Enterprise Information Integration (EII) Delivers Significant Business Benefits: Greater Agility, Lower Costs, and

BOSTON, MA, Feb 07 (MARKET WIRE) --
Companies are increasingly enjoying new and significant business benefits
from their investments in enterprise information integration (EII) solutions and
processes, according to research reported in "Enterprise Information
Integration: The Foundation for Business Success and Transformation," a newly
published Benchmark Study from Aberdeen Group, a Harte-Hanks company (NYSE:
HHS).

The new benchmark study is based on the results of surveys and interviews
with more
than 145 companies across multiple industry segments, including banking and
finance, high technology, and government. The study offers specific,
vendor-neutral, business-centric analysis and recommendations, to help all
types and sizes of enterprises to take maximum advantage of EII, and to
leverage EII efforts in support of multiple other initiatives.

"Among those companies identified by Aberdeen Group research as
'Best-in-Class,' 71% reported increased ROI for their integration infrastructure
investments," said Michael Dortch, Senior Analyst at Aberdeen Group. "Fifty
percent of those companies reported integration project cost reductions five
times
the rates achieved by Industry Average companies. And Best-in-Class companies
are
twice as likely as others to have senior executive visibility into their EII
efforts. These findings clearly demonstrate the high business value of effective
EII initiatives."

Every enterprise relies upon accurate, consistent, and timely information.
However,
business-critical data is typically scattered across multiple locations in
multiple forms and versions. EII seeks to address this problem by providing a
consolidated, task-optimized view of actionable information, whatever its
source. EII
enables users to focus on their business tasks, and developers and architects on
the business logic and alignment of the applications and services they
develop and manage. EII can also improve the business value, performance, and
ROI of other information-intensive IT initiatives, ranging from Business
Intelligence(BI) and Master Data Management (MDM) to Information Lifecycle
Management (ILM) and
SOAs.

Among Best-in-Class companies identified by Aberdeen Group for this study,
50%
are using commercial, off-the-shelf XML middleware for EII, compared with only
35%
of Industry Average and 29% of Laggard companies. In addition, 26% of
Best-in-Class companies are using standards-based data access layers for
better re-use of common access components, an approach used by only 9% of all
other survey respondents.

However, such technologies alone will not result in effective EII. Two of
the most significant challenges to EII cited by all survey respondents include
gaining senior executive buy-in and successfully calculating and reporting
ROI. "Effective policies, processes, and tools are all necessary to realize the
full potential of EII," according to Dortch.

A complimentary copy of this report is made available due in part by the
following underwriters: BEA Systems, Inc. and Stone Bond Technologies,
LP.To obtain a complimentary copy of the report, visit:
http://www.aberdeen.com/link/sponsor.asp?cid=4454.

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(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 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.

Copyright 2008 Aberdeen Group, Inc., a Harte-Hanks Company
260 Franklin Street
Boston, Massachusetts 02110-3112
Telephone: (617) 723-7890
Fax: (617) 723-7897
www.aberdeen.com

Media Contact:
Michael Dortch
Aberdeen Harte-Hanks
(707) 576-7565
michael.dortch@aberdeen.com

Copyright 2008, Market Wire, All rights reserved.

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