Harte-Hanks Announces Product To Help Tech Marketers Detect Business Site Changes, Act on New Data: Ci Triggers

June 19, 2007; 12:17 AM
To assist technology marketers in North America identify both business opportunities and marketplace challenges as they happen, Harte-Hanks, Inc. (NYSE:HHS) announces the availability of Ci Triggers, an automated service that alerts marketers where and when key changes – among them new information technology (IT) initiatives and new decision makers – are taking place inside business organizations.

“Knowing the installed, competitive base, and key decision makers is critical to our clients and is what Harte-Hanks Ci Technology Database (CiTDB) has and will always deliver,” said Randy Wussler, managing director, market intelligence, Harte-Hanks.  “But more and more our clients need to quickly identify the most relevant changes in people, infrastructure, and priorities at their client and prospect locations to maximize their ability to seize new opportunities.”

"Ci Triggers is designed to alert business marketers where and when changes take place that materially could affect sales and marketing success," Wussler said.  "As our market research team conducts telephone interviews in North America to verify and update the Harte-Hanks CiTDB, any significant changes are flagged and, through Ci Triggers, are delivered to subscribers – enabling sales and marketing teams to take appropriate action, be it a sales opportunity or, defensively, to prevent leakage."

Among the information areas tracked by Ci Triggers are:

- New Decision Makers – Changes to business and IT management positions are detected, enabling prompt contact with these key individuals.
- IT Budget & Planned Change* –Increases (and even decreases) in IT budgets are valuable clues to how client and prospect organizations plan to spend money.  Ci Triggers examines budgets in six distinct areas, including an expansion indicator to size up opportunities (*coming July 2007).
- IT Initiatives & Priorities – Ci Triggers assigns priority rankings on key IT initiatives, to help marketers understand where a business is focusing its technology development, another aid to evaluate opportunities.
- Technology Growth – Increases in laptops at a company location, for example, might mean new sales opportunities in security, storage, or communications.  Seeing significant changes in installed technology help marketers pinpoint specific offers.
- Key Vendor Changes – A change in a technology vendor often results in buyer’s remorse or failed expectations – both create opportunity.  Or, it might mean a current relationship might be next in line for changes, signaling a risk.  Either way, marketers can prepare to respond.
- Data Center Moves & Renovations – A planned move or renovation is a key sales opportunity, and where data centers are involved, usually these opportunities are large.  Ci Triggers alerts these critical openings.

Harte-Hanks has posted details of Ci Triggers at: http://www.citdb.com/citriggers

"We make approximately 70,000 calls a month to keep CiTDB timely and accurate, and this process fuels Ci Triggers," Wussler said.  "Changes happen anytime, anywhere – and to capture them as they happen or soon after, and to act on them, is a primary determinant for sales and marketing success."