Somehow we’re already in December and all eyes are looking towards Christmas and a few days of rest. So we thought it might might be nice to briefly look back at 2023 here at Pathways to highlight our own progression and growth.
I think sometimes it’s hard to stop and take a moment. Life moves so fast, the next task needs to be completed and you move on without taking time to appreciate what you’ve achieved or celebrate those small wins.
It turns out that over the course of a year, there’s plenty to celebrate.
We’ve hit a century
Firstly, 2023 saw a pretty major milestone for us here at Pathways. We’ve moved into the hundred club and the year saw us bring on board our 100th customer.
When Tim and I presented early concepts to a group of colleges in 2018, we were encouraged by the responses and enthusiasm in the room. Fast forward to today and we’re now helping over 100 education institutions highlight career progression and destinations.
As a small team here at Pathways, we’re pretty pleased with this progression.
Helping universities
At the end of 2022 we began researching the feasibility of a tool specifically for universities and higher education. Where we could help universities highlight the career destinations of their graduates and present these pathways to prospective students.
The initial research led to a prototype, which saw us bringing new datasets into Pathways. We received positive feedback on the prototype and this grew and developed into our newest product offering - Pathways Graduate.
We took our first steps into the HE conference circuit with ContentEd in October. This was such a great experience as we were able to showcase our new product and build new connections with both potential clients and other companies working in the same sector.
We’re ending 2023 with our first university clients on board and lots of positive feedback. And we’re booked up for our next HE conference at Heloa in Newcastle in early January. Maybe see you there?
Always improving
One of our core goals at Pathways is to ensure we never stand still and always push the products forward. Sometimes this is small advancements behind the scenes, other times the release of new features. Whilst all the time, listening to your feedback to ensure our clients are getting the most out of the products.
There are many advancements in the products this year, however I’m keen to mention a couple of important ones.
Monthly email reports
We spent the summer months building a new system to send monthly reports straight to your inbox. There’s some really interesting data being captured where you’ve embedded Pathways One across your website.
These reports were always available in your Pathways account however we’re now sending this information to you each month, where account admins receive a summary of user interactions and student-led trends.
Accessibility
Throughout the entire development of Pathways it’s always been important to ensure our products are accessible to all. We want all users to be able to access the tools and experience the value in what we’re doing. We’re also fully aware of your needs to be offering accessible products to your audience.
This year we’ve added further accessibility enhancements to Pathways, specifically around keyboard control in the Pathways One product.
What’s coming in 2024
Automation
We’re currently working on some big changes around course to career mapping to make things much more automated. We are very aware that your course offering changes throughout the year and our new developments will ensure Pathways always remains up-to-date, when new courses are added to your website, without any manual intervention. It will be a great step forward!
Conferences
As I mentioned, we’re looking forward to being at the Heloa conference in early January and then very excited to be back supporting the College Marketing Network’s Annual Conference and FE First Awards at the end of January. Looking forward to seeing some familiar faces!
We also have plans for further conference appearances throughout the year and will update when we know more.
A big thank you
Finally, we want to say thank you. Taking time to review and celebrate our achievements in 2023 reminds us of the continued value we get from our clients. Whilst Pathways is here to support you and help you engage with students, the support and feedback we receive from you helps push the products forward. And it’s this we’re very thankful for.
Please enjoy a peaceful and mince pie fuelled Christmas break!
