Supply Chain Benchmarking Is All About Ownership
“I just don’t trust the benchmark” is the first response we often get when we show a client for the first time that their utilization cost is much higher in a particular commodity group then their peers. Since we have heard this same tune before, we then proceed to show our client their OWN internal benchmarks (if they are a system or IDN) and their OWN historical metrics over the last eight quarters.
This process of sharing multiple data points with our client enables us to triangulate our benchmark with our client’s OWN known, reliable and defendable internal data to confirm our benchmark’s validity. This procedure usually affirms to our client that our benchmark is consistent with his or her OWN internal data and therefore makes good business sense for our client to investigate this savings opportunity.
The operative word in this benchmarking validation process is OWNERSHIP. When your customers see with their OWN eyes that your benchmark is consistent with their OWN internal data you can then make a believer of them. Without their OWNERSHIP (or believability of your data) you will never ever get your customers to judge that your benchmark is reliable, dependable or trustworthy. It’s just that simple!
