NelsonHall researches and creates comprehensive profiles of leading vendors, evaluating their capabilities and offerings in all major global BPS and ITS markets. Our analysts work closely with vendor AR, strategy, and C-Suite executives to understand their business in depth, and the resulting vendor profiles and NEAT evaluations are an essential reference for buyers in their sourcing efforts. Vendors also benefit by showcasing their capabilities to global buyers in comparison with their peers in these markets.

However, vendors who are NelsonHall clients are increasingly taking advantage of a value-added service, a COMPASS session, that has grown considerably in popularity over the past year. A COMPASS session provides valuable strategic input direct to participating vendor executives and assists them in developing their company’s positioning and offerings.

COMPASS sessions are typically 30-minute calls with a NelsonHall analyst, who provides specific insights about the vendor’s capabilities and performance and the direction of the market. Essentially, this is a SWOT analysis with actionable insights for the specific service line that was covered in a NEAT report.

These insights include performance in comparison with their peers, their strengths, areas of opportunity that can be worked on, and feedback from the vendor’s clients and the wider industry client base. The emphasis on potential product & service enhancements is particularly strong, incorporating buy-side requirements and providing examples of best practice offering development from across the industry.

A single COMPASS session is often regarded as an excellent return on investment for the entire program subscription price. Examples of recent feedback from senior vendor executives include:

“Wow! Great call! I was getting lots of messages from folks about how valuable the call was and the depth of the material was excellent...thank you for your time and your expertise.”
– IBM

“Thank you so much for sharing key insights on our positioning and also competitive information which is very helpful.”
– Infosys

In the next blog in this series, find out how to arrange a session, who should attend, what to expect, the logistics of the session, and the key content areas in more detail.

Compass sessions are a valuable opportunity for vendors to access subject matter experts who have carried out detailed research in recent months. If you are interested in arranging a Compass session, reach out to Guy Saunders, Beth Lindquist or me.