Benchmarking

What is benchmarking?

The objective of benchmarking is to understand and evaluate the current position of a business or organisation in relation to best practice and to identify areas and means of performance improvement

What are the key steps of benchmarking?

• Understand in detail existing business processes & performance

• Analyse the business processes & performance of others

• Compare own business with others

• Implement steps necessary to close performance gaps

What are the types of benchmarking?

• Strategic benchmarking

• Performance or competitive benchmarking

• Process benchmarking

• Functional benchmarking

• Internal benchmarking

• External benchmarking

What is strategic benchmarking?

Examines the long-term strategies and general approaches that have enabled high-performers to succeed

What is performance or competitive benchmarking?

Businesses consider their position in relation to performance characteristics of key products and services

What is process benchmarking?

Comparing against best practice organisations that perform similar work or deliver similar services

What is functional benchmarking?

Comparing with partners drawn from different business sectors to find ways of improving work processes

What is internal benchmarking?

Benchmarking businesses or operations from within the same organisation, for example, business units in different countries

What is external benchmarking?

Analysing outside organisations that are simply known to be "best in class"