What is Benchmarking?

Benchmarking is the process of identifying specific reference points for your business to measure performance, efficiency and quality. It can be used in many different ways, though it ultimately comes down to seeing how you stack up against your peers and against your own past performance. It is through benchmarking that practices can also better understand areas for improvement and find ways to offer a wider range of services, as well as improve profitability.

Internal vs. External

Benchmarking comes in two forms: internal and external. Internal benchmarking is the process of comparing the current state of your practice against historical performance. Internal benchmarking can also help create progressive goals towards longer term objectives as you define bottlenecks, unnecessary expenses, etc.

External benchmarking compares your practice against the performance of others in your industry and/or specialty. External benchmarking can offer a window into general competitor performance as a way of seeing how effectively others perform similar tasks. Through external benchmarking, practices can see not only how they stack up, but also where they specifically fall short.

Information is Critical

Information is critical to benchmarking