Source: Aberdeen Group - Boston

Global Trade Compliance in the Corporate Spotlight

94% of Best-in-Class Companies Are Currently in the Process of Improving Their Global Trade Compliance Processes

BOSTON, MA--(Marketwire - April 8, 2008) - A new research study, "Global Trade Compliance Priorities in 2008," examines trade compliance practices and strategic initiatives of 340 global exporters and importers. The report, announced by Aberdeen, a Harte-Hanks Company (NYSE: HHS), reveals that 74% of all companies (and 94% of the Best-in-Class) are currently in the process of improving their global trade compliance practices, with an additional 21% planning to begin improvements in 2008.

Viktoriya Sadlovska, a research analyst at Aberdeen who authored the report, notes that, "In the past 5 years, significant changes have begun to occur in the way global companies handle trade compliance: as our study shows, global trade compliance is now being transformed from a back-office, often neglected, function, to being the focus of strategic corporate-wide initiatives." The key organizational strategies to support these initiatives include instituting a centralized organization to manage global trade compliance, securing executive management's support and the increased role of trade compliance departments. The Best-in-Class trade compliance departments prove to be more effective in attracting executive attention to their compliance transformation initiatives.

Best-in-Class companies in this study (compared to Laggards) are, among other strategies:

--  About 50% more likely to have the ability to access timely information
    on the latest trade regulations updates (e.g. restricted / denied parties)
--  80% more likely to centralize global trade compliance at the
    enterprise level and 57% more likely to involve executive management in
    global trade compliance initiatives
--  Almost 80% more likely to have automated communication / document
    exchange with forwarders / 3PLs
--  Three times as likely to use automated analytics tools for export /
    import transactions (reports, statistics, scenario analysis, etc.)
    

Enhanced process visibility, better access to trade regulations data, centralized trade compliance organization, executive management support, streamlined processes and the introduction of certain technologies all contribute to improved performance. As a result, Best-in-Class companies in this study are twice as likely as Industry Average and 4.7 times as likely as Laggards to have decreased the number of supply chain disruptions due to trade compliance errors over the past year. This helps Best-in-Class companies to both make their global supply chains more secure and improve their business reputation.

A complimentary copy of this report is made available due in part to the following underwriters: Integration Point and Management Dynamics. To obtain a complimentary copy of the report, visit: http://www.aberdeen.com/link/sponsor.asp?cid=4636.

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: Viktoriya Sadlovska Aberdeen Harte-Hanks (617) 854-5239 viktoriya.sadlovska@aberdeen.com