It’s one of the questions you ask yourself in the wee small hours – ‘Does my business measure up?’ Now, there’s a way to find out: Media Super Benchmarking.
Offered as part of the recently launched Future Print Business Transformation Project, the new service is just one of a number of tools which aims to help the program meet its aim of ‘Developing People, Developing Businesses’.
Media Super Benchmarking, offered online through benchmarking.com, is a free service for members of the printing and print-related industries who want a quick and confidential means of measuring, monitoring and improving their business performance.
“Without an accurate comparison measure, most of us tend to be overly optimistic about our position,” explains Richard Rasmussen, Future Print Advisor.
“Benchmarking is a ‘reality check’ – it provides a very clear picture of how your business is tracking against other similar organisations across key performance indicators so you can realistically assess your situation, see where improvements can be made and set goals for your business development.
“Research shows that benchmarking is linked strongly to both business performance and operational performance, and that is what the Future Print Business Transformation Project is all about – giving you the information, resources, tools and assistance to build a business which is strong, profitable and ready to face the challenges of the future.”
The good news for business owners is that the process should take less than an hour, with a straightforward online format allowing quick and easy data input of KPIs from your 2013-2014 financial reports. And, it’s completely free of charge, thanks to the generous sponsorship of Media Super.
“We know business owners are time-poor, so we’ve worked with benchmarking.com to design a system which is fast, user-friendly and specifically tailored to print and related industries,” Rasmussen says.
“Registration and setup can be done very efficiently, and then you can instantly see your businesses strengths and weaknesses compared with businesses like yours from across the industry in key areas like sales, gross profit, outsourcing, wages and other overheads as a percentage of sales, debt days and net profit to owner, among other things.
"You’ll also get a snapshot of how your business is tracking against businesses in other industries which share similar characteristics like size and turnover, based on KPIs gathered from the ATO.
“It’s not a ‘one off’, either – business owners can go back and enter new data as their plans progress to check how they are going on addressing their weaknesses and building on their strengths,” he said.
All data is absolutely secure and completely confidential. The program is run by an external specialist organisation and secure login is required to access the site – not even Future Print Business Advisors or Printing Industries has access to the data.
Businesses must be registered with the Future Print Business Transformation Project to access the Media Super Benchmarking service, but Rasmussen says that registration is quick and easy and, most importantly, gives owners access not only to this service, but also the wider information, resources, ideas and personal support which can help businesses address the issues identified and get them sorted.
Those who want to take advantage of the first round of the Media Super Benchmarking service have until 31 January 2015 to enter their 2013-2014 data, after which Future Print will conduct a complete analysis of all the data and provide participants with a report specific to their sector of the industry.
With a New Year looming, there has never been a better time to plan for a more successful future – just go to the Future Print Website to find your local Business Advisor, who will take you through the quick and easy registration process and forward access details for the Media Super Benchmarking service.
Printing Industries Association of Australia
www.printnet.com.au
