Printers can see how their business measures up to similar companies with a benchmarking service Future Print has just launched.
The confidential tool is run through external specialist organisation benchmarking.com, is free to businesses signed up to Future Print, and takes about an hour to complete using information from a firm’s annual report.
Participants can anonymously compare themselves to other Australian printers on performance indicators like sales, gross profit, outsourcing, wages and other overheads as a percentage of sales, debt days, and net profit to owner.
They can also compare themselves to businesses in other industries which share similar characteristics like size and turnover, based on KPIs gathered from the Australian Tax Office.
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Future Print advisor Richard Rasmussen says without an accurate comparison measure, most business owners tend to be overly optimistic about their position.
“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,” he says.
“Research shows that benchmarking is linked strongly to both business performance and operational performance.
“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.”
Because the program is run by an external specialist organisation and a secure login is required to access the site, not even Future Print advisors or the PIAA has access to the data.
Those registering for the Future Print Business Transformation Project and entering their data before until January 31 also get a report specific to their sector of the industry based on a complete analysis of all the data by Future Print.
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