Company: The Tambellini Group, LLC, Irvington, VA
Company Description: The Tambellini Group is the world’s leading market research and advisory firm for higher education executives, organizations, and investment firms interested in higher education market research, analytics, and advisory services. Tambellini provides analyst services and market insight across strategic campus-wide technologies, as well as departmental-specific solutions.
Nomination Category: Company/Organization Awards Categories
Nomination Sub Category: Company of the Year – Business Services – More Than 10 Employees
 Nomination Title: The Tambellini Group
- Which will you submit for your nomination in this category, a video of up to five (5) minutes, explaining the achievements since July 1, 2020 of the nominated organization, OR written answers to the questions? (Choose one):
Written answers to the questions
- If you are submitting a video of up to five (5) minutes in length, provide the URL of the video here, OR attach it to your entry via the "Add Attachments, Videos, or Links to This Entry" link above, through which you may also upload a copy of your video. If you are submitting written answers to the questions for this category, provide them in the appropriate spaces below:
- Briefly describe the nominated organization: history and past performance (up to 200 words):
Total 198 words used.
For the past 21 years, hundreds of campus technology leaders and technology companies have trusted Tambellini Group’s (Tambellini) unbiased research and strategic counsel to inform their investment decisions and competitive intelligence in a complex and rapidly changing [REDACTED FOR PUBLICATION] market.
We have the largest analyst team devoted exclusively to higher education, with 150+ years of combined leadership excellence at technology companies and higher education institutions. Tambellini continues to deepen and expand our resources, services, and expertise to meet our members’ ever-evolving needs while providing flexible and affordable membership packages at a fraction of the cost of our larger competitors.
Member feedback proves our unparalleled value and impact in saving institutions money by reducing risk and making smarter decisions, and members realize a four-fold return on their membership investment.
In 2021 our team influenced [REDACTED FOR PUBLICATION] in technology spending on administrative systems in finance, human capital management, and student technology. [REDACTED FOR PUBLICATION]
Our dedication to excellence earned us two Stevie Awards each in 2021 and 2017, and we have also been a certified Great Place to Work for the past three consecutive years.
- Outline the organization's achievements since July 1 2020 that you wish to bring to the judges' attention (up to 250 words):
Total 248 words used.
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- Super-Serving Members: We invested in broadening and deepening our team expertise, increasing our full-time headcount [REDACTED FOR PUBLICATION] since July 2020 to further enhance the breadth and quality of our research and advisory services:
- Research: Published [REDACTED FOR PUBLICATION] research reports from July 2020-22, compared to [REDACTED FOR PUBLICATION] from July 2018-2020; added more research types and new disciplines, including learning technologies.
- Services: Enhanced membership packages, including [REDACTED FOR PUBLICATION].
- Expanded Thought leadership: Increased free content [REDACTED FOR PUBLICATION] from 2020 to 2021; from July 2020-July 2022 produced 154 resources including 96 blog articles, 24 podcasts, 27 videos and seven webinars. We also launched a Student Summit webinar series, attracting [REDACTED FOR PUBLICATION] a record high for our company.
- Media Coverage Growth: Our team garnered 63 earned media placements, including ten columns written by our CEO and analysts and 79 quotes in 30 national outlets reaching our target audiences, compared to eight placements in four outlets from July 2018-2020.
- Broader Social Media Engagement: Our company LinkedIn followers grew [REDACTED FOR PUBLICATION], Twitter following increased [REDACTED FOR PUBLICATION].
- Reference any attachments of supporting materials throughout this nomination and how they provide evidence of the claims you have made in this nomination (up to 250 words):
Total 245 words used.
- Member Satisfaction and Impact: Our membership success page includes:
- 14 endorsements from institutional and vendor members describing the strong positive impact of their Tambellini membership investments.
- Six case studies explaining how our expert advisors helped universities and vendors overcome challenges and improve outcomes by saving time and money, boosting internal credibility, and building leadership consensus.
- Unparalleled Expertise: Our team member profiles summarize their exceptional breadth of experience and expertise.
- Unique Differentiators: Our FAQ section outlines our policy of not taking any payments from vendors to ensure vendor neutrality in our research and guidance. Our CEO’s blog article explains how our firm differentiates itself from larger competitors with affordable fees, specialized expertise, and high-touch services.
- Value and Flexibility: Both our Membership page and attached Membership Benefits documents describe the value and flexibility of our membership packages.
- Commitment to Thought Leadership: Our Resources section showcases the range, depth, and quality of our free public content, including our recent Student Systems Summit and our Women in Technology spotlight series.
- Influence in Public Dialogue: Our In the News section shows the sharp increase in Tambellini media coverage since July 2020. We have been particularly influential in driving the public dialogue with our CEO’s columns in Forbes, Inside HigherEd, and EvoLLLution; and our analysts’ op-eds in Campus Technology, eCampusNews, and University Business.
- Positive Workplace Culture: Our Great Places to Work certification shows Tambellini’s exceptionally high workplace satisfaction, including 100% approval for management integrity, team member dedication, and positive community impact.
- Explain why the achievements you have highlighted are unique or significant. If possible compare the achievements to the performance of other players in your industry and/or to the organization's past performance (up to 250 words):
Total 250 words used.
Tambellini Group is entirely self-funded by our CEO and Founder, Vicki Tambellini. We reached new heights of success by taking a significant risk and investing in our growth despite vast uncertainty. The higher education sector is among the hardest hit by the pandemic and its aftermath, and campus technology budgets have been decimated. [REDACTED FOR PUBLICATION] we prevailed against formidable odds:
- In a competitive and crowded market, our clients [REDACTED FOR PUBLICATION] their membership contracts.
- We improved our already high member retention rates because of our exceptional and unique value, including our high-touch advisory services and the largest proprietary database with 5 million data points on 20,300 global institutions and 84,000+ technology selections.
In the words of Wake Forest University’s CIO: “No other market research firm is as accessible and focused on higher education” as Tambellini Group. Unlike competing IT consulting firms serving higher education, we do not accept fees from vendors, and our research is entirely self-funded. Though women are vastly underrepresented in technology, our firm is SWAM certified, with [REDACTED FOR PUBLICATION], including our CEO/Founder. Our team’s dedication and camaraderie are unmatched, [REDACTED FOR PUBLICATION]. We earned 93%+ rankings for our workplace culture in areas of respect and fairness. While others cut staff, we grew [REDACTED FOR PUBLICATION]
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