BOSTON, MA--(Marketwire - February 12, 2009) - New research findings in the report "The
Intelligent Life Sciences and Healthcare Supply Chain" from Aberdeen Group,
a Harte Hanks Company (
NYSE:
HHS), finds that the life sciences supply
chain is under pressure to become more efficient in order to help curb
shrinking profit margins. To obtain a complimentary copy of the report,
visit:
http://www.aberdeen.com//summary/report/benchmark/5355-RA-business-intelligence-healthcare.asp.
Aberdeen's survey of 170 life sciences and healthcare supply chain
professionals revealed demand forecasting and planning along with data
management to be the greatest challenges to successfully implement
strategic plans for improvement. In order to meet increasing customer
demands and remain competitive, 49% of respondents are planning to enhance
or begin forecast collaboration with customers and suppliers. The use of
Business Intelligence (BI) to support these goals is also a priority; 22%
of respondents plan to adopt an automated BI platform in the next 12 months
and 25% plan to do so in the future. Aberdeen's new report investigates the
different scenarios for collaborating internally and externally with
customers to manage inventory levels without letting customer satisfaction
slip.
"Before any of the other top challenges can be addressed, life sciences
companies must first deal with the issues surrounding the integration of
data from multiple disparate systems and assess the resulting levels of
data quality," states David Hatch, vice president and principal analyst.
"This may involve the requirement for additional FTEs with data management
expertise, or the outsourcing of these capabilities to a third party with
domain expertise."
This report discusses industry best practices -- such as adjusting
forecasts for seasonality, obtaining a holistic view of inventory, and
actively monitoring customer and enterprise performance. These actions are
enabling a number of life sciences companies to more effectively compete in
the current market.
The attention to order fulfillment and product utilization is one example
of a Best-in-Class strategy. "Pricing in the life sciences supply chain is
an important driver of competition for revenue, profit, and market share
growth," states Hatch. "Best-in-Class companies show that customer
management is about more than merely setting pricing strategy -- it
involves perfect order fulfillment and visibility into product adoption and
utilization."
A complimentary copy of this report is made available due in part by the
following underwriters: Dimensional Insight and GHX. To obtain a
complimentary copy of the report, visit:
http://www.aberdeen.com//summary/report/benchmark/5355-RA-business-intelligence-healthcare.asp.
For complimentary access to Information Technology Research, including
Business Intelligence, please visit
http://research.aberdeen.com/index.php/-information-technology.
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.
© 2009 Aberdeen Group, Inc., a Harte-Hanks Company
451 D Street, Suite 710
Boston, Massachusetts 02210-1928
Telephone: (617) 854-5200
Fax: (617) 723-7897
www.aberdeen.com
Contact Information: Media Contact:
David Hatch
Aberdeen Harte-Hanks
(617) 854-5329
david.hatch@aberdeen.com