NXT - a work in progress
August 12, 2016
NXT - a work in progress
Score 5 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Overall Satisfaction with Raiser's Edge NXT
NXT is being used by the Development Department within our organization, however, it is not being used by all staff. Although we implemented NXT 6 months ago, it has not been used to it fullest. Since the majority of our development staff do date entry, the inability to enter gift batches through NXT limits its effectiveness. Currently, it seems geared mostly to prospect managers who have a a robust prospect system in place. We are still investigating best practices, and how it will best serve our purposes as an organization. As with the standard Raiser's Edge, there is little guidance on best practices for use, and it's left up to the organization to determine how to set-up and use the product's features - unless one is willing or able to pay for additional training. It is visually appealing, and once you get used to it's vast difference from the old Raiser's Edge layout, it's easy to use.
- Easy to access -- great that it's web-based and an be accessed anywhere.
- Flexibility of layout.
- Since the database is hosted, there's no need to worry about back-up and upgrades. Everything is done automatically.
- Better training and best practices recommendations.
- Make is usable by ALL staff - from fundraisers, to volunteer managers, to data entry staff.
- Better able to query for lists -- the filtering is good, but not extensive enough.
- Operational Efficiency
- Reduced IT expenditure due to cloud deployment
- Increased scalability due to cloud deployment
While NXT itself hasn't proven itself yet, the fact that our data is now hosted, and we don't have to spend any time/resources on hosting, updates, maintenance, is a huge benefit.
We have benefited from Blackbaud's other offering, including Online Express and Merchance Services. While Online Express is not a very sophisticated program, it does serve our purposes and works well with Raiser's Edge. This suite of services has allowed us to streamline our processing.