Many companies use benchmarking to analyze their performance and measure it against their competitors’. This way, they can stay ahead of the curve, improve their products and services, and create the most desirable work environment for their employees.  

It’s quite likely that you are already familiar with your company’s processes, products, and services. But do you know those of your competitors—what makes them unique and how you can outperform them? 

The KPI Institute’s Certified Benchmarking Professional course will show you how to expertly explore your industry’s landscape.

Course overview

In the Certified Benchmarking Professional course, participants will learn how to integrate the benchmarking process and achieve results within their organization. Here are the course’s objectives:

• Associate benchmarking objectives with the organizational strategy
• Design a benchmarking plan for the organization
• Understand the fundamentals of benchmarking methodologies
• Assess performance gaps according to benchmarked data
• Select the relevant benchmarks and establish a monitoring process

Benefits

Benchmarking is a process that can improve any aspect of a business, from corporate strategy to one specific KPI, goal, or process. In today’s era of unbridled information, when the amount of data can create confusion, relevant  information is of the utmost importance. 

Participants will receive guidance and valuable international benchmarking expertise. After participating in the course, they will gain the following key learnings and other benefits:

• Improving the organizational processes through benchmarking best practices
• Linking benchmarked data to organizational strategy and performance objectives
• Setting up and applying a benchmarking plan to increase competitiveness for their respective organizations
• Acquiring strong competitive insights from benchmarking specialists’ experiences and best practice examples to suit the organization’s reality
• Obtaining 40 CPD credits to include in the CPD records for the professional body, institute, regulator or employer

Course structure and methodology

The course encompasses a three-stage educational process with an expected duration of 40 hours  broken down into:

1. Pre-course stage: This stage ensures a seamless transition into the training program. You will assess your current skills, engage with fellow participants through an interactive online forum, and lay the groundwork for a collaborative learning journey.
2. Core-course stage: You can choose between attending live online sessions or engaging in face-to-face interactions. You can expect an enjoyable experiential learning and a high level of interactivity as you complete your Individual Learning Maps and undertake the certification exam.
3. After-course stage: In this stage, you will be a part of thought-provoking forum discussions and explore additional readings. You will be able to develop an actionable plan tailored to your organization’s needs.

The course also provides participants with additional educational resources, such as Advanced Data Adjustment, Advanced Data Comparison Techniques, and The Benchmarking Infographic.

Course syllabus

The core course comprises nine learning modules:

1. Benchmarking Overview
2. Types of Benchmarking
3. Benchmarking Methodologies
4. Benchmarking Project Planning
5. Data Collection
6. Preparation for Data Analysis
7. Insights Generation
8. Improvement Process
9. Ethics in Benchmarking
   

Flexible learning options

Participants can learn from anywhere, and the course is frequently offered in several languages. In addition, learning materials can be accessed from anywhere, anytime. 

Certification and recognition

After completing the three stages of the course, participants will receive the following (soft copy):

• Certificate of Completion: after completing pre-course activities and passing the Certification Exam
• Certificate of Attendance: after taking part in the five-day live session course
• Certified Professional diploma: after completing all three stages of the learning experience (to be issued once the contractor has received the full payment)
• CPD Certificate of Attendance: once you have successfully obtained the Certified Professional Status

Benchmarking enables you to gain a reliable perspective for comparative analysis. Learn how to make smart comparisons for strategic decision-making by enrolling today! For more information, please click here.

Benchmarking is a powerful management tool used by businesses to track progress and assess their goals. It involves measuring the company’s operational performance compared against internal and external standards. 

Benchmarking is also about researching best practices in the industry to help a company reach a high-ranking performance level. It allows organizations to build a solid starting point.

Andrea Minelli, a management consultant at The KPI Institute, wrote an article on Performance Magazine about why companies must invest in benchmarking. He stressed that benchmarking has the potential to be a “powerful tool to promote continuous improvement in performance.”

Andrea explained that benchmarking allows businesses to concentrate on their advantages and disadvantages. It also enables them to increase their market position.

In another article on Performance Magazine, benchmarking enables businesses to compare performance data collected by analyzing identical processes or activities carried out by other businesses. The process of benchmarking lets organizations discover, adapt, and replicate the strategies that created the greatest outcomes for their best competitors.

According to the author, Andrada Ghețe, benchmarking supports the idea “that performance numbers can mean less when analyzed without having a point of reference (a benchmark) as a comparison starting point.”

“For example, in the airline industry, an airline company has a turnaround time of 55 minutes. Is it good, or bad? It is hard to find the answer, unless you compare this 55 minutes turnaround time to an objective standard, such as the industry average turnaround time for other airline companies,” Ghete wrote.

According to Business News Daily, the three most common types of benchmarking are Internal, Competitive, and Strategic.

Internal benchmarking refers to conducting comparisons within an organization. It can help a company save time and money by identifying and eliminating waste. Employee performance and effectiveness, as well as how employees use the resources supplied by the company, are examples of internal benchmarks that firms should consider. яндекс

Competitive benchmarking allows businesses to compare their company’s performance, product, and services against their competitors in the same market. Competitive benchmarks let companies catch up with the trends and adjust their marketing strategies to have a competitive advantage.

Strategic benchmarking refers to taking “a long-term view of company direction relative to the future strategies of competing companies.”

If you would like to know more about how your organization can benefit from benchmarking, join The KPI Institute’s Certified Benchmarking Professional Live Online on 18-22 April 2022.

Understand the importance of knowing the strengths and weaknesses of your best competitor. Learn how to constantly improve the performance of your organization. Know the difference benchmarking can make in your business  and register here.

The KPI Institute, the global authority in Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) research and education now offers weekly webinars that provide the information and best practices needed to understand the performance management architecture, overcome challenges and attain performance excellence, while following the process sequence.

The forth webinar from this series focuses on the benchmarking study process.

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