How Do Call Centers Transform Into Sucessful Transaction Centers?

BOSTON, MA -- (MARKET WIRE) -- April 18, 2007 -- A new report by the Aberdeen Group, a Harte-Hanks Company (NYSE: HHS), finds that 58% of companies have adopted revenue generating capabilities by leveraging their call-centers as transaction hubs. No longer must call-centers limit their functions to customer support, many act as the first line of up-sales and cross-sales generation for their organizations.

The benchmark report, Call Center: Customer Experience vs Transaction Hub, finds that companies tapping their call-centers for revenue generation and customer retention must ensure that they enter the foray well-equipped. The report's author, Alan Hubbard, writes: "Implementing a transaction hub is a fairly dramatic change within the call center. Call center agents need to evolve from information centers to profit centers. This requires new skills, training, processes and software." A call-center as a transaction hub is more diverse and complex than one only suited for customer support. Firms must establish training and processes to meet success, and implement effective data and customer management processes, perhaps through pilot programs.

Aberdeen Group's survey found that the pressure to retain customers served as the primary driver in firms leveraging their call-centers as transaction hubs. Indicators that distinguished Best-In-Class firms included customer retention, customer satisfaction and total cost of customer support. Sixty-three percent of Best-In-Class companies saw improvements in Total Cost of Customer Support and a 10% improvement in customer retention over other firms. Overall, firms that leveraged their call-centers as transaction hubs saw improvements in customer satisfaction and customer retention when compared to companies that did not.

The research, underwritten in part by Aspect Software and Onyx, is an important study of best practices and success indicators for turning call-centers into transaction hubs.

To download a complimentary copy of the report for a limited time, please visit: http://www.aberdeen.com/link/sponsor.asp?cid=3957

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.

Contact Information: Alan Hubbard Aberdeen Harte-Hanks (617)854-5301 Alan.hubbard@aberdeen.com