Welcome to the BPIR blog

Over the last year, I have been busy running benchmarking workshops in Bahrain, Kuwait, UAE, Singapore and the United Kingdom. The training addresses the misconceptions surrounding benchmarking and aims to increase the professionalism of benchmarking through a certification scheme.

a) are focused on key areas of importance

b) have the buy-in of key stakeholders at each and every step of the project

TRADE significantly increases the likelihood that best practices will be found, often resulting in breakthrough improvements. On average, as identified in COER’s study, successful benchmarking projects produce a return of more than US$250,000 – therefore it is well worth investing the time in learning and adopting a proven methodology.

To help organisations learn more about benchmarking, COER has just launched a series of You Tube videos on benchmarking showing snippets from a presentation I gave at the Business Excellence Global Conference in Singapore:

1. A benchmarking example from the health sector

2. What is benchmarking?

3. TRADE best practice benchmarking and certification Part 1
 
4. TRADE best practice benchmarking and certification Part 2

5. Popularity of benchmarking

6. Benchmarking is becoming easier due to advances in social media

7. What is the BPIR.com? – and how it supports benchmarking

I hope that you find them useful. Good luck with your benchmarking efforts!

Best regards

Robin

Dr Robin Mann, Commercial Director and Part-Owner, BPIR.com Limited, This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it

According to a recent survey by the International Association of Business Communicators (IABC), social media offers an important and growing set of communications tools. These tools are being utilised by organisations worldwide for effective employee engagement.  The survey which involved almost 1500 participants specifically addressed the use of internal/external social media tools, see the charted results below. Blogs were used most at 47%, and discussion boards (or internet forums) ranked very high at 65% when planned future use is taken into account. Interestingly the survey revealed that more than half of top executives did not use social media, however 12% did regularly use internal and external social media.

 
See full survey results on the iabc.com website [pdf link]  

Neil Crawford

Senior Researcher
BPIR.com Limited

How has the recession affected your business and what are you doing about it? With the current economic climate organisations everywhere are thinking one thing: “How can we survive the recession?”

There are a number of ways your business can survive the recession. Some positive (reducing costs, optimizing, expanding), and some negative (layoffs, downsizing). Either way the BPIR.com can help you to research ideas and provide information on best practices for successful implementation.

The strength of the BPIR.com is found in its vast amount of content in the form of research and case studies, and the fact that it is all accessible by keyword searches. Our research can help to prove or disprove your current plans, and you do not have to reinvent the wheel but refer to case studies from award winning industry leaders.

If you haven't already - why not join the BPIR right now? Our resources will not only help you to get through the recession they can also help to take your business to the next level.

As a follow-up to our previous post on the telecommunications industry , check out the snippet below from one of our many cases studies.

 
Members may read the full article (click here)   which provides further helpful tips regarding three organisations that have bucked the trend by rising against the recession.

Embrace or die!  That’s what the choice seems to be for businesses today in terms of online networking.  It’s become so much an accepted part of ‘normal’ life for a large and increasing portion of the workforce that they need access to it throughout the day (a 2009 study showed out of 1483 respondents almost 75% used social networking sites for personal use within an organisation).  And if it isn’t authorised via the employer’s corporate internet service, well then, there is always the mobile phone evolution that is fast making mobile wireless internet browsing an affordable reality.  So, for businesses, it makes sense to encourage participation in online networks that can benefit personal and organisational performance.

What seems a long time ago now I joined Thomas Power’s network Ecademy.  This was prior to LinkedIn and Facebook even launched and was, I think, the first ‘social-business network’ to gain popularity.  I read up a lot on what could be gained from such an investment in time and browsed many guides on how to best ‘network’.  However my first effort to network online flopped; I didn’t invest the time necessary, even though I believed in it.  My workload was just too high, I thought.  Since then the world has moved on and now social networks play a critical part in the development of young people.  Wow!  Things change fast!  I am amazed every time when I hear researchers and psychologists comment on how online-communications are replacing the need for face-to-face meetings in the context of the development of children – or at least teenagers for now….  Whole friend- and support-networks are being developed online instead of by meeting others and socialising together personally.  It seems sad but it’s the way the world is going.  What’s even more surprising to me is that a huge proportion of online networkers are aged not in their twenties, but anything up to mid-fifties!  A recent study defined most Facebook users as college educated, white-collar workers, and more than 40% at over 35 years old.  Another study found half of all blog readers were between the ages of 31 and 50, and 18% were between 51 and 60.

Anyway, I do clearly see the huge advantage that organisations can gain from encouraging participation by employees in online networks, and I know that time spent in such networks is well-spent.  But the vast majority of organisations are not capitalising on these networks.  Just understanding and acknowledging that employees who use networks are likely to benefit through interacting with many, hopefully, peers by way of ‘organic learning’ is not enough to make a difference.  All organisations will be benefiting thus before long and hence the ‘benefit’ will be effectively neutralised.  What will define a true learning organisation from others will be the proactive decision to provide access to networks designed to promote the type of learning and contact that affects organisational performance. Well, what a coincidence! For the last 18 months here at BPIR.com we have been feverishly designing and developing a network portal that will allow our members to leverage the growing BPIR membership community, and create ways that we, as administrators, can help encourage the learning potential that exists for all in the network to filter back and translate into increases in organisational performance, and hence, into bottom line profit.  Our network is being rolled out as you read this blog.  For now the network is available only to members of BPIR and its partners.

Here are a handful of interesting survey snippets about social networks in the business environment.

That’s all for now.  Hopefully see you in the network!

Steve

General dog's body, grafter, and MD of BPIR.com Limited

Hello all

Thanks to all those BPIR members/supporters that participated in the Global Benchmarking Network's survey on "Business Improvement and Benchmarking." 

In total over 450 people responded from over 40 countries. It was the most comprehensive survey to date on the use of business improvement tools and,  in particular, on benchmarking. Key insights were revealed into this increasingly popular technique and how organisations were applying it and using it to improve their performance.    

Key findings were:

• Mission and Vision Statements and Customer (Client) Surveys are the most used (by 77% of organisations) of 20 improvement tools, followed by Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats (72%), and Informal Benchmarking (68%). Performance Benchmarking was used by (49%) and Best Practice Benchmarking by (39%).
• The tools that are likely to increase in popularity the most over the next three years are Performance Benchmarking, Informal Benchmarking, Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats, and Best Practice Benchmarking. Over 60% of organizations that are not currently using these tools indicated they are likely to use them in the next three years.
• When Best Practice Benchmarking is done well significant benefits are obtained with 20% of projects resulting in benefits worth $250,000.
• Respondents indicated that the external help/service that they most want (out of 8 services) is access to a best practice database!  This is obviously good news for the BPIR.com and means we are on the right track with our collection of 1,000's of best practices.

BPIR members can read the full report here, once logged in, and non-members can read Excerpts from a Report on the Global Use of Business Improvement Tools and Benchmarking.

Join now to read the full report.

II hope the report's findings will assist you all in undertaking benchmarking more effectively. 

Best regards

Robin

Dr Robin Mann, Commercial Director and Part-Owner, BPIR.com Limited.

Hello all

I thought I would share with you our next phase of development for the BPIR.com and hopefully get some feedback from you.

Currently the BPIR.com is an information resource. It contains one of the largest collections of best practices, benchmarks, self-assessment tools etc on the web.. However, with recent developments in web technology and the growing interest in social networking we are now planning to introduce the 2nd phase of development. This will transform the BPIR into an information and networking resource.

I recently attended the 3rd International Benchmarking Conference in Hungary, www.bestpracticeconference.com. Much of the talk here was to do with how technology can support benchmarking. One of the most interesting presentations was by Aad Streng, Corporate Quality, Philips.   Philips found that few people will implement a good idea without first consulting the owner of the idea/best practice. Hence, Aad emphasised that it is at least as important to connect people to people than to connect people to information. Aad then talked about how Philips through its profiling/social networking tools was encouraging its employees to network and learn from each other - with over 130,000 employees worldwide it was essential that knowledge was transferred effectively company-wide and social networking technology had a key role in this.  

Moving back to the BPIR… By May 2009 all our members will be able to develop their own personal and organisational profiles, share best practices, benchmarks and information on the tools they use. Members will be able to search and contact others to find information and collaborate on benchmarking projects. We will also be encouraging this sharing through providing a number of best practice awards to those organisations/people that share their best practices with others. All in all we want to make the BPIR the No.1 website for sharing best practices so that if you have a certain problem or issue you can raise it with our membership and obtain good ideas on how to move forward.

For further information on social networking and the use of technology I have provided links to three interesting articles:

 Overview on Web 2.0 and social software - This is a short paper written by the Global Benchmarking Network that provides a simple introduction and explanation of Web 2.0 technology. Read full article: Overview of Web 2.0 and Social Software

Social networking sites good for business - Good news for workers addicted to Facebook, Bebo and MySpace, a British think-tank says bosses should not stop their staff using social networking sites because they could actually benefit their firms.  The report by Demos said encouraging employees to use networking technologies to build relationships and closer links with colleagues and customers could help businesses rather than damage them. Click here for full article.

Towards NHS 2.0 -  This white paper discusses the changes in the UK's National Health Service. It draws parellels between the changes from a Web 1.0 (being fed generic information) to a Web 2.0 (networking and personalised information) environment and a Health 1.0 and Health 2.0 environment. It discusses what this means for patients and clinicians. Read full article: Towards NHS 2.0 

So, how can you help the BPIR? Please let me know what functionality you would like in the BPIR from a social networking perspective? How can we best help you to build up your networks and learn from other organisations? What service would help you the most?  

Looking forward to hearing from you,  Robin

(Dr Robin Mann, Commercial Director and Part-Owner, BPIR.com Limited).