The Austrian transport and forwarding enterprises are currently finding themselves in a situation where they:

1. are obliged to deliver numerous data to Statistics Austria at given deadlines which represents an intensely time-consuming task without any directly noticeable use to them,
2. are not or only insufficiently acquainted with their own economic situation and
3. cannot objectively estimate their industry’s situation.

Besides, numerous data are automatically (commercial) vehicle-related generated and accumulated presently but lack availability in the sense of the points listed above. Company comparisons, often subsumed under the English term ‘benchmarking’, are a frequently used instrument for controlling and quality management in business administration and other disciplines.

Given that the organised comparison of cost, performance or effective factors represents the basic principle of benchmarking, the formal comparability of the values used in terms of standardised reporting, assessment and evaluation is an essential prerequisite. Online benchmarking platforms permit entrepreneurs to– often anonymously – enter their data and directly receive benchmarks or best-practice examples.

Highly sophisticated benchmarking instruments allow the production of high-quality comparative data and knowledge. Intelligent benchmarking systems enable data collection via interfaces and automated data processing as well as data entry by different participants with very specific entry and reporting rights. What comes into play in the process is the homogeneity of the partners and thus their comparability on the one hand and data protection issues on the other.

In the Benchmark TransSped project an online benchmarking platform will be developed, enabling collection of (commercial) vehicle-related generated and business data. Firstly, this will be an ideal basis for enhancement of the quality of currently available industry data and secondly, for allowing transport and forwarding enterprises to better assess their own business situation and to compare it with the industry, regional or other benchmarks.