Jack of all trades, master of none
October 28, 2016
Jack of all trades, master of none
Score 3 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Overall Satisfaction with Raiser's Edge NXT
Raiser's Edge is being used across our organization to keep track of programs, events, and fundraising activities. This includes all the people and organizations involved in these activities. We also use Raiser's Edge to send out or mailings, both electronic and snail mail. We keep track of who gets what and who responded using Raiser's Edge. The only thing we do not use Raiser's Edge for is accounting. We use different software for this service. Other than this, we prefer to keep all things in one system so as to not duplicate work, make data entry more streamlined and efficient, and to have a single place to go to for reporting needs. We do NOT use Raiser's Edge NXT, which is the what I consider the "view" portion. We have not used this service since we signed up for it about 1 year ago.
- Creating and sending out emails has much improved with NXT.
- The speed at which updates and improvements are implemented with the NXT's Online Express module is great as well.
- Overall, Raiser's Edge is very cumbersome. There's just too much going on and Blackbaud doesn't do a good job of tying it all in and making sure it all works together. Especially, when it comes to online express. Some features that made life easier in NetCommunity are now non existent.
- The NXT view is very overrated. It seems like a band aid fix to a major problem, the outdated look, feel, and operation of the Raiser's Edge database. I was very excited about the concept initially when I thought that I would no longer have to deal with the Citrix plug-in feature. However, I see that to accomplish anything useful, you still have to login the old fashioned way and use the database as it currently exists.
- It would be helpful if Blackbaud didn't have it's hand in so many pies, trying to buy up the competition and spent some time on actually improving what they have, making sure all it's pieces work together and bringing it into this century.
- Operational Efficiency
Operational efficiency was not achieved because the majority of our staff is young and have never been exposed to an old fashioned database where they are expected to keep up the information. Most of them have never seen a real database. They are used to web forms. I though the NXT view would help them with their data entry tasks. It has not.
Our organization has benefited from other Blackbaud products. The legislative piece that was created for our organization has cut down on our reporting time from weeks to a few days. The Online Express piece has allowed us to communicate effectively to different categories of people in our database effectively and log the communication with them.
We haven't used anything other than Raiser's Edge products and services for over 8 years now. However, more and more our staff is complaining about Raiser's Edge. As a result, I will be shopping for what else may suit our needs better starting in the new year.