Benchmarking as business tool

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Benchmarking is a business enhancement, planning and development tool, it is widely used by the legal professions. The analysis focuses on four key areas:

• Financial performance indicators.
• Day-to-day management systems.
• Business development.
• Human resources issues.

Benchmarking provides an opportunity to assess performance against comparable businesses and gives an insight into the current business environment.

The RIBA provides a benchmarking service based on an annual survey of the UK architect’s profession. This annual benchmarking survey provides vital business knowledge about how a practise compares to others across a broad spectrum of criteria. Practises are able to make comparisons with the average data provided for practises of similar size, type and region. This allows them to identify areas of strength weakness and opportunity, and to develop a strategy that aims for improvements on a yearly basis.

Benchmarking is also a process that takes into consideration the estimated performance of a project and if costs are been compared, can highlight areas of design that do not offer good value for money. It can also aid in the assessment of tenders from suppliers and contractors, creating a baseline for a cost/ value led approach to procurement. For more information see project benchmarking.

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