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Benchmarking is the term for the process of equating your business performance and process metrics to best practices and/or industry bests from other industries. Aspects typically evaluated are time, quality, and cost.
Benchmarking comprises of management finding the best performing companies within their industry, or in others that involve similar processes. Thereafter, comparing the processes and results of those firms (the targets), to their own company processes and results. This enables them to identify how well these targets perform and how they get their results.
It’s therefore crucial for businesses to conduct these surveys to enable operations to be run faster, better and more cheaply.
Normally, best practice systems come from benchmarking information across an industry. Arguably, one of the quickest, most effective and inexpensive ways to conduct a survey is online. Before embarking on a benchmarking survey, it’s crucial to identify the information you need to learn from your research. There are some key components to be aware of before beginning the process of creating your online survey via survey software. These enable you to gain important insights into your market and are:
Knowing your goal. It’s imperative to identify your goal and to understand how you’re to use the data you receive so you can correctly pose each question.
Framing your research questions. You need to pose precise questions to receive the feedback you need.
Building your survey. Remember to include qualifying questions so your target audience answers your survey. Ask questions that either directly or indirectly answer your main research questions. Be sure to include firmographic and demographic questions so you can better arrange the outcomes.
Fielding your survey. Through setting up separate links to identify different population groups, you can clearly communicate the value of responders’ data. This enables them to understand the significance of your survey
Analyzing your data. Using cross tab reporting you can easily identify relationships within the data.
Sharing your results. You want to share your findings after you have completed the above steps.
To conclude, to systematically compare changes in business performance and processes over a period of time, there is arguably no better tool than an online survey software benchmarking survey. Using a survey tool allows you to measure improvements within your organization. Additionally, you can identify opportunities and uncover strengths and weaknesses within your firm.
This enables you to set and monitor realistic yet aggressive objectives, giving your team the power to be the best they can be within your industry. Not only that, but it provides you with a blueprint for gaining a competitive advantage as you and your team strive for continuous improvement.
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