Jollibee benchmarks its IT organization

Jollibee Foods Corp. wants to be better prepared for more of its future undertakings, be it regional or local, by making sure that its IT organization is agile enough to become very efficient and effective for its business expansions.

For its growing chain, which now includes Jollibee, Greenwich, Chowking, Delifrance and Yonghe (recently acquired in China), the company has engaged XMG, one of the leading vendor-neutral information and communications technology research and advisory companies, to conduct an IT value benchmarking project.

XMG’s efficiency and effectiveness benchmarks assess the cost of providing IT services and the quality of IT services respectively.

A First For Jollibee

Jollibee is taking pride that this endeavor makes it the first wholly owned Filipino enterprise to do an IT benchmarking project of this scale ever.

According to Paul Zaldarriaga, Jollibee Foods vice president for shared services, aside from his company making a first with this engagement, doing benchmarking early on will make them aware of what can further strengthen their internal systems.

"By knowing where we stand (in terms of IT development), we help improve our (service) levels while containing (our) costs," he says.

Weeks from now, XMG will deliver a report determining the efficiency and effectiveness of the food chain’s IT services.

By developing a baseline for Jollibee, XMG will help the company understand better the competitive value of its IT areas and provide advisories for improvements.

Simply put, by doing this exercise, the leading food chain will gain valuable insight into cost reduction and doing more within the existing budget conditions.

"The benchmarking exercise is intended to determine if the cost structure of Jollibee’s IT department is already optimal compared to how other companies in the same industry or of the same size (as theirs) are managing their IT operations," says Cesar Tolentino, XMG’s acting managing director.

"This way, Jollibee can anticipate if the increasing integration of IT operations brought about by the consolidation of operations among its subsidiaries can actually benefit from economies of scale by having a shared service center for IT operations," he adds.

XMG Benchmarking Differentiation

Some companies have tried doing benchmarking initiatives as well, but Tolentino is clear on one thing.

"Other benchmarking exercises tend to be one-dimensional and limited in scope and effectiveness. Such exercises focus entirely on the financial aspect of business operations. That is, the purpose of benchmarking is typically intended to improve the financial efficiency (cost optimization) of business operations," he says.

"What is often lacking is the qualitative aspect – ensuring business objectives are met and that there is buy-in from the organization whenever operational changes are adopted as a result of benchmarking exercises," he adds.

Tolentino says XMG’s benchmarking exercise "is a careful balance of the two – quantitative and qualitative goals and objectives on why an assessment is being made between a company’s ongoing operations and a set of ideal targets."

"It is more tedious but definitely more comprehensive," he says. "But it certainly provides a more reliable picture of whether a company’s ongoing operation is optimum and effective."

Zaldarriaga agrees that this value is the differentiating factor. "We have looked around and (XMG) is clearly ahead (in this regard)," he says.