Benchmarking is widely used as a tool to support strategic planning and process improvement efforts where information is desired from the following benchmarking perspectives:
- Competitive analysis for comparison to competitor(s)
- Best Practice defining leading practices or approaches
- Internal comparing “like” operations in the same organization
- Functional assessing similar operations/activities across a broad industry (e.g., mining)
- Generic comparing unrelated operations free from competitive pressures that can stimulate “out of the box” solutions.
EA’s analysts can develop a benchmarking program that can uncover these opportunities tailored to your needs using a 7-step approach addressing several key questions:
- Determine what to benchmark (e.g., process, etc.) – What do we want to learn about?
- Determine who to benchmark (e.g., organization) – Is there an organization(s) that performs these processes? Are they a best in class example?
- Gather data (e.g., web-based, interviews, etc.) – From desktop reviews of public information to detailed interviews/surveys
- Analyze data – What did we learn and how does this apply to our needs?
- Determine alternatives and assess feasibility – What are our alternatives and what makes sense for us?
- Develop an action plan – How do we get there?
- Implement plan and monitor results to create a pathway to completion and monitor our progress. Re-benchmark at later date to see if our objectives were met – Are we getting where we wanted?
