Point, Counterpoint - Part II by Dr. Jon Anton November 2, 2005   One Reader’s Point of View on Benchmarking: "Why worry about what everyone or competitors are doing in your industry? Your callers and customers are generally only concerned about YOUR performance. Is your performance improving? If your customers are happy with the service, then they are not likely to move because of service issues."   He goes on to say, "Therefore in order to protect your margin, volume and revenue provide good service and improve your service relative to your own past performance. In other words, use your own baseline as the measure of performance and improvement. Benchmarks are at best guides and directional, NOT definitive standards."   Gary Lemke’s Response: The one point I want to highlight in this response is that benchmarking may be a guideline but it is not a replacement for the diligent work of continual process improvement tied to the customer experience. Looking at your operations from the perspective of the customer is always going to be more rewarding than from the perspective of a collection of other call centers. Do you agree?   Dr. Jon’s Counterpoint: Again, I agree completely with both the reader and Gary. Benchmarking does NOT replace internal performance tracking and due diligence. BUT, knowing what your competitors are achieving in terms of performance is also an important “additive” piece of business “intel.” Here is an example…….let’s take agent turnover…..this is an important call center performance measurement. Let’s say that you’re improving each year by reducing agent turnover by 10% per year with all kinds of innovative employee retention programs that cause agents to stay longer….these results would be a definite cause for managerial celebration....BUT, what if you benchmarked other centers like your own in the same basic geography, and your turnover was double theirs (in spite of your improvements)…..you might wonder why???…..benchmarking will not tell you WHY you’re under-performing, BUT it will stimulate further investigation as to WHY you’re loosing great agents at a higher rate as compared to others like you in the same geography……EVEN though you’re improving…   Regarding the reader’s second comment “Your callers and customers are generally only concerned about YOUR performance. Is your performance improving? If your customers are happy with the service, then they are not likely to move because of service issues." Basically, the reader is correct again….BUT what if a metric like “agent utilization” is much lower at your center than at other centers like yours in the same industry…..yes, your callers will never notice….BUT, under utilization of agents is costing your company many dollars that are NOT achieving any additive customer value…..so by benchmarking your center, it becomes clear that your not properly utilizing your agents….again, benchmarking does not address the WHY this is so….…BUT, the benchmark data set will get your attention to an issue that warrants your further investigation and correction…..in conclusion, think of benchmarking as an additive managerial data point that answers the basic question “how good is good enough”……being better as compared to last year’s results at your center may NOT be good enough…