IT Benchmarking – Determine your starting position!

Do you know your location?

Admittedly, this is a bit of a strange question to start a blog post with, because of course you know where you are! It would be very surprising and, to be honest, extremely irritating if you didn’t know.
But do you also know where your IT is located? To be more precise: Do you know where your IT performance stands in comparison to that of your competitors? Better? Worse? On a par?
Having this knowledge is not only interesting, but also extremely helpful in achieving your business goals. Because only those who know their weaknesses as well as their strengths can improve their IT performance in a targeted manner.
In IT benchmarking, we compare the performance of your company’s IT services with those of another. The aim is to identify optimization potential and derive recommendations on how to improve performance in your company. This is based on best practice projects, which are used as references.

What is IT benchmarking?

IT benchmarking is a strategic method in which the performance of a company’s IT services is compared with those of other companies. Of course, only the comparison with the best in class is worthwhile. The BAMAC GROUP focuses on financial evaluation with the aim of achieving an economic advantage in terms of value added for its customers.

Advantages of IT benchmarking

Knowledge of your own IT efficiency is also the basis for successful digitalization in your company. Achieving efficient IT requires efficient processes, mastery of software development and a powerful IT infrastructure. It does not matter whether they are in-house developments or customized versions of standard software.

IT benchmarking is the ongoing process of measuring products, services and practices and comparing them with the strongest competitors or companies that are considered industry leaders.

What is the subject of IT benchmarking?

IT benchmarking at the BAMAC GROUP focuses on three dimensions:

• IT infrastructures with networks (LAN/WAN), telephony, servers, data and workplace
• IT applications with in-house developments, SAP and non-SAP applications
• IT processes with the ITIL and CMMI maturity models.

Our approach

Based on the customer data, the entities listed in the process and function model are identified and evaluated. The results provide our customers with information on strengths and weaknesses, deviations from best practice solutions and cost drivers. We use agile management that combines a rapid approach with sustainable results. The iteration length is agreed individually with our customers.
In the following, we present the individual steps of IT benchmarking:

Initialization

The first step is to record customer expectations. The resulting target image, the big picture so to speak, is the basis for the scope of the IT benchmarking analysis and the planning to be drawn up. Checking the availability of resources and data as well as integration into the customer organization are important steps in this phase.

• Developing the big picture
• Determine scope for IT benchmarking (tailoring)
• Stakeholder management
• Planning the project

Kick-Off

All project stakeholders meet at the kick-off. The planning and the expected result types are discussed here. If not already done, the workshops will be scheduled and, if necessary, further contact persons will be named. The organizational integration with the customer should be completed by the deadline.

• Present and define schedule
• Arrange workshops
• Interview partner

Analysis

In the next step of IT benchmarking, the BAMAC GROUP analyzes the data provided by the customer. These are collected as part of workshops and interviews and/or provided via files. In this step, comprehension questions are also resolved and the data is checked for benchmark capability. The BAMAC GROUP uses statistical and stochastic methods from the field of data analytics for data analysis, both for IT infrastructures and IT applications. Methods from the field of predictive analytics are also used for “time travel” in the context of forecasting cost trends and development speeds of IT systems.

• Ensure availability of interview partners
• Provide data
• Data analysis
• Establish benchmark capability

QA workshop

As part of the quality assurance workshop, assumptions are discussed and solutions developed in the event that data is missing for IT benchmarking. This may result in adjustments to the target image or the agreed planning. Additional analysis activities can follow from the workshop results.

• Ask open questions
• Check/correct assumptions
• Evaluate initial results
• Identify and provide additional data sources

Results

Once the analysis has been completed and the open issues from the QA workshop have been resolved, they are documented and presented to a committee agreed with the customer. On average, the duration, also known as the sprint length, of an IT benchmarking run is 1 to 6 weeks.

• Prepare and present results
• Presentation of the identified optimizations
• Select improvement measures (projects)
• Decision template

The figure below illustrates the process once again.

The comparison in IT benchmarking

For its analyses, the BAMAC GROUP has access to an extensive pool of data that is continuously updated. We have already successfully implemented more than 12,000 projects and we can draw on this experience and the resulting data.

The BAMAC GROUP provides results on costs and prices in the three dimensions:

• IT infrastructures:
  • General conditions, quantities, quality, costs, personnel, service catalog and service level, prices, output quantities
• IT applications:
  • Service level, speed, functions, IT architecture, personnel, prices, costs and time for development and operation
• IT processes:
  • Service level, process key figures

What you get!

IT benchmarking provides our customers with fact-based information for optimization. Whether you need results on improved purchasing conditions, cost-effective process and project optimization or advice on the right development strategy, we provide you with sound and reliable key figures – worldwide. But not only that, we also actively support you in implementing the proposed optimization measures.

If you would like to delve even deeper into the topic of IT benchmarking, you can find detailed case studies from our IT benchmarking practice about the performance of IT products and about positioning and orientation in our blog. If you have any questions or comments, please contact us!