Ok, Kintera announces it’s open… they even have a call about it at NTEN and even Michelle Murrain gets a little excited and Mr. Integration Proclamation himself calls it a good thing. But it’s been five weeks since the announcement and there’s still no documentation for the API. Please, Kintera, it’s bad enough that you’re still losing money but at the very least, release the docs! With or without the developer program, we have no way of understanding whether not we should even apply for the program. It would be a great media opportunity for Kintera to release the documentation because it will just get all the developers abuzz with the possibilities.
On the other hand, there’s the Fortress of Solitude that is Blackbaud. The we-will-let-no-blog-post-release-until-it’s-time Blackbaud. There’s a little shadow play going on where they hire on-demand people on their board, buy a smaller SaaS-enabled vendor, but no docs, no announcements about an open API. And then I get THIS e-mailed to me straight from Shaun Sullivan. It’s a website that allows you to demo Blackbaud Enterprise CRM. It’s an amazing demonstration of how far Blackbaud has come in terms of implementing Raiser’s Edge as a Rich Internet Application and even better now that I have entered my entire contacts database in a batch upload to the demo database (just kidding!). Seriously, check it out — we’ve needed more technology demos like this in our sector for a LOOONG time. Aren’t IT people ever tired of nonprofit software vendors saying that we have to call them just to see their product? Releasing a demo like this without having to attend a sales pitch should be the norm for nonprofit software vendors.
Folks, the proof has to be in the pudding, developers want and need the API documentation. I kinda like the shadow play too but the suspense is killing me. So the answer so far to the question posed in this article, is NEITHER is very open right now. Kintera wants to play but it’s got to get the docs out to developers if it wants to maximize the competitive advantage that would result from having an increase in mindshare among developers. Imagine the consternation over at Blackbaud if nerds started developing great Kintera web mashups? Imagine the consternation at Convio if Blackbaud developers starting making great Blackbaud web mashups? Blackbaud seems to be waiting on the sideline but the release of the technology demo is certainly a signal to us that an open API launch on their part would certainly be much more thorough than Kintera’s.
Anyway, I think the industry has finally started to shift to norms approaching that in the for-profit industry. I just hope that I don’t have to use words that are prevalent in the for-profit software industry press — like vaporware.
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Shaun contacted me as well. There’s an article up on bb.org as well as a new forum to talk about the Labs.
Is it an Open API? No, but it is definitely a step in the right direction!
Tech demos are a Good Thing in my opinion.
Things that aren’t documented might as well not exist, for all the value they have to anyone other than the creator.
Hi Allen – I’m joining the crowd and shopping for a CRM – considering Convio, NetCommunity & Kintera (if they don’t all buy each other by then). Jurys still out on whether I add Salesforce.com to my slate! I’m following your thread on this, and wanted to thank you for forging the path before me (it sure helps in the analysis).
==Pam
p.s. wow, I didn’t recognize your site, was that part of the 31 days to a better blog challenge?
No problem. I think nonprofit users need to talk more about the software they use. After all, just for Blackbaud alone we spend tens of millions a year just to pay for support (at a 300% markup I might add).
I don’t know about the blog challenge. I know that the old template was cramping my style though. It was painful having to do things plus it was broken when viewed in IE. The blog is finally looking good on IE again. I’ll post about the design changes when I finally get them all ironed out. I hope you noticed that your MyBlogLog avatar showed up in the comments…
All, as an introduction, my company provides a service that depends on the integration capabilities that exist in Donor Management Systems or CRM for non-profits. I can speak to both Blackbaud’s and SalesForce’s integration or API capabilities. As a company, we have had no integration requests for Kintera (obvious, since P!N is a competitor) or Convio. What we have found is Blackbaud has significant capabilities that can be “exploited” to create your own interfaces to the application. However, they seem to take the approach that their API’s are an “add-on” or additional revenue opportunity. They obvious do not realize that one of the best ways to drive usage and extend capabilities is to encourage others to create applications and integrate these into the existing functional capabilities. SalesForce takes a totally different approach. We use it internally and in about 18 months we have integrated every internal system into the application via their API’s. I have had previous experience with large information systems (ERP, CRM, Sales force automation, Supply Chain Management, etc) and I have yet to see an application embrace an open platform better than SalesForce. Quite frankly, I think that if SalesForce starts to actively seek business in the non-profit market, they will run circles around the competition. Just my thoughts – this evening anyway.
Hi Tony,
I’ve been saying as much about Blackbaud in many posts on this blog and pretty much the same thing about salesforce.com. We’re definitely in agreement there. Can you tell us more about your integration experience with both? Do you have any slick software doodads you want to show off?
Al(l)an,
Would love to hear your thoughts on the following:
http://biz.yahoo.com/bw/080324/20080324005556.html?.v=1
Yeah, I basically didn’t post about it since it’s kind of a non-event. So what’s the installed base of Blackbaud NetCommunity? Unknown but perhaps less than a hundred? Also, an API where you have access only if you own the product. Gee, Blackbaud, can I have another? If an API comes out for a product that no one has ever really seen, does it matter?
Frankly, my guess is that it’s not really Shaun Sullivan who is the problem here. He seems to be the kind of geek who gets open source and would love to use it. At least, that’s the impression I get from the kind of enthusiasm (which I think can be contagious in his case) that comes across when he discusses Blackbaud products. Some of the stuff they’re doing is pretty neat. However, it’s all in the context of the walled garden that is Blackbaud so that definitely sounds a low note for me every time I want to enthuse about Blackbaud.