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Blackbaud Education Management Solutions vs. Skilljar by Gainsight

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    Overview
    ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price

    Blackbaud Education Management Solutions

    Score7.1 out of 10
    N/ABlackbaud Education Management Solutions is a unified student management system for K–12 private schools. Blackbaud Enrollment Management System™: Gives schools and families the ability to track admissions progress from first impressions all the way through the application process to acceptance, enrollment, and tuition payment. Blackbaud Learning Management System™: Track students' academic performance and progression…N/A

    Skilljar by Gainsight

    Score8.3 out of 10
    N/ASkilljar’s Customer Education LMS Platform is a solution to educate, engage, and retain everyone a business interacts with. An external LMS for customer and partner education, it is a Gainsight solution since the 2025 acquisition.N/A
    Pricing
    Blackbaud Education Management SolutionsSkilljar by Gainsight
    Editions & Modules
    No answers on this topic
    No answers on this topic
    Offerings
    Pricing Offerings
    Blackbaud Education Management SolutionsSkilljar by Gainsight
    Free Trial
    NoNo
    Free/Freemium Version
    NoNo
    Premium Consulting/Integration Services
    NoNo
    Entry-level Setup FeeRequiredNo setup fee
    Additional Details——
    More Pricing Information
    Community Pulse
    Blackbaud Education Management SolutionsSkilljar by Gainsight
    Considered Both Products
    Blackbaud
    No answer on this topic
    Gainsight
    No answer on this topic
    Key User Insights
    Would buy again
    73%
    Would buy again
    11 Answers
    97%
    Would buy again
    73 Answers
    Delivers good value for the price
    85%
    Delivers good value for the price
    11 Answers
    98%
    Delivers good value for the price
    63 Answers
    Happy with the feature set
    87%
    Happy with the feature set
    13 Answers
    97%
    Happy with the feature set
    73 Answers
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    100%
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    7 Answers
    98%
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    56 Answers
    Implementation went as expected
    83%
    Implementation went as expected
    10 Answers
    97%
    Implementation went as expected
    60 Answers
    Features
    Blackbaud Education Management SolutionsSkilljar by Gainsight
    Learning Management
    Comparison of Learning Management features of Blackbaud Education Management Solutions and Skilljar by Gainsight
    Feature
    Blackbaud Education Management Solutions
    -
    Ratings
    Skilljar by Gainsight
    9.2
    26 Ratings
    7% above category average
    Course authoring00 Ratings10.022 Ratings
    Course catalog or library00 Ratings8.925 Ratings
    Player/Portal00 Ratings8.921 Ratings
    Mobile friendly00 Ratings10.020 Ratings
    Progress tracking & certifications00 Ratings7.826 Ratings
    Assignments00 Ratings10.019 Ratings
    Compliance management00 Ratings8.417 Ratings
    Learning administration00 Ratings10.024 Ratings
    Learning reporting & analytics00 Ratings9.526 Ratings
    Social learning00 Ratings8.914 Ratings
    Gamification00 Ratings8.43 Ratings
    Single Sign On (SSO) Enabled Learning00 Ratings10.03 Ratings
    Customer Training Tools
    Comparison of Customer Training Tools features of Blackbaud Education Management Solutions and Skilljar by Gainsight
    Feature
    Blackbaud Education Management Solutions
    -
    Ratings
    Skilljar by Gainsight
    9.6
    3 Ratings
    0% below category average
    Customer Feedback Collection00 Ratings8.93 Ratings
    Customer Training Library Curation00 Ratings10.03 Ratings
    User Permissioning00 Ratings10.03 Ratings
    User Ratings
    Blackbaud Education Management SolutionsSkilljar by Gainsight
    Likelihood to Recommend
    7.0
    (120 ratings)
    9.5
    (78 ratings)
    Likelihood to Renew
    7.5
    (9 ratings)
    8.2
    (2 ratings)
    Usability
    6.5
    (7 ratings)
    10.0
    (53 ratings)
    Support Rating
    7.0
    (115 ratings)
    9.0
    (52 ratings)
    Implementation Rating
    -
    (0 ratings)
    9.0
    (1 ratings)
    Ease of integration
    7.0
    (21 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    User Testimonials
    Blackbaud Education Management SolutionsSkilljar by Gainsight
    Likelihood to Recommend
    Blackbaud
    A good, and constantly improving solution for private schools. I don't know that a lot of its functionality would be well suited to public schools, but maybe? The integration with other Blackbaud software is a huge plus for us, as we have several of their other products including their flagship Raiser's Edge. Smaller schools may not need the sophistication of Blackbaud solutions, and it is not an inexpensive option.
    Incentivized
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    Gainsight
    Skilljar is fantastic for structured onboarding processes. If you're
    looking to streamline and standardize the onboarding experience for your
    customers, especially for software or complex products, this platform
    is a gem. It allows you to create step-by-step courses guiding users
    through functionalities, reducing confusion and accelerating their
    learning curve.When you need versatility in content delivery, Skilljar is spot-on.
    Whether it's video tutorials, interactive quizzes, downloadable
    resources, or live webinars, the platform accommodates various formats.
    It's perfect for accommodating different learning styles and ensuring
    engagement.
    For scenarios that demand highly complex simulations or immersive
    learning experiences, Skilljar's capabilities might fall short. While it
    supports interactive elements, extremely sophisticated simulations
    might require additional specialized software or platforms.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Pros
    Blackbaud
    • Seamless integration between the LMS, EMS and SIS modules
    • Real-time, effective chat support helps me not only with urgent needs but also to work through possibilities for increasing how we use the product.
    • Feature upgrades monthly that respond to voiced needs from users
    Incentivized
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    Gainsight
    • Unlimited courses, learning paths, quizzes, pages, plans, and certifications
    • Ease of use for students, administrators, and content creators
    • Customer Success and Service are top notch. The CSMs are genuinely committed to helping you achieve your metrics and goals
    • Asking for and listening to customer feedback for enhancements
    • Developer Center where people with little to no coding experience can learn how to use and apply HTML templates and code snippets to customize your site
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Cons
    Blackbaud
    • Forms - lack of conditional questions
    • Gradebook -lack of links to assignments
    • Not being able to customize displays, for example, Grading tab - we just finished 1st semester and teachers could only see the current quarter but not the 1st one which is still part of the first semester. Lack of customization in assessments.
    • Scheduling- even though re-running generating schedules, we're still getting a high number of unscheduled students. Lack of being able to limit the number of scheduled classes in a row for teachers.
    Incentivized
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    Gainsight
    • Would love to see parent/child courses so that when something is updated in the parent course that change is automatically reflected in the clones of that course.
    • Features that allow for the translation of content to allow access to content across languages.
    • Re-onboarding process when the usage of Skilljar changes hands within out company in order to address knowledge gaps.
    Incentivized
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    Likelihood to Renew
    Blackbaud
    It is a solid product. We have some issues with the capabilities of the website building components and the out dated technology behind its communications software but overall Blackbaud Education Management Software services to combine numerous functions into one product.
    Incentivized
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    Gainsight
    I like what you are using and how we are doing it. Also, changing systems is a lot of work
    Incentivized
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    Usability
    Blackbaud
    Blackbaud EMS is very usable from my perspective. I am a power user and get lots of valuable functionality. It is, however, a complex system. Sometimes necessarily complex to accommodate flexibility for diverse customer needs. Some complexity seems unnecessary and/or hold-over functionality from earlier versions; nice to see this type being evolved away from over time. It is valuable to receive regular updates to the system along with good release notes of what changed and notices of significant changes in advance.
    Incentivized
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    Gainsight
    The learning curve for Skilljar is not too steep, and I've renewed our contract twice now. I've been able to add additional administrators and get them up to speed on platform functionality within a day. Plus, Skilljar provides awesome resources to help you learn how to use is. The Help Center has articles for almost everything, and when in doubt, their amazing CSMs (like ours, ...) provide exemplary support/advice.
    Read full review
    Support Rating
    Blackbaud
    Decent support however the chat feature can take a great amount of time out of the workday. If for instance you are waiting for someone to respond in the chat and there is a fire drill, if you are not responding within a few minutes, you are disconnected and have to start all over again. It would be great if you could submit your problem and then whoever has the most experience, can respond. The training in the Blackbaud University is good but also time-consuming - a 3 hr training in the middle of a workday is a lot to ask. I like the 90-minute sessions. It would also be great to offer a shorter webinar to update on any changes implemented. Other than the email I subscribed to, there is no information on how these updates actually work.
    Incentivized
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    Gainsight
    I have opened several support cases in the past and at times felt like little was being done to resolve the issues I was having. For example, when searching the use against a training credit, Skilljar said the code was fully used, yet only 1 had been used. The support team seemed to not have interest in learning why this was happening and ensuring it does not happen again. The issue was resolved with this particular case, but I have no idea if it was the only training credit having this issue. At times I feel like the issues we encounter do not seem as important to the support team
    Incentivized
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    Implementation Rating
    Blackbaud
    No answers on this topic
    Gainsight
    Do a good job of preparing your internal teams (IT, Salesforce, etc.) about the work they will have in the process
    Incentivized
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    Alternatives Considered
    Blackbaud
    Blackbaud K-12 is very similar. I feel like I would be trading one set of issues for another so it's kind of a wash. We are very much hooked into the Blackbaud website with our Google SSO, SmartTuition, and Schooldoc integrations. It would be difficult for us to transition. That is the main reason I haven't really entertained other web firms.
    Incentivized
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    Gainsight
    Skilljar provides stronger customization features, more code snippet options, more styling tools, and more effective integrations. These include Credly, Salesforce, and SCORM. Additionally, the catalog is all part of the same system, making it easy to manage. The analytics tools are also more robust, and the customer service is much more helpful and responsive
    Incentivized
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    Return on Investment
    Blackbaud
    • Negative - The rollout is brutal. Blackbaud said it could happen in 6 months, but that is definitely not a reality. It will take well over a year, and one complete school cycle to actually integrate everything correctly.
    • Positive - The amount of time saved in data processing has allowed our office to become more involved in other areas of the school.
    • Positive - The ease of having everything in [one] place, from inquiry to application to contracts and course registration, has been a HUGE benefit to our applicants and their families.
    Incentivized
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    Gainsight
    • Our customers seem to be getting onboarded efficiently. Giving our customers a good experience helps us retain them longer.
    • So far, we are still not able to come up with solid metrics that it provides evidence of ROI. If Skilljar could somehow come up with clear, actionable metrics about customer success and how that relates to ROI then I think it would be vastly better. To be fair, we roll the cost of using Skilljar in the overall price, otherwise, we would charge customers and have a revenue stream to measure.
    Incentivized
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    ScreenShots

    Blackbaud Education Management Solutions Screenshots

    Screenshot of Topics pages help organize units of learning throughout the year in the Learning Management SystemScreenshot of Blackbaud's education management solutions come with strong reporting tools to get the information you need quicklyScreenshot of Schedule view makes it easy for teachers to manage their daysScreenshot of Blackbaud Enrollment Management System Admissions Checklists help applicants track their progress in the admissions processScreenshot of Blackbaud's education management solutions come with strong reporting tools to get the information you need quicklyScreenshot of Keep track of all the key information about your students in one place

    Skilljar by Gainsight Screenshots

    Screenshot of the Skilljar Dashboard, where all needed tools are accessed through a single interface.Screenshot of The training portal, which is the URL where published courses will be located, and where trainees can register for, access and complete training.

This URL can be set up as a custom domain using a website, like training.yoursite.com. Or a Skilljar domain can be used, like yoursite.skilljar.com. The look of the training portal can be customized to match a company's brand and colors.Screenshot of some of the analytics to measure  and track learner progress, in the analytics suite where content success is analyzedScreenshot of content that can be offered with Skilljar’s authoring tools. Multiple learning pathways based on user role, skillset, or use case can be created, as well as native video and audio with embedding from external hostsScreenshot of the built-in assessment & certifications engine that enables users to showcase their expertise, along with built-in assessment tools and verifiable badges and certificates.