Benchmarking

What is Benchmarking? Benchmarking is a tool of total quality management used by companies in order to measure themselves against best industrial practices or against top company practices. Definition of benchmarking can be stated as “the use of others experience.” Benchmarking processes simply hold six steps and they are:

1. Decide What To Benchmark.
2. Understand Current Performance.
3. Plan.
4. Study Others.
5. Learn From The Data.
6. Use The Findings.

Explanation: First of all you need to know that which operation or part requires benchmarking. You have to understand its performance and have to plan that which sector is giving a failure mode. You have to plan that how you have to benchmark. Then study the other organization and extraction of all the data. Use these extractions from your study to enhance quality.

Types Of Benchmarking:

There are four types of benchmarking

1. Internal Benchmarking: it is the benchmarking of same operations within the organization. For example benchmarking of shipping operation within the two plants of same organization
2. Competitive Benchmarking: it involves the benchmarking the strategies and processes of your companies with your competitor strategies and processes.
3. Functional Benchmarking: it involves the benchmarking process between different industries within the same industry. They usually try to know the best practices of the top companies in order to achieve the operational efficiency and to meet with competition.
4. Generic Benchmarking: generic benchmarking involves benchmarking among different industries. This involves the using of latest and most important processes and tools used by the top industry in the stock market.

Benefits Of Benchmarking

1. Benchmarking informs different cost cutting opportunities
2. It helps in improving Return on investment (ROI)
3. It analyzes yearly performance trends
4. It helps in assessing the forecast in accurate manner
5. It helps in understanding industry trends and thus helps in the usage of best industrial practices.
6. It helps in saving most of the company time in searching for the best practices that must be use in order to achieve excellence.

Benchmarking is use in different industries for different purposes. Few of its examples are given below

Project Management Benchmarking: it is used for different long-term and short-term projects in order to achieve the state of excellence. All the six tools of benchmarking are used in order to fulfill the process of benchmarking.

Call Center Benchmarking: the owner of call center in its own industry uses call center benchmarking. This increases your customer satisfaction, operational efficiencies and effectiveness. This increases your ability to deal with customers within fewer periods in best way.

Healthcare Benchmarking: In a healthcare center, you use benchmarking in order to provide best services to your patient. It enhances your different processes, which enables you to care more within less time in best way. This is the reason that why most of doctors and nurses are now specializing in Incentive care unit as to increase their practices and hence providing best services among their industry. Ambulatory surgery benchmarking provides best services to outpatient in surgery, pain management and different diagnostic services. Healthcare finance benchmarking is used in order to increase the financial source of the organization.

Computer Benchmarking: this enables computer industry to provide best services in computer field. This includes benchmarking not only in the product or accessories of computer rather help in benchmarking the processes of computer and information technology to enhance further services of the organization. Graphics card benchmarking is widely accepted as it helps in different advertising agencies. These graphics card are also use by many organizations in order to produce better design for their product.

Payroll Benchmarking: it helps in knowing the best way to use the payroll system. This enhances your maximum productivity level from least cost. This informs the best way to use your labor and machines in order to gather more productivity from them in less time with minimum cost.