From the press release:
Blackbaud, Inc. (Nasdaq: BLKB), today unveiled a new release of Blackbaud® NetCommunity™ that includes major enhancements in both function and features. From improved site design features to enhanced web accessibility and a native social networking feature called “Wave,” it will provide nonprofits with an opportunity to further engage their constituents in the vital Internet channel. Additionally, the company unveiled a new set of NetCommunity Open Platform APIs for creating custom parts, integrated web services, and custom transactions.
Links to the new API are:
There was a three-part release on Blackbaud’s Connections blog (not to be confused with Convio’s Connection Cafe).
The social networking piece is puzzling. You can now use BBNC to help you build a social network for your organization. They’re pushing out a lot of information about this. What’s truly puzzling is the social networking piece of the announcement. If you’re self-hosting BBNC, I think you may have to plan on beefing up your Internet connection before you implement social networking. Am I to assume that BBNC should really be hosted by Blackbaud?
Some caveats:
It’s all .NET. The APIs are not RESTful nor can they be consumed as SOAP Web Services (from what I can see). Also, you must own BBNC in order to use these APIs. Interesting fact: Blackbaud claims 600 clients for Blackbaud NetCommunity (BBNC). I think they’ve started getting more wins for BBNC lately although it’s going to be interesting to see how this will all match up with Kintera’s CMS as well.
I believe BBNC to be the most open part of Blackbaud’s core applications (discounting their acquisitions of eTapestry and Kintera here). This makes sense as opening up BBNC doesn’t expose Blackbaud to cannibalizing their sales revenue like it would if they opened up Raiser’s Edge. That is, with only 600 clients for BBNC, the exposure is minimum. I suppose that this is also a part of the internal culture shift at Blackbaud. If BBNC performs well, it might motivate them to consider opening the rest of their product line.
With any luck, we can get screenshots of a sample social networking application from Blackbaud…
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Is it perfect? No. But the integration with RE makes up for almost any shortfall that I’ve discovered when comparing it to other systems.
Agreed — but then again integration options for RE are limited when it comes to other systems. What’s going to be REALLY interesting is if Blackbaud decides to go forward with deeper Kintera CMS integration. Will that integration be tighter? Will Blackbaud be in the business of competing against itself in some macabre version of closed-systems competition? Yikes.
Will Blackbaud be in the business of competing against itself in some macabre version of closed-systems competition?
Seems that’s already happening, hence the flurry of Infinity/BBEC and NetSol (press) releases since the Kintera acquisition announcement.
Not necessarily bad, in the short term.
RE Integration is always custom anyway, according to how a given org uniquely plays with its data in the context of optimally interacting with the Universe.
Blackbaud decides to go forward with deeper Kintera CMS integration
You mean CRM (by extension)?
Yeah that too. I’m really curious about how Blackbaud plays the thread out. Some questions are:
and so on…
That was cute
I don’t get the social networking piece. Is this going to cause nonprofits to waste lots of time creating social networks that *no one* is going to join? Social network savvy orgs know not to go down this road, but what about the others? I’ve heard a few stories of orgs sending lots of money down that particular toilet.
@Michelle Murrain:Ok, I would normally have the same reaction as you but I saw the software myself last week. I’ll post about it soon in more detail but the biggest feature is the ultimate integration of social networking with Raiser’s Edge. It’s a pretty integration — probably some room for tweaking but you can now get more information than ever before on your online constituents because you can track their profiles and activity. The ramifications are unknown but you can guess it’s a better to fine-tune your appeals.
[...] Shaun Sullivan parodied himself as Locutus of Borg. This was in response to a half-joking comment I made about Blackbaud’s tendency to gobble up the competition. [...]
I mostly agree with Michelle Murrain that most people will not be very active or even join their np’s social network. On the other hand, I do a lot of work with churches. The social networking aspect would fit in nicely with “small groups” (Bible Study Communities). These groups are starting to utilize social networking to keep in touch during the week and to plan outings. I am interested to play with the “wave”