Aberdeen Group Report reveals asset performance management as key strategy to maximize Return-on-Assets (RoA) in a reduced budget environment.

BURLINGTON, ON (Dec. 8, 2009) – Ivara Corporation, the industry leader and innovator in asset performance management solutions, has sponsored the third annual Asset Performance Management report from the Aberdeen Group, a Harte-Hanks Company (NYSE:HSS). The report entitled “Asset Performance Management: Aligning the goals of CFO’s and Maintenance Managers” revealed a correlation between specific business capabilities and technology enablers to higher operational performance.

The report found that best-in-class companies realize 2% unscheduled asset downtime as compared to 24% for laggard companies. In more than 70% of surveyed companies, the capital and operational budgets either remained the same or decreased by as much as 20% as compared to last year. The research also highlights how best-in-class companies are managing the reliability of their asset base by implementing Asset Performance Management (APM) strategies to achieve higher goals both operationally and financially. The report recommends:

• Providing real-time and historical asset data to employees through data management solutions to provide easy and timely access to asset information.
• Establish integration between EAM and the plant floor as well as business systems to increase responsiveness which allows for quick and intelligent asset management decisions.
• Implement RCM as a primary maintenance approach in order to investigate asset data both past and present, effectively predicting future failures and subsequently minimizing the consequences of those failures.

“The results indicate that CFOs of leading companies are more than 60% as likely as others to have goals around risk management in the next year,” says Mehul Shah, Research Analyst. “Top performing companies are effectively implementing an APM strategy by fostering a culture of collaboration across functional groups, implementing a risk management framework, creating real-time visibility into the asset base and establishing advanced asset management capabilities.”

“Our customers consider asset performance management to be one of the greatest opportunities to improve operational and financial results without incurring capital expenditures.” States Paul Marshall, chief executive officer at Ivara. “Improvement in asset performance and reliability results in substantial improvement to the bottom line.”

 To obtain a complimentary copy of the report, click here .

About Ivara

Ivara is the leader in asset performance management software and consulting services to instill a proactive process for Maintenance and Operations to care for their production equipment. Ivara® EXP Enterprise prevents industrial equipment failure, increases production and lowers costs for better business performance.  EXP transforms data into real-time intelligence enabling plant management make fast and accurate business decisions.  Customers worldwide, representing a cross section of asset intensive industries, realize the benefits of EXP every day.  For more information, visit www.ivara.com.

 About Aberdeen Group

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 AberdeenTM 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 to learn more about Harte-Hanks, go to http://www.harte-hanks.com.

 Ivara Contact:

Sandra DiMatteo
Director of Marketing
Ivara Corporation
Tel: (905) 632-8000 ext. 271 

Aberdeen Group Contact:

Mehul Shah
Aberdeen Harte-Hanks
Tel: (617) 854-5212