Covert Benchmarking

Covert benchmarking enables the client to benchmark themselves against ‘best in class’ processes/practices adopted by both competitors and companies within other sectors.

Covert benchmarking has significant advantages over the more common overt approach. The key problems with overt benchmarking are: the time required to obtain cooperation and to set up the process; the lack of control over the speed at which companies submit their data; the accuracy of the data provided; the fact that the client needs to be prepared to share its own performance data in order to obtain that of the selected companies; the fact that all the benchmark data comes from the companies selected whereas in reality they may not be exponents of “best practice” across the board.

Covert benchmarking, targeting a broader spectrum of companies, avoids all these problems. It also has the added advantage of contacting individuals directly responsible for the functions, rather than those nominated to take part in a benchmarking programme. A telephone based approach means that the collection need not be confined to companies in a certain geography.