Aberdeen's AXIS™ Provides Insight Into Value Delivered and Market Readiness of Leading Sales & Operations Planning Solutions for 2009

BOSTON, MA -- (Marketwire) -- 08/26/09 -- Aberdeen Group, a Harte-Hanks Company (NYSE: HHS), announced today the top performing vendor rankings in its Sales & Operations Planning Solutions (S&OP) AXIS™ Report. Aberdeen's AXIS™ is a report that provides a competitive intelligence perspective that allows organizations insight into the technology providers that helped leading companies achieve superior performance. The research showcases which vendors enabled client success based on the value delivered and the ability of the vendor to support and service its clientele. According to John Pearson, Vice President Products for Aberdeen, "The 36-page vendor assessment is based on two key dimensions: first, Aberdeen aggregated top performance of companies in the target marketplace based on 1,100 primary surveys conducted typically over the past eighteen months; and second, Aberdeen conducts a vendor readiness assessment which includes evaluation of responses to a standardized vendor questionnaire, analyst briefings, public records and customer interviews."

The Sales & Operations Planning Solutions (S&OP) AXIS(TM) Report is authored by Nari Viswanathan, Vice President / Principal Analyst, Aberdeen. Nari classifies "Sales & Operations Planning Solutions" as software that supports the S&OP process in the following ways: Operational S&OP and Executive S&OP. "The benefits of the S&OP process are improved asset utilization, improved customer service, improved forecast accuracy and improved financial metrics like profit margins," says Nari.