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Analyst Advisory and Market Intelligence
A standing relationship with an analyst who talks to HR practitioners all year. Two ways in — access to what we know, and hours you can spend however you need. Most vendors end up running both.
What a standing outside view gives you
- A wider sample than your pipeline. Most of what any team knows about its market is built from people who already agreed to talk to them. We spend the year talking to the ones who did not.
- Competitive context that stays current. Competitive intelligence tends to live in a document that gets attention when someone has time. Ours is the work itself.
- Earlier sight of category movement. Shifts in how a category gets bought usually show up in research before they show up in a deal.
- A fresh read on your positioning. If it has been a while since anyone outside the building looked at it closely, that is worth changing.
Two ways to work with us
Subscription — access to what we know
Market intelligence
- Insights@Work, our proprietary buyer-behavior research, including findings, benchmarks, and the forward research calendar
- A custom buyer insights report cut for your category
- Practitioner panels — access to attend and listen to real buyers talk without you in the room shaping it
Strategic services
- An annual strategy session
- Office hours
- Analyst day attendance
Brand awareness
- Priority for briefings and sponsorship opportunities
- Press release and sales deck quotes, with prior written approval
- A guest slot on the podcast
Advisory retainer — hours you direct
Up to ten hours of analyst support each quarter, spent however you need it.
- Quick market snapshots — “who is actually active in skills platforms right now?”
- Feature and function reviews built from public data
- Trend signal calls — a scheduled pulse check on M&A, category shifts, and buyer behavior
- Analyst check-ins for Q&A, feedback, or directional input by email or a quick call
- Briefing reviews — sanity checks on your positioning, decks, and messaging before they go out
On-call access
Between the scheduled things, send the quick ones. “Have you seen anyone doing this lately?” “Can you gut-check this pricing page?” “Is this feature showing up in other categories?” You get a short answer or a short call.
Priority and perks
- First access to analyst briefings and podcast guest opportunities
- Preview of early insights from Insights@Work before publication
- Discounted rates on alignments, custom research, and strategic content
- Participation in analyst days, user conferences, and VIP events, subject to availability
Confidentiality, since this is the private side of the house
Advisory work never becomes published research about you. What you share in a retainer does not travel to your competitors, and we do not use one client’s information to advise another.
We also never take possession of your customer data or client lists. Where it helps the research, we may ask you to forward a survey invitation to your clients so their experience is represented in the findings — you control the send, and responses reach us in aggregate. Full policy.
Questions before signing
Do you work with our competitors?
Almost certainly, yes. We are an analyst firm covering a category, which means we talk to everyone in it — that is precisely what makes the outside read worth paying for. What protects you is confidentiality: nothing you tell us travels, and we never advise one client using another’s information. Category exclusivity would mean a much narrower view of the market, which would make the advice considerably less useful to you.
What exactly is Insights@Work?
Our ongoing buyer-behavior research program — original survey data on how HR and operations leaders actually evaluate, buy, and adopt technology. Subscribers get findings, benchmarks, and the forward calendar so you can time your own work to it.
What is the difference between the subscription and the retainer?
The subscription is access: research, benchmarks, panels, a strategy session, quote rights, briefing priority. The retainer is hours: ten a quarter of analyst time you point at whatever you need. Same price, different thing, and they are designed to be run together.
What happens to unused retainer hours?
They are scoped per quarter, so the rhythm matters more than the accounting. If you have a quiet quarter and a heavy one coming, tell us and we will work with you rather than run a stopwatch.
Can we get analyst quotes for our press releases?
Yes, with prior written approval, included in the subscription. We will not approve a quote asserting something we do not believe, which is what makes the quote worth having.
Is there a minimum term?
Both are annual. Under-5M-ARR pricing is available on both, and there is a startup track if you are earlier than that.
Can this convert into sponsored research later?
Yes, and it often does. Retainer and subscription clients get discounted rates on sponsorship, alignments, and custom research. Buying advisory does not entitle you to favorable treatment in published research, though — those stay separate.
Start with a fit call
Fifteen to thirty minutes on what you are trying to see that you currently cannot.
Book a fit call →
Want to meet us first? Brief us — free, and no obligation either way.
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