State of Service Management 2011: Connecting the Service Enterprise to Revenue

BOSTON, MA--(Marketwire - October 12, 2010) - The latest research report published by the Aberdeen Group, a Harte-Hanks Company (NYSE: HHS) entitled State of Service Management 2011: Achieving Connectivity and Growing Revenue found that leading service companies having achieved excellence in service from a customer-facing, operational and financial perspective now have an eye towards the next step of service-led differentiation. While efficiencies can still be driven -- and are being driven -- within the organization, growth in service will happen on the revenue side of the equation. In order to achieve this there must be a push to become a fully connected service enterprise; one where service isn't just a standalone function, but a value driver that is at the core of the entire organization.

"The success of the construction of the fully connected service enterprise to enhance the customer experience ultimately depends on the supporting cast of organizational capabilities and processes in place," said Sumair Dutta, Senior Research Analyst, Aberdeen Group. "The identification of these vital capabilities, specifically around customer feedback management, performance management, and knowledge transfer, and the organizational gaps that need to be overcome to put these in place will help service firms ascend to the status of a top performer."

Research findings in the State of Service Management 2011 report indicate that while all firms are looking to establish key metrics that align directly with business goals, top performing companies are looking to focus on the integration of service and customer data from multiple sources in a centralized knowledge base shared across the organization. As such, these firms exhibited the following:

• A 17% increase in service revenues over the last 12 months in contrast to a 3% increase for all others
• A 13% increase in service profitability over the last 12 months as compared to a 2% increase for all others
• A 94% current performance in customer retention when compared to a 75% performance for all others

A complimentary copy of this report is made available due in part by the following underwriters: Hitachi Consulting, Metrix, ServiceMax, Inc., Servigistics, Inc., and Single Source Systems, Inc. To obtain a complimentary copy of the report, visit: http://www.aberdeen.com/link/sponsor.asp?spid=30410182&cid=6397&camp=2, or compare your organization against the top performers with Aberdeen's free online assessment tool at http://assessment.aberdeen.com/qXWfZ0vRVw/MET597/sponsor.aspx.

Visit Research.Aberdeen.com for additional access to complimentary Service Management Research.

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 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.

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