BOSTON, MA--(Marketwire - September 5, 2007) - High levels of customer satisfaction ultimately
lead to new opportunities for revenue recapture, as well as opportunities
for revenue creation by increasing current customer "wallet-share" through
up-selling and customer referrals. As a result, Service and IT
professionals agree that post-sales service improvement initiatives are a
high priority. The successful integration of vital service initiatives not
only ensures that service automation projects are completed on time and
within budget, but it also facilitates improved service and asset
performance for customers. A recent survey conducted by the Aberdeen
Group, a Harte-Hanks company (
NYSE:
HHS), found that Best-in-Class
companies are 37% more likely than Industry Average and Laggards to
regularly review service initiatives against IT strategy. By focusing
resources on service initiatives, Best-in-Class companies are nearly 6
times as likely as Laggards to complete their automation projects as per
pre-stated timelines and budgets.
Fifty-nine percent (59%) of Best-in-Class companies cited customer demand
for improved asset performance as the top pressure causing them to focus on
service operations. This percentage suggests that Best-in-Class firms
realize the true value of customer service and the role that it can also
play in competitive differentiation, identified by 44% of the Best-in-Class
as the second most relevant pressure. The Best-in-Class deploy a number of
different strategic actions to improve asset performance, but a high
percentage (69%) agree that aligning service initiatives with corporate
strategies to ensure executive visibility, oversight and support is the
most important step to take.
"Service performance can be improved in two ways -- by assuring the
customer improved asset performance or providing faster, better service.
Best-in-Class take an asset-centric view of service operations. This is a
pre-emptive strategy and one that ultimately delivers the most up-time to
the customer," says Cindy Jutras, VP of ERP and Strategic Service
Management research at Aberdeen Group. "Speed of service, while vital to
performance, is only part of the overall service equation. Without the
right parts and expertise, a service ticket may still go unfulfilled even
though the technician is on time."
The research shows that aligning service initiatives with corporate
strategy and integrating post-sales service tools with other critical
enterprise support systems will ultimately satisfy the demand for improved
asset performance. A complimentary copy of this report is made available
due in part by the following underwriters: Lawson and Servigistics. To
obtain a complimentary copy of the report, visit:
http://www.aberdeen.com/link/sponsor.asp?cid=4104
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.
© 2007 Aberdeen Group, Inc., a Harte-Hanks Company
260 Franklin Street
Boston, Massachusetts 02110-3112
Telephone: (617) 723-7890
Fax: (617) 723-7897
www.aberdeen.com
Contact Information: Media Contact:
Cindy Jutras
Aberdeen Harte-Hanks
(617) 854-5247
Cindy.Jutras@aberdeen.com