Chapter 15 – Benchmarking

Publisher Summary The art of benchmarking is to compare one's process to that of others in a similar company or companies. Asks a coworker how it was done at their previous company is called benchmarking. Those who have worked in the function at more than one company have some valuable, though limited benchmarks. The definition of benchmarking is relatively easy, but writing questions and thus getting the answers, that one needs is difficult. Benchmarking can be a powerful tool. First there is need to determine which of the processes one would like to benchmark. Then one should ask what specifically one would like to know about those processes. Framing the questions in the most universally used language, acronyms, and abbreviations is critical. The process must be defined in generic terms in order to get meaningful questions and answers. Then one should pick some companies he/she would like to benchmark against. One should contact them and find out if they are interested in sharing the kind of information one is looking for. They must feel that they will equally benefit by seeing a summary report. A third party is very effective in this regard. The survey can be emailed or taken over the telephone. The best of questions may still require explaining—so telephone is best or at least telephone follow-up.