Why Join a Users Group?
Why visit another company to benchmark face-to-face? In this internet age, isn't all the information you need available on-line, in the media, or at professional conferences?
Face-to-face interaction is indispensable. The sources of competitive advantage for most companies are relatively hidden practices that bundle tacit knowledge and implicit cultural traits. A company’s value increasingly derives not just from things, but from know-how, intellectual assets, competencies—all of it embedded in people. The contribution of intangible resources to US economic performance has increased from 30% in 1930 to over 70% today. To really learn from others, you have to go see them in their own situation and hear things firsthand.