Benchmarking is not a spreadsheet. It’s infrastructure
Carla O’Dell didn’t just promote benchmarking, she scaled it globally. As CEO of the American Productivity & Quality Center (APQC), she transformed benchmarking from an internal exercise into a structured, cross-industry knowledge system.
Before APQC, benchmarking was internal, isolated and tactical. Under her leadership, it became cross-industry, data-driven and institutional. Her key insight was simple: data has no value, application does.
Benchmarking is not comparison. It is a knowledge discipline — capture → interpret → implement. That principle underpins TaxFitness.
Benchmarking should not sit in:
- Excel
- A consultant’s slide deck
- A once-a-year review
It must sit inside the compliance meeting. When an accountant can say: “Here’s where you sit versus the Top 20%, and here’s what to fix.” That’s commercial benchmarking. Measure the gap, close the gap and monetise the gap.
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"You’d be stupid not to try to cut your tax bill and those that don’t are stupid in business"
- Bono: U2