Benchmark Your Way to Smarter Decisions and Better Results

My experience with benchmarking began over twenty-five years ago when my firm’s  CEO established a consulting practice to define industry standards and measure, analyze and evaluate how our clients compare against these standards.  I had the responsibility for managing this practice   

Benchmarking soon became a standard aspect of every one of our consulting projects.  Whether our role was to help grow a service organization, turn around a poor-performing division, or find ways to increase service productivity and efficiency, benchmarking provided us with critical data to build credibility, influence decision making, and validate our recommendations.   More importantly, it helped our clients make smarter decisions and achieve better results.  

It is my opinion that every field service leader should consider the merits of participating in a benchmarking exercise before embarking on any new service initiative or making significant changes in their operation.  To appreciate the value of benchmarking, let’s examine a few beneficial use cases:

•  Comparison – Benchmarking purely for comparison purposes is the most common and essential application of benchmarking.  It answers two fundamental questions, are we doing the best we can?  Can we do any better?  Companies often rely on benchmarking to determine how they perform compared to their peers.
•  Optimization & Maximization -  Benchmark data provides input for conducting sensitivity analysis and determining what impact the allocation or reallocation of resources to different aspects of the business will have on performance.    
•  Identify Obstacles & Constraints -  The results of a benchmarking project can also highlight or validate which aspects of a field service operation, in terms of systems or processes, are impacting performance and where to improve.  In other words, it pinpoints the weak links and chock-hold within the organization.
•  Build a Burning Platform  - As often the case, field service leaders can utilize benchmark data for building a burning platforming or compelling business case for investment in new tools and technologies for improving service performance.  For example, make the case that the first-time fix rate can increase by investing in AR or Dynamic Scheduling tools.
•  Support SWOT Analysis-  Benchmarking projects provide field service leaders with granular, quantitative data concerning their strengths and weaknesses relative to peers.  It also helps identify exploitable opportunities as well as risks.   

Benchmarking has several advantages.  To get the most out of benchmarking, your company must commit to it, obtain senior management buy-In, and then start.  “Just do it,” as per the old Nike commercial.  

As for as benchmarking is concerned, we’ve made it easy for your company to “just do it” too.  We have teamed up with moreMomentum to offer the  Service Transformation Benchmark.  Service executives designed this program for service executives looking for a strategic assessment tool to lead digital transformation and thrive.  It provides a comprehensive approach to benchmarking all the critical areas of your services business and offers several benefits over other benchmark programs.  You can learn by downloading our brochure.