If price benchmarking is to be successful, these limitations must be kept in mind throughout the entire process, from the planning to the execution to the implementa­tion of the results, and from the perspective of sourcing strategy as well. In actual practice, however, we see over and over that unrealistic goals and expectations are set right from the planning stage, causing the inevitable disappointment with respect to the benchmark, the service performance, and the customer relationship.

Price benchmarks are a tried and proven management method for the examination of the market compatibility of IT service prices which should be seen as an indispens­able part of the IT sourcing toolkit. But the complexity inherent in price benchmarking should never be underestimated because answering such seemingly simple ques­tions as, “What are the goals of the benchmark?”, “How do I draw up sensible frame­work conditions?”, “How should the benchmark process be controlled?”, “How should the results be implemented?” have a major influence on its success.