Skip to main content
TrustRadius
OpenWater

OpenWater

Overview

What is OpenWater?

OpenWater headquartered in Arlington offers their awards management and submissions software, supporting contests, academic scholarships and grant submissions, call for papers (cfps) and abstract submission, award submissions, fellowships, and related processes.

Read more
Recent Reviews

TrustRadius Insights

OpenWater has become a go-to solution for collecting, managing, and judging applications, grants, and awards. Users find the software to …
Continue reading
Read all reviews
Return to navigation

Pricing

View all pricing
N/A
Unavailable

What is OpenWater?

OpenWater headquartered in Arlington offers their awards management and submissions software, supporting contests, academic scholarships and grant submissions, call for papers (cfps) and abstract submission, award submissions, fellowships, and related processes.

Entry-level set up fee?

  • No setup fee

Offerings

  • Free Trial
  • Free/Freemium Version
  • Premium Consulting/Integration Services

Would you like us to let the vendor know that you want pricing?

8 people also want pricing

Alternatives Pricing

N/A
Unavailable
What is Awardco?

Amazon are available through Awardco for rewards and recognition. Awardco has partnered with Amazon Business to bring millions of reward choices, lower vendor fees and dollar-for-dollar recognition spend to organizations. The vendor boasts more choice, more capability, and less spend, in a simple…

What is SmarterSelect?

SmarterSelect creates, manages, analyzes and evaluates online applications for the private and public sector. This application management system is designed for scholarships, grants and awards. SmartSelect, chosen by over 1,500,000 users for over 40,000 programs, was started in 2007 and is…

Return to navigation

Product Details

What is OpenWater?

OpenWater Video

OpenWater Scholarships is an all-in-one system capable of handling the most demanding scholarship programs. From intake to review to selection, OpenWater Scholarships handles it all.

OpenWater Technical Details

Operating SystemsUnspecified
Mobile ApplicationNo
Return to navigation

Comparisons

View all alternatives
Return to navigation

Reviews and Ratings

(4)

Community Insights

TrustRadius Insights are summaries of user sentiment data from TrustRadius reviews and, when necessary, 3rd-party data sources. Have feedback on this content? Let us know!

OpenWater has become a go-to solution for collecting, managing, and judging applications, grants, and awards. Users find the software to be incredibly efficient, streamlining the submission and review processes for grants and abstracts. With OpenWater, users can easily handle a high volume of data from submitted applications without the need for multiple third-party tools. However, some users have encountered occasional issues with the software, suggesting room for improvement in resolving recurring problems.

OpenWater eliminates the need for manual processes by automating tasks such as collecting abstracts and sending automatic emails to authors and reviewers. This feature saves valuable time for users and allows them to provide better service to their clients. Additionally, the integration with other systems, like AMS, helps streamline application processes further.

The versatility of OpenWater is evident in its wide range of use cases. Users rely on it for award nominations, volunteer applications, managing judges for reviewing and grading applications, and even organizing voting for awards shows. By organizing these application and review processes, OpenWater offers significant benefits to its users.

Many organizations have reported increased productivity and motivation among their teams since implementing OpenWater. The positive impact of the software extends beyond awards programs; it has also successfully helped manage sweepstakes programs and simplified board nominations.

Overall, users have had positive experiences with OpenWater and highly recommend the product. They appreciate its ability to save staff time, automate manual tasks, provide seamless application experiences for members or entrants, and enhance overall efficiency in managing various programs.

Helpful Email Notifications and Form Management: Users have found the email notifications and form management features of the platform to be extremely helpful in their workflow. Several reviewers have mentioned how these features streamline communication and organization, making it easier for them to stay on top of tasks and deadlines.

Highly Configurable and Responsive Platform: The platform's high configurability and responsiveness to customer needs have been praised by multiple users. They appreciate that the company is continuously adding new features and functionalities based on their requirements, allowing them to tailor the platform to suit their specific needs.

Robustness with Customizable Options: The Open Water platform is highly regarded for its robustness and full-featured nature. Numerous reviewers have highlighted how it offers detailed and customizable options, enabling them to adapt templates according to their unique preferences and requirements. This flexibility enhances user experience by providing a tailored solution that fits their specific use cases.

Learning Curve: Users have found the program to have a learning curve and require time to understand all its capabilities. Some users mentioned that setting up the program for specific criteria is tricky, and there are tips/tricks that take time to get used to. Overall, users have expressed that the software has a learning curve in terms of the user interface, but once familiarized, it becomes easier to use.

Complicated Task Performance: Some users mentioned that it is difficult to view all the submission information at once and that multiple steps are required to perform tasks, making everything complicated. Users have also noted difficulty in figuring out category groups and which questions would appear on the entry form. The navigation between different sections is cumbersome, often resorting to multiple windows open simultaneously.

Lack of Customization: Users have mentioned limitations on customization abilities and feel that more user-friendly and customizable reporting options would be beneficial. Some users find certain features' placement in the interface confusing and believe it would require daily use to navigate without issues. Additionally, users feel that some terms on the portal are not intuitive, suggesting a need for a platform that could be more user-friendly from an administrative perspective.

Users commonly recommend the following actions when using OpenWater:

  • Take advantage of the instructional courses and support team. Many users find these resources helpful in navigating the platform and resolving any issues that may arise.

  • Consider implementing Single Sign-On (SSO) tied to the association membership system. This would streamline the login process for users and provide a more seamless user experience.

  • Connect with OpenWater staff to find the best solution. Users advise reaching out to the OpenWater team to discuss specific business goals and find the best solution for their needs.

These recommendations aim to enhance user experience, streamline processes, and optimize results for organizations using OpenWater.

Reviews

(1-2 of 2)
Companies can't remove reviews or game the system. Here's why
Inés Prieto | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
We use this software for our institute's competitions and awards ceremony and we have been able to find just what we needed. A software that helps us to have all the information of the participants, judges and administrative staff in one place.
  • It is a very easy to use software with a user friendly interface for all people regardless of their knowledge of programs. Our senior judges have been able to log in without any problems.
  • The technical support is excellent, as it has allowed us to clarify all doubts about the use and installation of the software, always helping us in everything.
  • It has very useful integrations and has the facility of linking to our pre-existing database.
  • We had problems with the installation of the software and its integrations, so it was necessary to call technical support, who attended us quickly and efficiently.
  • Some contestants complained of not being able to enter the system until after many attempts and not being able to fill out their information and forms efficiently, as the system deleted them.
  • It can be a little slow at times in software, when there is more than one user in the system, but this happened only a few times.
This software is highly recommended to all schools, institutions and companies that carry out contests and awards, as it will speed up the selection, evaluation, awards and rewards tasks. It allows the entire contest to be done digitally, saving a lot of time and costs.
  • Quality technical support focused on user care and satisfaction.
  • User-friendly design and user-friendly interface, which allows a smooth navigation throughout the software.
  • Very well elaborated reports with all the information required.
  • This is a software that has been very useful in our institution so that contests and awards can be done digitally, without so many physical documents, saving the company money on paper, printing, etc., in addition to streamlining the work of administrative staff.
Score 9 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
OpenWater helps us in managing online events and competitions which are end to end managed on the OpenWater platform with participants and judges all accessing a single platform for the same. Earlier we used to have disparate applications or manual efforts to arrange such events. It also keeps a track of earlier events and awards making it easier to plan such events.
  • An omniChannel platform for end-to-end digital event management.
  • Easy to use and intuitive user interface which works well for new users as well.
  • Best support system which is very responsive for any problems or issues.
  • The reporting capabilities can be improved to make analysis easier.
  • Customization is a bit difficult and requires help from OpenWater support and the solution team.
  • From an administration point of view, the interface and navigation can be simplified.
OpenWater is well suited for digital events, award programs that can be managed end to end on a single platform. It's easy to use and host those events on the OpenWater platform, also it's easy to track historical events hosted on the platform. The reporting and analysis provide great insights in optimizing events and great experience to everyone across the organization.
  • Event and Award Management.
  • Reporting.
  • Collaboration.
  • Removal of manual efforts in event management leading to low operating cost.
  • Optimization and delight to employees lead to increased productivity.
  • Ease of use which eliminates training cost and efforts.
Return to navigation