Global growth story for safeguarding solutions provider, CPOMS

During our investment in the leading provider of SaaS safeguarding software to schools, CPOMS, the ECI Commercial Team helped them launch new products, create a predictive model to drive sales and deliver a North American internationalisation strategy.

Following on from our investment in 2018, the company experienced significant organic growth, increasing its client base from 6,000 schools to more than 14,000, and significantly increased its international presence, selling to 34 countries.

Here are some key areas of growth over the course of our investment: 

Internationalisation

One of the most critical factors in CPOMS growth story was the expansion into US markets. Recognising the potential for growth, the ECI Commercial Team helped develop an internationalisation strategy, led by our North American Growth Specialist, Brett Pentz.

Brett assisted in creating a go-to-market strategy specifically for Canada and the USA. This hands-on support in navigating new markets was instrumental in CPOMS expanding its reach from serving schools in just four countries outside the UK to 34 countries by the time of ECI’s exit.

Product innovation and development

Product expansion was one of the key ways in which ECI supported CPOMS. We helped the management team with a customer engagement project through which CPOMS assessed demand for products that complemented its core child safeguarding and wellbeing software. This led to the launch of two additional products: CPOMS StaffSafe, which aims to strengthen governance relating to members of staff, and the CPOMS Engage module, which aids alignment and communication between schools and local authorities.

Leveraging technology and data analytics

Beyond the predictive sales model, ECI supported CPOMS in investing in the underlying technology platform and operational processes to ensure scalability and efficiency. This commitment to technological advancement was a key factor in CPOMS receiving the prestigious Queen’s Award for Enterprise in 2020, as well as winning the PEI Operational Excellence award in 2022.

In October 2021, CPOMS was successfully realised to private equity-backed US school safety software provider Raptor Technologies.