Benchmarking is a method of measuring your organization against others in a certain industry, organization, function, or process. The purpose of benchmarking is to provide a common focus on measurement against a standard of excellence and a target for improving performance.

Benefits of benchmarking include:

• Determine how well you compare to others
• Improve beyond the bounds of industry standards
• Prioritize opportunities for improvement
• Locate your performance gaps
• Promote process "ownership" in your organization
• Increase openness about relative strengths and weaknesses
• Learn from others and increase confidence in developing and applying new approaches
• Expand participation and motivation of staff in change programs
• Increase willingness to share solutions to common problems and build consensus about what is needed to accommodate changes
• Increase collaboration and understanding of the interactions within and between organizations