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Industry Benchmarking: What it actually means?
Industry benchmarking compares an organisation’s performance, costs or practices to those of its peers or recognised leaders. Consultants define the metrics, collect data (public, proprietary or survey-based), adjust for scale or geography, and then show where the client is ahead or behind. The value is not only in knowing the gap, but in identifying what top performers do differently — processes, technology, spans and layers, sourcing models. Benchmarking is often the starting point for cost-reduction, service-level improvement or shared-services business cases. It gives management an external, objective reference point.
