Nokia Siemens Networks

Is your business fit for business?

To improve your competitiveness there’s only place to start: the beginning.

Say the word benchmarking and people tend to tune out and try to change the subject as soon as possible.

But the results can be quite revealing in any industry. American Machinist magazine carried out a benchmarking analysis of its subscribers in 2007 and discovered that the most successful machine shops (their ‘benchmark’ shops) were able to finish eighteen times more jobs than their less-successful competitors.

At the same time, these benchmark shops spent three times as much on tooling. The implication for non-benchmark shops was clear: spend more on tooling and the increased revenue will more than make up for it.

Using benchmarking to plan for a successful future

In this industry, as mobile- and fixed-line operators find themselves undergoing a sea change – transforming from single, voice, networks, to multi-offering, multi-service converged communications networks – there has never been a better time to step back and measure fitness with respect to the competition, then plan for change in a precise, step-by-step manner.

Clearly, the success of operators in the future will depend on several factors: their current state of fitness (network efficiency), their willingness to learn from the results of their benchmarking analyses, and their ability to meet fast-changing demand for new services.

Improving efficiency is critical

In today's competitive environment, greater operational efficiency translates into higher margins and faster-than-market growth. According to Nokia Siemens Networks industry-leading benchmarking analyses, overall industry profits could rise by more than 10% if all service providers operated at the same high level of efficiency as the market leaders.

Improving efficiency also enables service providers to adopt a more customer-centric approach to their business. They can spend less time on internal systems and processes, and more time on their customers and core business to build more sophisticated customer relationship systems.

Forming a vision and strategy

A good benchmarking program generally has three components:

• positioning your company in the business model ecosystem.
• identifying key areas of challenges in reaching the vision.
• assessing the financial implications of a chosen improvement path.

Finally, it is essential that you work with quality data – the more the merrier. Partner with a benchmarking firm that has plenty of experience and as much information as possible about the competitive environment within which your organization operates.

If the data is good, and your benchmarking partner has a solid grasp of the competitive environment, then the benchmarking process should make it obvious – as the American Machinist survey did for its subscribers – how your company can improve its prospects as it transforms to meet ever-changing demand for services.