It would be hard to find a lot of true similarities between Blackbaud’s Raiser’s Edge and the Salesforce CRM platform. They are developed and deployed in such radically different ways as to be almost from different planets.
But the one thing we frequently hear is that the desktop user experience is sub-optimal for each. Raiser’s Edge is the same user experience it was in 2000 – powerful but clunky and not adaptable. Salesforce’s UI is younger and more flexible but feels clunky and dated.
It turns out the two companies have something else in common: they each have a new interface that is being phased in for a limited set of functionality first.
As we have talked about in two recent webinars (Raiser’s Edge NXT: Considerations If You Are Over The Edge and A Disruption in the Nonprofit CRM Force), Blackbaud is rolling out a new interface designed to engage frontline fundraisers, Raiser’s Edge NXT.
Blackbaud.com
Salesforce, similarly, just released the Lightning Experience will provide what appears to be a vastly improved user experience – and its first release is targeted at sales teams. Interestingly, they are referring to the older user interface as Salesforce Classic.
Courtesy ZDNet
Of course, both Salesforce and Blackbaud will tell you that a beautiful new interface will lead to increased adoption. It is frequently the case that we think technology will be the reason that our teams do the things we want them to do: tracking proposals, raising money, managing events, etc. We don’t think so.
We would remind you of our favorite formula: OO+NT=EOO. Old Organization + New Technology = Expensive Old Organization. Technology cannot lead change – it can only accelerate the change that you lead in your organization.
As of yet, there have not been any announcements on what Lightning means for NGO Connect, Causeview, Affinaquest or Luminate CRM and the other Salesforce products specifically targeted at the nonprofit community.
We hope that these improvements are only the start of great changes ahead for the nonprofit community. Build will be at the Salesforce Conference (Dreamforce) and the Blackbaud Conference (BBCON) over the next two months. We look forward to learning more from them and hopefully seeing you as well.
We plan on blogging and tweeting about both events and will have updates as we learn them. Stay tuned!
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Are you looking for an assessment and roadmap to ensure your organization is considering your business needs to software investments with long-term strategic value? Or perhaps you’re ready to have a conversation about a software selection process? Learn more about our Nonprofit Constituent Relationship Management (CRM) solutions here. Whatever your nonprofit technology consulting needs, Build is here to help.
