Commercial Cards Prove to Deliver Savings for Procurement and Accounts Payable

BOSTON, MA--(Marketwire - December 9, 2008) - Over the past decade, the advent of commercial cards has streamlined the procure-to-pay (P2P) process across procurement and accounts payable (A/P) functions. Not only have commercial cards, which include Purchasing cards and Corporate cards (also referred to as "Travel" cards), reduced P2P transaction-processing costs, they have also added an additional layer of depth to the procurement and accounts payable departments by driving compliance, reducing cycle times, and automating the payment process, according to a new report published by Aberdeen, a Harte-Hanks Company (NYSE: HHS). To obtain a complimentary copy of the report, visit: http://www.aberdeen.com/link/sponsor.asp?cid=5380.

The report, "Commercial Cards: Delivering Savings Across Procurement and A/P," evaluates the strategies, capabilities and card performance of over 250 enterprises, discovering that the decade-old solution continually adds value to the ever-evolving procurement & A/P units. Commercial cards have helped Best-in-Class enterprises:

--  Achieve 71% lower P2P cycle costs than their competitors
--  Capture 20% of their indirect spend on cards (twice the amount of the
    average enterprise)
--  Reduce "maverick" (off-contract) spend by 10.4%
    

"Best-in-Class enterprises consistently demonstrate their ability to achieve desirable performance across the spectrum of procurement and A/P performance metrics," states Amit Gupta, research analyst, Aberdeen. "By capturing twice the amount of indirect spend on commercial cards, top-performing firms have not only achieved significant bottom line savings, but also drove compliance and reduced procure-to-pay cycle times."

Aberdeen recommends that enterprises implement the following recommendations to spark performance within their respective commercial cards programs:

--  Promote cross-functional collaboration among key internal stakeholders
    in procurement, A/P, finance, and treasury
--  Set aggressive goals to convert a significant percentage of manual
    payments to commercial cards
    

A complimentary copy of this report is made available due in part by the following underwriters: American Express and SunTrust. To obtain a complimentary copy of the report, visit: http://www.aberdeen.com/link/sponsor.asp?cid=5380.

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: Amit Gupta Aberdeen Harte-Hanks (925) 264-1828 Amit.Gupta@aberdeen.com