Industry Benchmarks: Measuring Performance
At the most practical level, it is beneficial to be knowledgeable of the direction of markets in terms of year-over-year growth, profitability and key cost ratios. At a higher level, it is important to understand which products and technologies production printing establishments are investing in. Operational and business development can be visualized along the two axes shown above. On the operating ratio side, there are a total of 10 data points developed from this survey that a company can use to evaluate its performance. While some of these ratios are straight off the income statement, others are designed to provide insights on how busy a shop is, or how productive its workforce and sales force are relative to its peers.
Tim Greene is a Research Director within IDC's Hardcopy Solutions group. Greene is responsible for coverage of the large format printing, 3D printing, and digital signage markets.
