Benchmarking

Why is Benchmarking important? Simply put, “If you do not know where you have been, how will you know how far you have come”? Another way to think about it is to ask yourself, “Well, I think we are doing well, but how do I really know”?

There are four basic ways of benchmarking. Think about which one may apply to you, your department, and/or your company:

1. Internal Benchmarking
   Compares one department’s procedures to another
2. Competitive BenchmarkingCompares organization’s procedures to those of a direct competitor
3. Functional BenchmarkingCompares how dissimilar businesses perform similar functions
4. Generic BenchmarkingSearches for the “Best of the Best”

Benchmarking will help you know how far you have come, and how you stack up against the competition.  And that, as Martha Stewart would say, "is a good thing"...