The Secret SaaS: On-Demand Supply Chain Management

BOSTON, MA--(Marketwire - January 14, 2009) - Today, Aberdeen Group, a Harte-Hanks Company (NYSE: HHS), announced the release of a new benchmark report, "The Secret SaaS: On-Demand Supply Chain Management." This report explores whether a Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) application deployment is a long-term, viable option to enable different process areas of supply chain management. In the report 5 process areas are benchmarked and discussed: B2B Connectivity, Sourcing and Procurement, Supply Chain Execution, Supplier/Customer Collaboration, Supply Chain Planning/Manufacturing. To obtain a complimentary copy of the report, visit: http://www.aberdeen.com/link/sponsor.asp?cid=5370.

In the current economic climate with increasing supply chain complexity, new application investment decisions are met with a high degree of scrutiny. In addition to upfront and ongoing costs, the ability to integrate the application with current processes and extend it into the extended supply chain, as well as the need for simple integration and non-complex process architecture are top factors in the decision making process.

Surveying over 130 enterprises, Aberdeen found that the interest in SaaS solutions is on the rise, particularly among top performing, Best-in-Class companies, who are implementing SaaS solutions successfully. Furthermore, 75% of Best-in-Class companies view their use or planned migration to SaaS as a long-term solution. "SaaS is a key deployment mechanism that has the potential to allow companies an approach that minimizes Total Cost of Ownership (TCO)," said Nari Viswanathan, principal analyst, Aberdeen and co-author for the report. "But the key question we sought to answer in the report is how does SaaS allow companies to realize the business Return on Investment (ROI)?"

Some of the process and organization capabilities that Best-in-Class companies show include:

--  3 times as likely as all others to select vendors that provide
    toolkits or APIs that support integration requirements for SaaS solutions.
--  2 times as likely as all others to have clear process definitions
    between SaaS and on-premise solutions.
--  1.8 times as likely as all others to have IT organization support for
    SaaS solutions.
--  1.4 times as likely as all others to have CFO support for SaaS
    solutions.
    

"Companies do not have the luxury of doing large-scale IT implementations with customizations, especially with the shrinkage in capital markets. Companies need to still solve critical business problems -- the approach to do that is to look at the Return on Investment (ROI) as the parameter that impacts the most for software investment decisions. The combination of short implementations and rapid payback is difficult to achieve but is critical for enterprises to achieve," says Viswanathan. "SaaS solutions offer a viable approach for enabling rapid business ROI with minimized Total Cost of Ownership in key areas of supply chain management such as supply chain execution, procurement and sourcing as well as supplier/customer collaboration."

A complimentary copy of this report is made available due in part by the following underwriters: E2open and Inovis. To obtain a complimentary copy of the report, visit: http://www.aberdeen.com/link/sponsor.asp?cid=5370.

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

© 2009 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: Nari Viswanathan Aberdeen Harte-Hanks (617) 854-5293 Nari.viswanathan@aberdeen.com