NXT promising but still needs to grow and improve!
November 14, 2022
NXT promising but still needs to grow and improve!
Score 6 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Modules Used
- Prospect Insights
- Events
- Marketing
- Report Builder
Overall Satisfaction with Blackbaud Raiser's Edge NXT
We are a medium-large organization and we have a lot of customization for gift and donor coding, we bring all our transactions and new donors through ImportOmatic due to the volume. Most of our end user prefer to work in database view because offers more flexibility than NXT. Everybody in my organization feels like NXT is a half baked product because of limitations, for example we use gift codes for donor segmentation and reporting, that field is not available in any module of NXT or Insight designer.
- Work Center - easy to track fundraisers activities
- Hyperlinks to generate lists
- Data Health - Simplify processing of Address Finder, Deceased Finder and Duplicates
- Email and Social are simply to use
- Insight Designer should mirror fields available in database view
- Workflow designer is vertical, and transactional, doesn't offer other options to generate workflows such as actions for prospect management
- Reporting in work center doesn't allow to filter by gift typo or subtype
- Work Center
- Blackbaud integration for Outlook
- Data Health flexibility
- Mobile device accessibility
- In general terms the answer is no, all our KPI's are pulled from custom queries from database view and custom calculations
- Our increase in number of donors and gifts relies in a custom model based on wealth screenings through iWave and custom internal ratings based on RFM values supported by estimated capacity from iWave
- Part of ROI comes from our digital CRM, EveryAction which is less clunky than our previous CRM (Luminate Online)
We have a complex reporting system that can't be pulled from NXT, all dashboard are coming from custom exports and calculations from database view because we have the option to handpicked specific data points, and custom fields to build the data structure to create our reporting and the data source for our dashboards that are built in PowerBi.
Regarding PowerBi we enabled the connector for NXT but the results were not different that the limitations for Insight Designer, we couldn't pull gift codes and other data points that are not available in NXT. We have a custom query as the data source pulled from database view, which is exported to a local drive and connected to PowerBi for our different custom dashboards built around PowerBi
Regarding PowerBi we enabled the connector for NXT but the results were not different that the limitations for Insight Designer, we couldn't pull gift codes and other data points that are not available in NXT. We have a custom query as the data source pulled from database view, which is exported to a local drive and connected to PowerBi for our different custom dashboards built around PowerBi
- Online Training
- In-Person Training
With the exception of K-12, the other products have that old and clunky design and look. We decided to stop using Luminate Online mainly because of the clunkiness and lack of reliability, and same applies for ResearchPoint. Pulling list and segmentations in ResearchPoint was extremely difficult and confusing for our Research Officer and she spent more time asking for help then working.
As I mentioned before I can't not say that Raiser's Edge NXT is our main CRM, database view definitely is our one stop shop for most of my team, with a very few exceptions. We bought NXT because it was a bundle, and our IT didn't have enough time and staff to maintain Raiser's Edge in house.
As I mentioned before I can't not say that Raiser's Edge NXT is our main CRM, database view definitely is our one stop shop for most of my team, with a very few exceptions. We bought NXT because it was a bundle, and our IT didn't have enough time and staff to maintain Raiser's Edge in house.
Do you think Blackbaud Raiser's Edge NXT delivers good value for the price?
Not sure
Are you happy with Blackbaud Raiser's Edge NXT's feature set?
No
Did Blackbaud Raiser's Edge NXT live up to sales and marketing promises?
No
Did implementation of Blackbaud Raiser's Edge NXT go as expected?
Yes
Would you buy Blackbaud Raiser's Edge NXT again?
No
Using Blackbaud Raiser's Edge NXT
33 - Different audiences, fundraising, senior staff, finance, Business Development, IT
2 - I am the main database manager and I have the support of IT when I need to scale integrations or security concerns.
- Adding actions and notes
- Quick lists
- Data Health - Deceased Finder, Address Finder and Duplicates processing
- Blackbaud for Outlook definitely was a big help for users with little technical skills
- If NXT can replicate database view it might be a game changer for more experienced users
Evaluating Blackbaud Raiser's Edge NXT and Competitors
- Other
We had a big issue when Raiser's Edge was hosted in house, we wanted to have a custom made database but we didn't have enough time for the implementation, therefore moving to NXT was the quickest alternative.
Because we need a lot of customizations, I can't tell if NXT would make the cut. In my opinion NXT is suitable for small organizations that have a simple structure for coding donations and donors.
Blackbaud Raiser's Edge NXT Implementation
- Implemented in-house
Yes - I have to say yes, and we had a problem because Blackbaud messed up the fact that we use ImportOmatic to process our direct mail at the time of implementation, and they put us in Azure environment, which at that time was not supporting Omatic products. So we had to get back to the starting point and schedule another migration to an old environment for NXT.
Change management was a major issue with the implementation - As described in the previous question, we had to start the migration from scratch again, losing a few weeks of time.
- Omatic wasn't suitable to Azure at the time of the implementation.
Blackbaud Raiser's Edge NXT Support
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
Quick Resolution Knowledgeable team Kept well informed Support cares about my success | None |
I did not know that premium support is an option.
Not for NXT, but many times for database view.
Using Blackbaud Raiser's Edge NXT
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
Relatively simple Easy to use Technical support not required Quick to learn Convenient Familiar | Do not like to use Not well integrated Inconsistent |
- Work Center
- Report Builder
- Data Health
- Not having the option to select all fields available in list is a problem for more complex data needs
Yes - I would definitely describe that having the option to launch NXT in a cell phone or table must the greatest feature of NXT, dictation for notes or actions is a big plus