Examples for Competative and Strategic Benchmarking
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Please improve this article if you can. (April 2007) This article is about the business term. For the geolocating activity, see Benchmarking (geolocating). For other uses of the term, see Benchmark. Benchmarking is the process of comparing the business processes and performance metrics including cost, cycle time, productivity, or quality to another that is widely considered to be an industry standard benchmark or best practice.
Essentially, benchmarking provides a snapshot of the performance of your business and helps you understand where you are in relation to a particular standard. The result is often a business case and “Burning Platform” for making changes in order to make improvements. The term benchmarking was first used by cobblers to measure ones feet for shoes. They would place the foot on a “bench” and mark to make the pattern for the shoes.
Benchmarking is most used to measure performance using a specific indicator (cost per unit of measure, productivity per unit of measure, cycle time of x per unit of measure or defects per unit of measure) resulting in a metric of performance that is then compared to others. Also referred to as “best practice benchmarking” or “process benchmarking”, it is a process used in management and particularly strategic management, in which organizations evaluate various aspects of their processes in relation to [[best practice companies’ processes, usually within a peer group defined for the purposes of comparison.
The tools that are likely to increase in popularity the most over the next three years are Performance Benchmarking, Informal Benchmarking, SWOT, and Best Practice Benchmarking. Over 60% of organizations that are not currently using these tools indicated they are likely to use them in the next three years. [edit]Collaborative benchmarking Benchmarking, originally invented as a formal process by Rank Xerox, is usually carried out by individual companies. Sometimes it may be carried out collaboratively by groups of companies (eg subsidiaries of a multinational in different countries).
One example is that of the Dutch municipally-owned water supply companies, which have carried out a voluntary collaborative benchmarking process since 1997 through their industry association. Another example is the UK construction industry which has carried out benchmarking since the late 1990’s again through its industry association and with financial support from the UK Government. [edit]Procedure There is no single benchmarking process that has been universally adopted. The wide appeal and acceptance of benchmarking has led to various benchmarking methodologies emerging.
The first book on benchmarking, written by Kaiser Associates[1], offered a 7-step approach. Robert Camp (who wrote one of the earliest books on benchmarking in 1989)[2] developed a 12-stage approach to benchmarking.
The 12 stage methodology consisted of 1. Select subject ahead 2. Define the process 3. Identify potential partners 4. Identify data sources 5.
Collect data and select partners 6. Determine the gap 7. Establish process differences 8. Target future performance 9. Communicate 10.
Adjust goal 11. Implement 12. Review/recalibrate.
The following is an example of a typical benchmarking methodology: Identify your problem areas – Because benchmarking can be applied to any business process or function, a range of research techniques may be required. They include: informal conversations with customers, employees, or suppliers; exploratory research techniques such as focus groups; or in-depth marketing research, quantitative research, surveys, questionnaires, re-engineering analysis, process mapping, quality control variance reports, or financial ratio analysis.
Before embarking on comparison with other organizations it is essential that you know your own organization’s function, processes; base lining performance provides a point against which improvement effort can be measured. Identify other industries that have similar processes – For instance if one were interested in improving hand offs in addiction treatment he/she would try to identify other fields that also have hand off challenges. These could include air traffic control, cell phone switching between towers, transfer of patients from surgery to recovery rooms.
Identify organizations that are leaders in these areas – Look for the very best in any industry and in any country. Consult customers, suppliers, financial analysts, trade associations, and magazines to determine which companies are worthy of study.
Survey companies for measures and practices – Companies target specific business processes using detailed surveys of measures and practices used to identify business process alternatives and leading companies. Surveys are typically masked to protect confidential data by neutral associations and consultants.
Visit the “best practice” companies to identify leading edge practices – Companies typically agree to mutually exchange information beneficial to all parties in a benchmarking group and share the results within the group. Implement new and improved business practices – Take the leading edge practices and develop implementation plans which include identification of specific opportunities, funding the project and selling the ideas to the organization for the purpose of gaining demonstrated value from the process. edit]Cost of benchmarking Benchmarking is a moderately expensive process, but most organizations find that it more than pays for itself. The three main types of costs are: Visit Costs – This includes hotel rooms, travel costs, meals, a token gift, and lost labor time.
Time Costs – Members of the benchmarking team will be investing time in researching problems, finding exceptional companies to study, visits, and implementation. This will take them away from their regular tasks for part of each day so additional staff might be required.
