Blackbaud Dives Deeper into Product Roadmaps and Innovation at Semi-Annual Product Update Briefings

Rhea-AI Summary

Blackbaud (NASDAQ: BLKB) is hosting its semi-annual Product Update Briefings virtually from Nov. 12-15, showcasing recent innovations and future roadmap direction for its software suite. The briefings highlight key advancements in AI technology and six waves of innovation announced at bbcon 2024. Key updates include transformational user experience enhancements for Raiser's Edge NXT, Payment Assistant automation in Financial Edge NXT, new connectivity options for Blackbaud CRM, accelerated corporate donation processing in YourCause, improved data intelligence through LiveRamp partnership, and AI innovations for K-12 solutions.

Positive

• Integration with LiveRamp for improved identity resolution and data matching
• Expansion of Payment Assistant automation feature for vendor payments
• AI-powered Document Intelligence Scanning implementation for invoice processing
• Geographic expansion of Prospect Insights feature to Canadian market
• Streamlined corporate donation processing through Blackbaud Merchant Services

Negative

• None.

Insights

Tech Expert

The product roadmap reveals significant technological advancements, particularly in AI integration and automation capabilities. Key developments include AI-powered Prospect Insights for fundraising, Document Intelligence Scanning for invoice processing and an At-Risk Student Tool for education. The partnership with LiveRamp for identity resolution services represents a strategic move to enhance data accuracy and predictive analytics.

The integration improvements between various Blackbaud products and third-party services, such as the Red Arc Marketing Connector and YourCause's direct disbursement feature, indicate a push toward a more cohesive ecosystem. These enhancements should improve operational efficiency for customers and potentially increase platform stickiness, though actual revenue impact will depend on adoption rates and successful implementation.

Product Update Briefings to Take Place Virtually Nov. 12-15

CHARLESTON, S.C., Nov. 12, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Blackbaud (NASDAQ: BLKB), the leading provider of software for powering social impact, is kicking off its semi-annual Product Update Briefings today. The Blackbaud Product Update Briefings virtual conference showcases recent innovation and future roadmap direction for Blackbaud's suite of solutions.

"In the last year, we've been investing in key advancements and AI technology that will empower our customers to achieve greater impact with our essential software," said Sudip Datta, chief product officer, Blackbaud. "During our Product Update Briefings, we'll be giving customers a first-hand look at the latest developments, further exploring the six waves of innovation that we announced at this year's bbcon."

Built specifically for fundraising, nonprofit financial management, digital giving, grantmaking, corporate social responsibility and education management, Blackbaud's essential software accelerates impact through unmatched expertise and powerful data intelligence. Following onto the six waves of innovation recently announced at bbcon 2024, Blackbaud will share how its products drive more connection and deliver more context. Attendees will hear from product experts across the company as they review roadmaps, offer previews, and discuss themes for longer-term development. In some cases, customers can learn how to get early access to new tools and provide feedback that shapes feature development.

Highlights will include:

• Blackbaud Raiser's Edge NXT®: Blackbaud will share previews, plans and timelines for transformational user experience enhancements like a reimagined home page that surfaces key insights, including benchmarks, fundraising performance trends and other KPIs for each user, as well as a new, highly scalable navigation system. Other enhancements include new event management features, more communications and consent preference capabilities, new query and reporting capabilities, and the continued transformation of gift management workflows to a unified view. In addition, Blackbaud will share exciting updates for the Prospect Insights feature that puts the power of AI in the hands of fundraisers to help them identify, qualify and cultivate major gift prospects. Previously available only in the U.S., a new version of the solution built specifically for Canadian fundraisers will soon be available.
  
  
• Financial Edge NXT®: With Payment Assistant now in Limited Availability for U.S. customers, Blackbaud will share how this feature automates and accelerates vendor payments, directly within Financial Edge NXT, ensuring vendors are paid quickly and on time. This feature helps nonprofits and other social impact organizations safeguard financial data and decrease risk of fraud while streamlining reconciliation and reducing transaction and check cost. In addition, the team will share more Accounts Payable automation tools coming soon, including AI-powered Document Intelligence Scanning that allows users to effortlessly upload invoices in any format, leveraging AI to extract key information and generate the invoice in Financial Edge NXT, helping reduce errors and improve efficiency, all with a smoother user experience.
  
  
• Blackbaud CRM™: Blackbaud will share more about powerful new connectivity options, including native integration with Blackbaud Donation Forms, including the Optimized Donation Form that has already seen strong adoption by Raiser's Edge NXT users. In addition, a new Red Arc Marketing Connector will enable Blackbaud CRM cloud-hosted customers to directly connect to their preferred digital marketing solutions, like Constant Contact, Mailchimp, HubSpot or Salesforce Marketing Cloud.
  
  
• YourCause® from Blackbaud®: Blackbaud is making significant progress in connecting social impact and corporate impact customers by simplifying and accelerating the process for nonprofit customers to receivecorporate donations through Blackbaud Merchant Services™. By early 2025, YourCause will directly disburse corporate employee donations to Blackbaud Merchant Services charity customers, accelerating the donation to distribution process and bridging Blackbaud's social and corporate impact technology.
  
  
• Data Intelligence: Blackbaud is announcing it will leverage identity resolution services from LiveRamp, a leading data collaboration platform. Aligned with Blackbaud's Intelligence for Good® strategy, this announcement represents a significant investment in core technology. With improved identity resolution powered by LiveRamp, Blackbaud will be able to more accurately match records of wealth, charitable giving, spending and more to constituent records. This will result in more actionable predictions and insights, stronger constituent relationships and better fundraising for customers utilizing Blackbaud's wealth screening and predictive modeling services.
  
  
• K-12 Solutions: Blackbaud will share more details about exciting AI innovations coming to its K-12 education portfolio, including an At-Risk Student Tool that will help teachers identify students in need of extra support by consolidating data on attendance, test scores and work completion. In addition, the team will share how new partner solutions are making it easier for K-12 customers to extend and enhance their solutions, with UBIQ Education for school websites and BrightArrow for mass communication functionality. 

View the full list of Product Update Briefing sessions and register here.

About Blackbaud
Blackbaud (NASDAQ: BLKB) is the leading software provider exclusively dedicated to powering social impact. Serving the nonprofit and education sectors, companies committed to social responsibility and individual change makers, Blackbaud's essential software is built to accelerate impact in fundraising, nonprofit financial management, digital giving, grantmaking, corporate social responsibility and education management. With millions of users and over $100 billion raised, granted or managed through Blackbaud platforms every year, Blackbaud's solutions are unleashing the potential of the people and organizations who change the world. Blackbaud has been named to Newsweek's list of America's Most Responsible Companies, Quartz's list of Best Companies for Remote Workers, and Forbes' list of America's Best Employers. A remote-first company, Blackbaud has operations in the United States, Australia, Canada, Costa Rica, India and the United Kingdom, supporting users in 100+ countries. Learn more at www.blackbaud.com or follow us on X/Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram and Facebook.

Media Inquiries
media@blackbaud.com 

Forward-looking Statements
Except for historical information, all of the statements, expectations, and assumptions contained in this news release are forward-looking statements that involve a number of risks and uncertainties, including statements regarding expected benefits of products and product features. Although Blackbaud attempts to be accurate in making these forward-looking statements, it is possible that future circumstances might differ from the assumptions on which such statements are based. In addition, other important factors that could cause results to differ materially include the following: general economic risks; uncertainty regarding increased business and renewals from existing customers; continued success in sales growth; management of integration of acquired companies and other risks associated with acquisitions; risks associated with successful implementation of multiple integrated software products; the ability to attract and retain key personnel; risks associated with management of growth; lengthy sales and implementation cycles, particularly in larger organization; technological changes that make our products and services less competitive; and the other risk factors set forth from time to time in the SEC filings for Blackbaud, copies of which are available free of charge at the SEC's website at www.sec.gov or upon request from Blackbaud's investor relations department. All Blackbaud product names appearing herein are trademarks or registered trademarks of Blackbaud, Inc.

 

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SOURCE Blackbaud

FAQ

What are the main product updates announced in Blackbaud's (BLKB) November 2024 briefing?

Key updates include enhanced user experience for Raiser's Edge NXT, Payment Assistant automation in Financial Edge NXT, new connectivity options for Blackbaud CRM, streamlined corporate donation processing in YourCause, LiveRamp data intelligence integration, and AI innovations for K-12 solutions.

When will Blackbaud (BLKB) implement the YourCause corporate donation processing improvements?

Blackbaud plans to implement direct disbursement of corporate employee donations through Blackbaud Merchant Services by early 2025.

What new AI features is Blackbaud (BLKB) introducing for K-12 solutions?

Blackbaud is introducing an AI-powered At-Risk Student Tool that will help teachers identify students needing extra support by analyzing attendance, test scores, and work completion data.