In business terms, Gap analysis is considered to be a tool to measure out the necessary steps that need to be taken to improve the current state of a business, and to achieve a more desired state in the future. Gap analysis is also known as the need gap analysis because it needs analysis, and it needs assessment. Gap analysis is a study of how a business is doing in the current situation and where it wants to reach in the near future.

In order to ensure that your company achieves that desired state, you need to assess a few things first.

  • You need to list the characteristic factors (such as attributes, competencies, performance levels) of the current situation of the company.
  • You need to list factors that are desired in the future.
  • You need to highlight the gaps that exist and which need to be filled.

Reasons you need Gap Analysis done for your company:

  • To assess the service quality of your company.
  • To understand what your customers want from you.
  • To assess the service between you and your competitors.
  • To bridge the gap between your service quality and the desired state.
  • Gaps can be found in any process, tiers and levels of an organization.
  • Gap Analysis is one of the best techniques that a company can adopt, as it not only improves their processes, but it also helps to assess which processes need improvements the most.

You can conduct a gap analysis by measuring various yardsticks:

There are different methods to conduct Gap Analysis:

  • SERVQUAL: SERVQUAL is a unique method of GAP Analysis that has adopted a set of questions which is divided into five categories: Tangible, Responsiveness, Reliability, Assurance, and Empathy.
  • ISO 9001:2000: International Organization for Standardization, is the world authority figure and determiner of International Standards. You can measure the GAPS with reference to the Standards provided by ISO and research unique ways to solve them.
  • SAGA (Self-Assessment Gap Analysis): SAGA, without sending a list of questions like SERVQUAL, adopts a process which is used to take a close peek at an organization’s interim operations.
  • Two-dimensional analysis.

Reasons why Gaps occur in the service industry:

Gap 1: Not being able to perceive what the clients anticipate:

  • Lack of showcasing introduction.
  • Inadequate correspondence inside the administration
  • Multiple levels of administration powers.

Gap 2: A low standard of service quality:

  • Inadequate guarantee to administration quality
  • Lack of view of achievability
  • The unlucky deficiency of objective setting
  • Inadequate undertaking institutionalization

Gap 3: The GAP of how the service performs: Vague and conflicting roles:

  • Unsure of what your benefits are and how they compare to others’.
  • Poor representative or innovation fit; utilizing the wrong individual or innovation for a work.
  • Inappropriate supervisor control or there’s a deficiency in administrative control. Serious or poor control brings about GAPS in a business.
  • Lack of group proficiency

Gap 4: When the things that were promised don’t meet the genuine conveyance:

  • Inadequate correspondence between divisions or administrations
  • An affinity to overpromise

Gap 5: The distinction between what clients expect of an administration and what they receive:

  • The clients will have expectations based on past encounters, so impart those encounters among companions and meet the needs of the customers.

Assessments are the stepping stone for two arrangements of articulations in gatherings as indicated by SURVQUAL.