BOSTON, MA--(Marketwire - December 9, 2008) - Aberdeen, a Harte-Hanks Company (
NYSE:
HHS),
announced today the release of the Aberdeen AXIS™ Report for
Retail Point-of-Sale (POS) Systems. In response to customer demand for
fact-based guidance in selecting technology solutions and service
providers, Aberdeen delivers the market's first technology vendor
assessment tool that is truly customer-centric. Unlike other comparative
products that primarily focus on feature and functionality, "
Aberdeen AXIS assesses the success of
the respective technology in the context of the user's environment,"
according to Peter Ostrow, VP Aberdeen AXIS. "The assessment is based on
two key dimensions: first, Aberdeen aggregates Best-in-Class performance of
companies in the target marketplace based on primary surveys conducted
typically over the past twelve months; and second, Aberdeen conducts a
vendor readiness assessment which includes evaluation of responses to a
standardized vendor questionnaire, analyst briefings, public records, and
customer interviews."
The AXIS Report on Retail Point-of-Sale Systems is authored by Sahir Anand,
Senior Research Analyst, Aberdeen, who finds that at least 60% of retailers
have POS or point-of-service systems that are older than five years; out of
the 60%, 35% of retailers currently use POS systems that are older than 10
years. Anand explains, "This has created a large gap in the retailer's
objective of delivering improved customer satisfaction at POS. The reason
for this gap is the outdated POS process resulting from a lack of
standards-based migration in software, hardware and peripherals towards
next-generation fixed and mobile POS systems." According to Anand's
findings, the solution providers offering the best Value Delivered and
Market Readiness scores include NCR, which achieved "Champion" status,
along with Celerant, SAP, Oracle, Microsoft and MICROS Retail.
Aberdeen President Stephen Gold reports that AXIS was developed in response
to requests from Aberdeen's 2.5+ million business readers spanning 40
countries, including representation from 90% of the Fortune 1000.
"Aberdeen's mission is clear as we take yet another step to educate
businesses to action by empowering them with relevant and timely
information to make more informed decisions, understand best practices, and
maximize their ability to gain competitive ground," according to Gold.
"With AXIS, Aberdeen provides a
competitive intelligence perspective that allows organizations to
understand various service and product providers that are best positioned
to help them achieve their goals."
According to Robert Fort, CIO and VP of Technology, Virgin Megastores, "The
Retail POS AXIS will be of immense value to retailers as the end-user
viewpoint on solution performance is taken into consideration in
determining the best vendors. The other vendor solution assessments do not
adequately cover views of the end-user, which is imperative for IT
decisions." With this new research in hand, technology solution providers
will be able to refresh their product roadmaps to reflect market successes
and business user demands, and
educate their
market on how solutions impact customers' business outcomes.
For more information on the Aberdeen AXIS™, please visit:
http://axis.aberdeen.com.
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
451 D Street, Suite 710
Boston, Massachusetts 02210-1928
Telephone: (617) 854-5200
Fax: (617) 723-7897
www.aberdeen.com
Contact Information: Media Contact:
Peter Ostrow
Aberdeen Harte-Hanks
(617) 854-5373
peter.ostrow@aberdeen.com
