
Aberdeen Harte-Hanks
(617) 854-5365
michael.lock@aberdeen.com

Copyright 2009, Market Wire, All rights reserved.

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