The CEO Agenda Insights research study performed by Gartner, in 2015, indicates that IT investments have increased since last year and 50% of them are now dedicated to business intelligence analytics tools. These statistics reveal an increased interest in terms of collecting and processing big data volumes.
Nowadays, due to increasing competition in the business world, most of the firms and organizations are obliged to adjust to new ways of enhancing their performance. This improvement is mainly linked with the implementation of performance management systems, new strategic directions, or important shifts in the strategy of the organization.
If we take a moment and look back at the last ten to fifteen years, we can easily observe the complex process of evolution that concerns marketing strategies, tools and techniques. The fast development of blogs, social media channels, YouTube videos, content websites, tools such as AdWords and AdSense have not only changed our perception and reformed the reality we live in, but have become, throughout the years, inconsistent and less popular. People are, nowadays, more aware and better informed about marketing practices and, therefore, they seek for real value in the choices they make.
Making data available to citizens is no news for the Governments which aim at improving their current level of performance. The City of Seattle has understood that a transparent approach to conducted activities and obtained results is the leading path towards both a better relationship with the citizens, and a roadmap to performance.
Benchmarking, or learning from best practices, can boost a company’s performance by enabling a learning experience that relies on underlining the best in-class practices and their integration into your own organizational processes. Moreover, benchmarking allows companies to focus on strengths and weaknesses in comparison to those of their main competitors and, as such, it supports them in strengthening their position on the market. Nowadays, benchmarking is one of the most frequently used strategies for improving business performance.