Top Performers Reap Cost Engagement Benefits via Social Networking Tools

Organizations Using Blogs, Wikis and Internal Social Networks Demonstrated a 26% Improvement in Employee Engagement


BOSTON, MA--(Marketwire - July 8, 2009) - Organizations that achieved the leading performance designation in the use of blogs, wikis, corporate social networking and other online collaboration tools throughout the talent management life-cycle demonstrated a 39% reduction in training costs while simultaneously improving engagement and quality of hire by 33% each, according to the Aberdeen Group report "HR Executive's Guide to Web 2.0: Cracking the Code for Talent Management." The research from Aberdeen Group, a Harte-Hanks Company (NYSE: HHS), details the business benefits derived from utilizing Web 2.0 tools across the talent management lifecycle.

The report uncovers how the industry's top performers are achieving success by utilizing social networking technologies, and found that organizations utilizing these tools were twice as likely to achieve Aberdeen's Best-in-Class designation. The report serves as a guidebook for leaders looking to understand what social media tools are having the greatest impact, and the smartest strategies for implementing them.

"Organizations that take advantage of the power of these types of tools to foster communication and collaboration across today's dispersed and diverse workforce achieve the biggest performance gains," said Mollie Lombardi, research analyst for human capital management, and co-author of the Aberdeen Group report. "With top performers achieving a one and a half times greater year-over-year improvement in training costs, along with significant reductions in time to productivity and quality of hire, the benefits are very real in both savings and performance."

A complimentary copy of this report is made available due in part by the following underwriters: SAP and SilkRoad technology. To obtain a complimentary copy of the report, visit the link: http://www.aberdeen.com/link/sponsor.asp?cid=6070.

Visit Research.Aberdeen.com for additional access to complimentary Human Capital Management.

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) 723-7890, or to learn more about Harte-Hanks, call (800) 456-9748.

© 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: Mollie Lombardi Aberdeen Group (617) 854-5216 mollie.lombardi@aberdeen.com