BOSTON, MA–( EMWNews – 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