The World Bank, multinational companies and software
suppliers have announced plans to store the definition of thousands
of business processes on an online database.
The proposed benchmarking service, which is backed by companies
including Shell Oil, consumer goods firm Procter & Gamble, the
US Navy, analyst firm Gartner and IBM, could help IT directors
compare the performance of their IT systems and business processes
with that of other companies.
The database will also save companies from having to pay for
benchmarking software and services offered by consultancies and
analysts.
Business processes covered by the plans include supply chain,
financial management, IT, customer service, marketing, and sales
efficiency.
The companies and organisations involved are working with the
American Productivity & Quality Center to create a standard set
of thousands of measures of business processes, ranging from the
cost of processing a customer order to reducing wastage on the
factory floor.
Companies can view the information in the database for free if they
provide measurements about their own business processes while
retaining commercial confidentiality.
"Organisations rely on third-party evaluations of their performance
with no real view of the accuracy of that analysis beyond their
industry or geography.
"Most crave a better way to compare and benchmark themselves with
their peers," said APQC president Carla O'Dell.
David Roberts, chief executive of the Corporate IT Forum, welcomed
the initiative and said it would help IT directors judge their
performance within an industry. But he added that firms would still
be faced with the difficult task of changing their IT and business
processes to the highest industry standard.
"The real art is making an improvement [to IT and business
processes]. The information [in the database] will not tell you how
to change your business processes."
Although benchmarking services have become commonplace, they are
usually proprietary in the way information is collected and tend to
be narrower in the technologies or industries they focus on.