Passageways- Achievement in International Expansion

Company: OnBoard
Company Description: At OnBoard, we believe board meetings should be informed, effective, and uncomplicated. That's why we give boards and leadership teams an elegant solution that simplifies governance. Launched in 2011, today, OnBoard serves as the board intelligence platform for more than 2,000 organizations and their 12,000 boards and committees in 32 countries worldwide.
Nomination Category: Achievement Categories
Nomination Sub Category: Achievement in International Expansion

Nomination Title: Empowering Boards Across the World to Thrive

At OnBoard, we believe board meetings should be informed, effective, and uncomplicated. That’s why we give boards and leadership teams an elegant solution that simplifies governance. Our cloud-first board intelligence platform streamlines communication, promotes collaboration and uncovers key insights, so you can plan for what’s next and accelerate your vision for the future.

The company was founded in 2004 as Passageways and was focused on providing communication and collaboration solutions, including the OnBoard product (introduced in 2011). In April 2021, Passageways rebranded as OnBoard, making Passageways a silent parent brand.

Today, OnBoard is a growing organization of 130 professionals working with over 2000 customers on improving how boards and leadership teams collaborate, communicate and manage the complex tasks of governance. In 2020, OnBoard grew over 53%, adding over 600 new customers, and improved its NPS to over 60.

Today, the OnBoard business operates in North America, EMEA and APAC, with offices in Indianapolis, London, Montreal, and Sydney. Customers come from industries including technology, healthcare, nonprofit, financial services, and higher education. OnBoard expects the business to grow over 50% on 2021, add 50+ new employees to the team, and expand the platform to include new analytics and intelligence capabilities.

In 2019, OnBoard welcomed its first international customer to a now-growing roster of customers outside North America.Since that time, OnBoard has been aggressively growing and expanding its international focus to complement a strong operational presence in the United States.Impressively, the organization has reached several notable international milestones, with no signs of slowing down in 2021+.

-Grew EMEA and APAC revenue by 75%
-Grew revenue from Canada-based customers by 275%
-Grew international staff by 125% to a staff that now numbers 18
-Acquired notable blue-ribbon international customers including Breitling (Switzerland), Norton Rose Fulbright (United Kingdom), the Competition Commission of South Africa, and the University of Toronto

OnBoard exists in what industry analysts call the “Board Management” software category. Today, the category is a $10B annual total addressable market. Market Insight Reports recently published that the Board Management space will grow at a CAGR of 14.9% from 2020 to 2027.

OnBoard is the fast growing of the top three board management vendors as measured by percentage revenue growth and discrete number of customers added over the last calendar year (versus Diligent and NASDAQ BoardVantage – the two other leading vendors in the space).

In the international markets, specifically in the UK, Australia and New Zealand, OnBoard outpaces its competitors including Convene, Aprio, Board Intelligence and BoardPro in all categories – revenue growth percentage, discrete new customer wins, and rankings in global rating services (e.g., Capterra, G2).

More specifically, the best reference to this performance is OnBoard’s recent achievement of “top rated” board management vendor in G2’s performance grid found below. OnBoard has socially distanced itself from all competitors, including those that are marked larger (revenue, employees) and also smaller upstarts, including global or niche international competitors.

G2 has rigorous and competitive evaluation criteria for all providers of board management software. The evaluation looks at two broad categories – customer satisfaction (8 dimensions) and market presence (7 dimensions). In both dimensions, OnBoard has significantly outpaced the competition, resulting in a top ranking of a growing, formidable and increasingly important software category.

G2 Grid for Board Management Software https://www.g2.com/categories/board-management#grid
G2 User Reviews for OnBoard https://www.g2.com/products/onboard-board-management-software/reviews
Capterra User Reviews for OnBoard https://www.capterra.com/p/179015/OnBoard-Board-Portal/#reviews

Free Educational Resources for Boards in 2020
Virtual Meeting Toolkit: the definitive guide that provides executive leaders and board members – especially those new to working virtually – with best practices and insights on running effective and productive virtual board meetings.https://www.passageways.com/resources/virtual-meeting-toolkit
Guide to Virtual Meetings Using OnBoard: Best practices, tips, and guidance for using OnBoard to lead a virtual board meeting, make decisions, provide strategic guidance, and keep communication channels open.https://www.passageways.com/board-portal/virtual-board-and-leadership-meetings-guide
Remote & Virtual Meeting Legal Database: An exclusive, interactive database for all corporations and nonprofits looking at virtual meeting laws across every state.https://www.passageways.com/board-portal/virtual-board-meetings-law
COVID-19 & Virtual Board Meetings – Is That Even Legal? A step-by-step guide for boards to examine and amend their bylaws and articles of incorporation to legally hold virtual board meetings.https://www.passageways.com/blog/covid-19-has-moved-you-to-virtual-board-meetings-is-that-even-legal
Blog: Staying Connected While Working Remotely https://www.passageways.com/blog/staying-connected-while-working-remotely
Blog: Key Considerations for Boards During the COVID-19 Crisis https://www.passageways.com/blog/how-your-board-needs-to-address-the-covid-19-crisis

Media Links
Passageways & AGB Announce Free Access to AGB OnBoard Virtual Meeting Management Platform For Higher Education Institutions https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/passageways--agb-announce-free-access-to-agb-onboard-virtual-meeting-management-platform-for-higher-education-institutions-301045120.html
Indiana Business Journal: Local firm gets ‘overwhelming’ response to coronavirus-inspired software giveaway https://www.ibj.com/articles/local-firm-gets-overwhelming-response-to-coronavirus-inspired-software-giveaway
TechPoint: Passageways integrates with Zoom, offers free access to nonprofits and governments https://techpoint.org/2020/04/passageways-integrates-with-zoom-offers-free-access-to-nonprofits-and-governments/
Press Release announcing free OnBoard https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/passageways-announces-free-access-to-its-onboard-virtual-meeting-management-platform-for-nonprofits-and-select-government-bodies-301036324.html
TrustRadius Tech Care Awards https://www.trustradius.com/vendor-blog/2020-tech-cares-award#passage