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Chapter 1: Introduction to Benchmarking
Benchmarking is time-consuming and expensive.
Managed properly, benchmarking yields large
improvements in customer-oriented outcomes and
organizational cost savings. Nearly every major
corporation does some type of benchmarking because the
net benefits are so compelling. The profitability and even
the survival of many firms and lines of business depend
on informed benchmarking. The government can reap
similar benefits.
You can't get started unless you have all the data and the
measures. You can begin a benchmarking process without
an ideal set of data and measures. By making judicious
choices about which attributes of the maintenance
products, services, and activities you want to explore in
benchmarking, you can start to reap the benefits; learn
from an initial effort; and fill in missing steps, data, and
measures as you go.
The rewards of benchmarking just go to the best
performers. Not just one organizational unit will improve
its performance when it adopts a best practice: all
organizational units can potentially adopt the best
practice, and thus the service to customers of the entire
organization will be enhanced.
CRITICAL SUCCESS FACTORS
As you apply the method of customer-driven benchmarking in
this guide, bear in mind the following critical success factors:
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Remain focused on the customer. Keep your attention on the outcomes that
affect customer satisfaction and value received, not on production and inputs.
Assess customer priorities using market research. Use surveys and focus
groups to determine customer preferences, expectations, and satisfaction.
Secure strong management support. It is essential to obtain buy-in from all
levels of management, particularly those directly involved.
Use agreed-upon measures. Without a set of common measures that
partners agree to use, there is no basis for performance assessment.
Establish trust among the benchmarking partners. The success of the
benchmarking effort will rise or fall with the level of trust you achieve with your
partners.
Maintain a sense of proportion. Balance extremes in everything you do in a
benchmarking project. Too much or too little attention to detail, data
collection, best practices documentation, and so on can undermine your
benchmarking effort.
Pace yourself and, at the minimum, pursue the low-hanging fruit. Do
not try to accomplish everything immediately. At the least, achieve
some small success each step of the way that can lead to larger
success.
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