Bill Baker

Benchmarking closes the gaps in your operation

Benchmarking is a term that's used often today, but is not well-understood by many. If we go back to the first documented book on benchmarking by Robert C. Camp in 1989, when he was at Xerox, he defined it this way: "Benchmarking is the search for best practices that lead to superior performance." Best practice is another term we can define: a practice that works for you. These are the questions a leader must ask: Who is the best at what we do? This is a tough question, because it can be your industry competition or in your specific process but way outside your industry.

Benchmarking 202: How to learn fast and leapfrog the competition

One key best practice is benchmarking the function or process across different industries—especially companies in fast-moving markets and high competition.