Operations: Two industry veterans share their insights on using Benchmarks & Best Practices

Barry: That leads me back to my contention that best practices may be more valuable than individual pieces of data. Benchmarking will point to a specific function or area to review for improvement. But detailed analysis of process and implementation of best practices is how you effect change.

Kislik: Plus, the averages actually could denote some terrible number for, say, performance levels. Say a study finds some average on customer service, and you’re doing better than that, well, that’s great. In that case, it doesn’t really matter what everyone else is doing, because you’re doing well.