Data Benchmarking

What is measured gets managed definitely, and it is important to know how well you are managing as well, that’s when Data Benchmarking becomes relevant. Today in the quest for continuous improvement, the industry has realised, ‘Leveraging Learning’s from others rather than ‘Re-inventing the wheel’ works best and are constantly looking out for better and better ways of comparing themselves to improve continuously. What’s better still is that organizations or entities are being ‘Open’ about it and sharing their ‘Way of implementing it and how it worked for them’. As a result, the areas to benchmark has widely been growing be it in improving business performance, software development or developing continuous improvement systems.

In today’s world, it is important to you that you know by numbers, how well you are doing and monitor it in comparison with the best in that particular standard. That’s where ‘Data’ plays it’s influential in giving visibility.

‘Data benchmarking’ is a powerful approach for understanding one’s business performance with the best and an inspiration for Learning from others within or outside the entity. Data benchmarking provides very visible, specific and catalyzing information for comparison to improve in a specific area. Most widely identified areas for benchmarking have been on Cost, Schedule, Productivity, Quality or Business models. The Key is ‘Same’ performance areas are benchmarked. With Data benchmarking, one can compare across many levels for learning;

* Individual Level
* Activity Level
* Project Level
* Organization Level
* Industry Level

Upcoming or smaller enterprises specifically, also benefit and learn a lot to change or improve and take decisions with Confidence by leveraging ‘Data Benchmarking’. ‘Practice benchmarking is another technique of benchmarking which focus on the ‘How to asects’ of continuous improvement. ‘Data Benchmarking’ and ‘Practice Benchmarking’ go hand in hand and complement each other. ‘Data benchmarking tells you ‘what and where you are’ while ‘Practice benchmarking’ tells you ‘how to get there’.

BSPIN has collaborated with organizations and has been releasing Data benchmark reports as one of it’s flagship deliverables to the industry. The usage of this benchmark report, it’s need and it’s relevance for use in the industry has motivated BSPIN to continue release of the traditional benchmark report. Organizations who have used BSPIN benchmark report have commended that it is one of the most detailed report made available to the industry.

In it’s last recent report BSPIN has added value to benchmarking by releasing first of it’s kind report on the following:

• Hierarchy of Metrics for ease of visibility on impact of metrics
• 3-Up Charts – providing a dimensional view of percentiles, % data representation and Mean across domains
• The first baseline for product companies
• Benchmarking Menu Card – reference able by companies from Small & Medium and Enterprises to Mature organizations

BSPIN has embarked on it’s next phase of data benchmarking, and this will be a biannual event to be released every once in two years. The high level milestones for the current phase of benchmarking is as herein;