ANSR Hackett Grp., Inc.(The) (MM)

The Hackett Group, a strategic advisory firm (NASDAQ:ANSR) has received some exceptional press and analyst coverage in the US and Europe recently, including articles and research in outlets such as The Financial Times, CIO, CFO, Handelsblatt, CNBC Europe, Purchasing, Human Resource Executive, and InformationWeek. This coverage represents strong validation of Hackett's position as a world leader in best practice research, benchmarking, and business transformation services that empirically define and enable world-class enterprise performance. Each month more than 25 media and analyst outlets generate coverage that spotlights Hackett's insights and research findings across corporate finance, IT, procurement, HR, and other sales, general and administrative (SG&A) areas, as well as supply chain and total working capital management. Web links to select articles, and abstracts of each piece, are included below: Financial Times (UK) - "Shock News: All ERP Vendors are the Same," November 9, 2005 - SAP, Oracle, PeopleSoft - Which enterprise resource planning system is the best? When it comes to financials, the core of an ERP system, any of the leading vendors' software will do more or less the same, according to The Hackett Group. Note: Subscription required, but free trial is available. https://registration.ft.com/registration/barrier?referer=&location= http%3A//news.ft.com/cms/s/edabc21c-5056-11da-bbd7-0000779e2340,ft_ acl=,s01=2.html (Due to its length, this URL may need to be copied/pasted into your Internet browser's address field. Remove the extra space if one exists.) Business Finance - "Finding the ROI in SG&A," October 1, 2005 - World-class SG&A performance can bring exceptional benefits that help finance, IT, HR and procurement functions improve the bottom line. This article is driven by research presented at The Hackett Group's 2005 Best Practices Conference. The SG&A transformation efforts of Hackett clients InterContinental Hotels Group of the Americas and Georgia-Pacific are profiled. http://www.businessfinancemag.com/magazine/archives/article.html? articleID=14503 (Due to its length, this URL may need to be copied/pasted into your Internet browser's address field. Remove the extra space if one exists.) CNBC Europe (UK) - "Live Interview: Rick Roth," September 8, 2005 - Rick Roth talks with CNBC Europe Anchor Louisa Bojesen, in a discussion of how compliance efforts have caused finance costs to rise for the first time in Hackett's research history, and other analysis from Hackett's new 2005 Enterprise Book of Numbers. http://www.axisto.com/bbcnbc/data/hackett/070905-cnbc/index.htm Handelsblatt (DACH), "Erasing not Permitted When you Want a Fast Budget," August 26, 2005 - This leading German-language daily business newspaper provided in-depth coverage of Hackett's European Planning & Budgeting study. The article also profiles Henkel, a Hackett client. Note: Paid registration required. www.handelsblatt.de CFO Magazine - "Striking a Balance," November 1, 2005 - Increasing use of shared services is one approach that companies are using to increase the efficiency and effectiveness of their finance operations, according to The Hackett Group Chief Research Officer Richard T. Roth. In addition, companies with centralized finance organizations see significantly reduced Sarbanes-Oxley compliance costs. http://www.cfo.com/article.cfm/5077953/c_5101083?f=magazine_coverstory Human Resource Executive - "Dream Team," October 16, 2005 - In the last 10 years, HR has to a large extent taken control of its own technology, said Hackett HR Practice Leader Steve Joyce, and some have even created their own dedicated IT organizations, to get out from under the yolk of corporate IT prioritization. http://www.workindex.com/editorial/hre/hre0512-05.asp CIO - "Staffing: Benchmarking IT Greatness," September 15, 2005 - What separates the best IT departments from the rest? For one thing, their staffs are much better paid. New research from The Hackett Group finds that employees at world-class IT organizations earn nearly one-third more than their counterparts in other technology shops do. http://www.cio.com/archive/091505/tl_staffing.html InformationWeek - "IT Leaders Spend More, Says Study," September 12, 2005 - For years, the most technology-savvy companies spent less on IT than typical companies. That's no longer the case, according to the latest analysis of the impact of IT spending on corporate efficiency by The Hackett Group. http://www.informationweek.com/story/showArticle.jhtml?articleID= 170702543 (Due to its length, this URL may need to be copied/pasted into your Internet browser's address field. Remove the extra space if one exists.) Inc. Magazine - "The Cash-flow Crunch," December 1, 2005 - Big firms are dragging their feet on payables, taking as long as 60 days to settle up, and creating new problems for entrepreneurs, according to a new study from REL Consulting, which is now part of The Hackett Group. http://www.inc.com/magazine/20051201/handson-finance.html Personnel Today (UK) - "Effective In-House HR Helps Top Firms Keep Costs Down," November 22, 2005 - The best-performing companies now spend 25% less on HR than other, less successful organizations, according to research by The Hackett Group. http://www.personneltoday.com/Articles/2005/11/22/32666/Effective+in -house+HR+helps+top+firms+keep+costs+down.htm (Due to its length, this URL may need to be copied/pasted into your Internet browser's address field. Remove the extra space if one exists.) Aligning IT & Business Goals - "3 QUESTIONS: Outsourcing: Not Just a Quick Fix," November 17, 2005 - In this Q&A, The Hackett Group HR Practice Leader Steve Joyce discusses the key differences between the way world-class and typical companies use HR outsourcing. http://www.itbusinessedge.com/reports/abg20051116.html Enterprise Systems Journal - "Top-Flight Companies Pay More, Expect More from IT Talent," October 11, 2005 - How are you to know if your company is a world-class competitor or just an also-ran? You might start by comparing your salary with those of your colleagues in other organizations. Top-flight companies tend to spend significantly more on IT than their peers, and top-flight companies as a rule tend to pay more -- much more, in fact -- for IT talent. That's the conclusion of new data from The Hackett Group, http://www.esj.com/Enterprise/article.aspx?EditorialsID=1528 Supply Chain Management Review - "The Power of Procurement," December 1, 2005 - The best companies look at procurement as an investment, not a cost center, according to Hackett Director Pierre Mitchell. http://www.manufacturing.net/scm/index.asp?layout=article&articleid= CA6291010&nid=2184&rid=1214298314 (Due to its length, this URL may need to be copied/pasted into your Internet browser's address field. Remove the extra space if one exists.) Supply & Demand Chain Executive - "Executive Memo: Getting to World-class by Getting a Seat at the Table," November 1, 2005 - What makes a supply organization world-class? The Hackett Group has been regularly exploring that question in its Book of Numbers series. This editorial from Editor Andy Reese spotlights Hackett's most recent Procurement research findings. http://www.isourceonline.com/article.asp?article_id=7907 Ziff Davis Webcast - "Overcoming the Sarbox Challenge," November 28, 2005 - The Hackett Group's Sarbanes-Oxley Practice Leader Sean Kracklauer is featured in this panel discussion, which takes a CIO perspective and discusses how companies can use technology to create and maintain controls and overcome compliance hurdles. http://www.eseminarslive.com/article2/0,2144,1874194,00.asp Purchasing - "Technology vs. Process: Another Round - Buyers Search for the Blend of Strategy and Functionality that is SRM," October 6, 2005 - Technology can play a key role in improving collaboration with suppliers, according to The Hackett Group's Pierre Mitchell. The best procurement organizations also use cross-functional teams to help optimize their supplier relationships, Mitchell said. http://www.purchasing.com/article/CA6261069.html About The Hackett Group The Hackett Group (http://www.thehackettgroup.com), a strategic advisory firm and an Answerthink company, is a world leader in best practice research, benchmarking and business transformation services that empirically define and enable world-class enterprise performance. The foundation of Hackett's services is a proprietary database of Hackett-Certified(TM) Practices, approaches that correlate with superior performance. Only The Hackett Group empirically defines world-class performance in sales, general and administrative (SG&A) and supply chain activities with analysis gained through 3,400 benchmark studies over 14 years at 2,000 of the world's leading companies. Hackett clients comprise 96 percent of the Dow Jones Industrials, 77 percent of the Fortune 100 and 92 percent of the Dow Jones Global Titans Index. From the 2005 acquisition of REL Consultancy Group, a global leader in generating cash improvement from working capital, Hackett offers Total Working Capital Management services to liberate cash flow from operations through improved working capital, reduced costs and increased service quality. REL has enabled clients in more than 60 countries free up over $25 billion through working capital optimization in the last 10 years alone. Hackett-Certified, Book of Numbers, and Hackett World-Class Passport are trademarks of The Hackett Group. This press release contains "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 and involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause Answerthink's actual results, performance or achievements to be materially different from the results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements. Factors that impact such forward-looking statements include, among others, the ability of the products, services, or practices mentioned in this release to deliver the desired effect, our ability to effectively integrate acquisitions into our operations, our ability to attract additional business, our ability to effectively market and sell our transformation advisory product offerings and other services, the timing of projects and the potential for contract cancellations by our customers, changes in expectations regarding the information technology industry, our ability to attract and retain skilled employees, possible changes in collections of accounts receivable, risks of competition, price and margin trends, changes in general economic conditions and interest rates as well as other risks detailed in the Company's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2004 filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission. We undertake no obligation to update or revise publicly any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.