BOSTON, MA--(Marketwire - February 7, 2008) - Companies are increasingly enjoying new and
significant business benefits from their investments in enterprise
information integration (EII) solutions and processes, according to
research reported in "Enterprise Information Integration: The Foundation
for Business Success and Transformation," a newly published Benchmark Study
from Aberdeen Group, a Harte-Hanks company (
NYSE:
HHS).
The new benchmark study is based on the results of surveys and interviews
with more than 145 companies across multiple industry segments, including
banking and finance, high technology, and government. The study offers
specific, vendor-neutral, business-centric analysis and recommendations, to
help all types and sizes of enterprises to take maximum advantage of EII,
and to leverage EII efforts in support of multiple other initiatives.
"Among those companies identified by Aberdeen Group research as
'Best-in-Class,' 71% reported increased ROI for their integration
infrastructure investments," said Michael Dortch, Senior Analyst at
Aberdeen Group. "Fifty percent of those companies reported integration
project cost reductions five times the rates achieved by Industry Average
companies. And
Best-in-Class companies are twice as likely as others to have senior
executive visibility into their EII efforts. These findings clearly
demonstrate the high business value of effective EII initiatives."
Every enterprise relies upon accurate, consistent, and timely information.
However, business-critical data is typically scattered across multiple
locations in multiple forms and versions. EII seeks to address this problem
by providing a consolidated, task-optimized view of actionable information,
whatever its source. EII enables users to focus on their business tasks,
and developers and architects on the business logic and alignment of the
applications and services they develop and manage. EII can also improve the
business value, performance, and ROI of other
information-intensive IT initiatives, ranging from Business Intelligence
(BI) and Master Data Management (MDM) to Information Lifecycle Management
(ILM) and SOAs.
Among Best-in-Class companies identified by Aberdeen Group for this study,
50% are using commercial, off-the-shelf XML middleware for EII, compared
with only 35% of Industry Average and 29% of Laggard companies. In
addition, 26% of Best-in-Class companies are using standards-based data
access layers for better re-use of common access components, an approach
used by only 9% of all other survey respondents.
However, such technologies alone will not result in effective EII. Two of
the most significant challenges to EII cited by all survey respondents
include gaining senior executive buy-in and successfully calculating and
reporting ROI. "Effective policies, processes, and tools are all necessary
to realize the full potential of EII," according to Dortch.
A complimentary copy of this report is made available due in part by the
following underwriters: BEA Systems, Inc. and Stone Bond Technologies, LP.
To obtain a complimentary copy of the report, visit:
http://www.aberdeen.com/link/sponsor.asp?cid=4454.
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
260 Franklin Street
Boston, Massachusetts 02110-3112
Telephone: (617) 723-7890
Fax: (617) 723-7897
www.aberdeen.com
Contact Information: Media Contact:
Michael Dortch
Aberdeen Harte-Hanks
(707) 576-7565
michael.dortch@aberdeen.com