HARTE-HANKS DELIVERS Allink Xpert; HOSTED CRM SOLUTION

In its continuing effort to extend traditional campaign management and analytical software solutions to its clients, Harte-Hanks Inc announced the immediate release of Allink Xpert, a software application that enables businesses to realize the maximum effectiveness of their customer relationship management (CRM) efforts. Allink Xpert is the result of the Harte-Hanks relationship with Xchange.

"Harte-Hanks is evaluating and aligning with the best software providers to give our clients solid CRM execution," said Richard Hochhauser, president & chief operating officer, Harte-Hanks. "Our people not only know how to integrate systems and bring together the hardware and software tools to make CRM possible, we augment this expertise with the leadership and know-how to help customers use these tools effectively. Our goal is to make it happen."

Allink Xpert is an open-architecture solution that encompasses Xchange's cross-channel campaign management, customer analytics and response management software. It is delivered as an application service provider (ASP) or hosted CRM solution. It is designed to help organizations understand the true value and potential of their customer and prospect databases and to facilitate a complex network of customer-focused strategies, channel programs and campaigns. This integrated solution seeks to leverage refined customer data and precise campaign results to deliver highly targeted, cross-channel marketing campaigns.

Along with Allink Xpert, Harte-Hanks rounds out its complete solution offering by providing the services of CRM experts who work with the clients to help them apply the solutions to meet their needs most effectively, working closely with the customer's team to evaluate its customer interaction channels, e-business systems, business intelligence strategies, and change management approaches.

"Joint solutions are a benefit to those enterprises struggling to automate and to accelerate a closed-loop marketing process," said Sam Clark, Program Director with the META Group. "These partnerships enable enterprises to manage sophisticated multi-channel communication strategies and tracking capabilities."

"By offering Allink Xpert as an ASP or hosted CRM solution, users have access to sophisticated marketing tools without the large investments typically required in either larger systems or marketing data driven database systems," said Kathy Calta, group president, CRM database services, Harte-Hanks. "This also allows them to streamline their implementations and begin performing detailed customer queries at a fraction of the time and cost typically associated with CRM-based implementations."

The Harte-Hanks Allink Xpert offering brings industry-specific enterprisewide CRM solutions to a variety of vertical applications immediately, including financial services, telecommunications, retail and e-commerce. Additionally, the company plans to expand into other vertical areas including automotive, insurance, utilities, travel/hospitality and brokerage.

Users will realize many key benefits from the combined solution:

• Customization needs and requirements through the extensible data model
• Powerful out-of-the-box analytics via extensive analytical best practices
• Complete closed-loop marketing capabilities across the enterprise
• Integrated action and analysis that allows users to define segments and to drive initiatives using intuitive graphs and spreadsheets
• Economic optimization which helps users identify high-value, high-worth customers and prospects
• Dynamic real-time modeling capabilities that help identify key customer behaviors

"The availability of this hosted solution levels the playing field for all companies because they no longer need to purchase and to support these CRM solutions internally," Calta said. "By leveraging Xchange, Allink Xpert supplies all types of individuals with the knowledge and intelligence needed to truly understand the value and potential of their customer bases."

"Xchange is widely recognized as a leader in CRM because our solutions drive a measurable ROI for clients. The effectiveness of our technology, combined with the proven best practices of Harte-Hanks, makes Allink Xpert the industry's strongest offering for companies that want to outsource their CRM initiatives and earn more profit from their customer base," said Andrew Frawley, chairman and CEO of Xchange. "We are proud to partner with Harte-Hanks in the delivery of this new hosted or ASP solution."

About Harte-Hanks Inc

Harte-Hanks Inc, San Antonio, TX, is a worldwide, direct and interactive services company that provides end-to-end customer relationship management (CRM) and related marketing services solutions for a host of consumer and business-to-business marketers. Harte-Hanks and its CRM integrated solutions use technology as the enabler to capture, to analyze and to disseminate customer and prospect data at all points of contact. The company's customer-centric models allow it to be the overall solutions provider for driving traffic to a Website, call/contact center, or brick-and-mortar location. With premier specialized offerings -- Web page design to e-care, desktop database capabilities to systems integration, personalized mail to e-mail, proprietary software products to application service provider and hosting solutions -- Harte-Hanks provides practical implementation of technology and understands the needs of clients and their customers to deliver best-of-breed solutions. Visit the Harte-Hanks Web site at www.harte-hanks.com or call 800-456-9748.

Contact Alan Ryan, 508-473-5130, alan@mccoinsmith.com of McCoin & Smith Communications, for Harte-Hanks Inc.