RE NXT - a view from a data consultant
March 20, 2017
RE NXT - a view from a data consultant
Score 8 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Overall Satisfaction with Raiser's Edge NXT
We help others use RE NXT. It is mostly used by major gift officers. What NXT allows them to do is access a donor's data from the field on whatever device they use. The quick recall of information and the ease of adding meeting notes is the biggest asset to them.
- The information that can be seen on NXT is easy to understand and access. It is not as cumbersome as the classic view of RE. That makes it less intimidating for development staff that may be uncomfortable with the amount of info that RE holds.
- The alerts and reminders that a gift officer can set are a wonderful way for them to stay on task and provide good stewardship to their donors. No other software that we deal with can offer that.
- It is easy for gift officers to add information by themselves. They can correct and add to a donor's record as they are meeting with them.
- The biggest issue right now is that RE NXT notes are lost when records are merged in classic view. Blackbaud knows of that glitch but needs to fix it quickly.
- Operational Efficiency
- Increased revenue from existing donors
The major gift officers are more engaged in collecting and maintaining data for their donors and prospects. Because of that, there is more respect and appreciate for the data entry staff. That in and of itself has increased efficiency. We have seen an increase in donations, but at this point we are unsure of whether that is a result of NXT. The ability of the DBAs to log in from anywhere at anytime is a blessing and a curse. It's harder to break away from work but easier to get data to the heads of departments when they need it.
Our clients all use a variety of Blackbaud products. While most are too busy to take advantage of the Community, blogs and webinars, access to them is wonderful. As consultants, we are very grateful for all the opportunities to read about best practices and what is going on with other organizations. While the recent reorganization has made finding a support person much more difficult, the institution of Customer Success Managers has been a boon for us and a few of the organizations we work with.
eTapestry and Little Green Light are both very flexible and customizable, but neither is as robust as RE in terms of reporting, setting performance metrics, integrating with a Finance department, or creating a moves management system. CRM is quite extensive, good for the very large organizations, but it doesn't have the flexibility and portability of the NXT app.