Making Data Integration Simple!

About once a month my phone rings and someone asks if JCA can tie together multiple systems to save them time and money.  It’s a great question.  Integrated systems help organizations run internal processes better, improve external communication and ultimately raise more money.  One of the enduring mythologies, however, is that the project itself should be simple and inexpensive.  Like anything with technology, cost mirrors complexity, so before beginning any project I ask people to explain exactly how they intend to save time or raise more money by integrating their systems.

I often find that different departments select best-of-breed software for specific business functions without considering how information is shared throughout the organization.  In a typical museum, for example, you might see The Raiser’s Edge in Development and Membership and something else (Ticketmaster Vista, Galaxy Gateway, SiriuswareSalesware, etc.) for ticketing at the Front Desk.  Without integration how will you know when members visit or how visitation correlates to renewal?  Improving member renewal is a great reason to invest in an integration and will quickly justify the expense of the project. Or how about an alumni association that wants to let graduates update their contact information online and share that information with The Raiser’s Edge for the annual fund?  Automating this process of data exchange will improve accuracy and cut the cost of rekeying the data.

Does the Raiser’s Edge Help Raise Money?

Does any fundraising software really help raise money? Should it?

Perhaps it would help to put these questions in context; how would you defend the expense of purchasing, maintaining and managing your fundraising software to your Board?

Consider the typical organization that decides to buy The Raiser’s Edge from Blackbaud.  The investment can be significant. The organization needs to purchase software licenses for all of its users (usually paid up-front) and face recurring annual fees of roughly 22.5% for technical support and software updates. However, before using the software they must incur the expense and disruption to their business of converting data, documenting policies, training users and re-writing reports. And let’s not forget that The Raiser’s Edge is a sophisticated product, requiring many organizations to hire dedicated staff to manage the system.

So where is the ROI?