Blackbaud Strengthens Impact Edge AI and Reporting Capabilities through Integrations with Microsoft Azure AI Service and Microsoft Power BI
Blackbaud (NASDAQ: BLKB) has announced the integration of Microsoft Azure OpenAI Service and Microsoft Power BI into its Blackbaud Impact Edge™ solution. This enhancement aims to improve performance, scalability, and reporting capabilities for corporate customers tracking their social impact initiatives. The integration includes:
1. Power BI Embedded for better data visualization and dashboard stability
2. Blackbaud Copilot, a generative-AI chatbot for content generation
3. Enhanced security features and AI capabilities
The availability of Blackbaud Impact Edge has begun with select customers, with general availability scheduled for Q4 2024. Future updates will include alignment with global standards like UN SDGs and Community Reinvestment Act.
Blackbaud (NASDAQ: BLKB) ha annunciato l'integrazione del Microsoft Azure OpenAI Service e di Microsoft Power BI nella sua soluzione Blackbaud Impact Edge™. Questo miglioramento mira a potenziare le prestazioni, la scalabilità e le capacità di reporting per i clienti aziendali che monitorano le loro iniziative di impatto sociale. L'integrazione comprende:
1. Power BI Embedded per una migliore visualizzazione dei dati e stabilità delle dashboard
2. Blackbaud Copilot, un chatbot basato su AI generativa per la generazione di contenuti
3. Funzionalità di sicurezza avanzate e capacità di intelligenza artificiale
La disponibilità di Blackbaud Impact Edge è iniziata con alcuni clienti selezionati, mentre la disponibilità generale è prevista per il quarto trimestre del 2024. Gli aggiornamenti futuri includeranno l'allineamento con gli standard globali come gli SDG delle Nazioni Unite e il Community Reinvestment Act.
Blackbaud (NASDAQ: BLKB) ha anunciado la integración del Microsoft Azure OpenAI Service y Microsoft Power BI en su solución Blackbaud Impact Edge™. Esta mejora tiene como objetivo mejorar el rendimiento, la escalabilidad y las capacidades de informes para los clientes corporativos que rastrean sus iniciativas de impacto social. La integración incluye:
1. Power BI Embedded para una mejor visualización de datos y estabilidad de los paneles
2. Blackbaud Copilot, un chatbot de IA generativa para la generación de contenido
3. Funciones de seguridad mejoradas y capacidades de IA
La disponibilidad de Blackbaud Impact Edge ha comenzado con clientes seleccionados, y se prevé que la disponibilidad general esté programada para el cuarto trimestre de 2024. Las futuras actualizaciones incluirán la alineación con estándares globales como los ODS de la ONU y la Ley de Reinversión Comunitaria.
블랙바우드 (NASDAQ: BLKB)는 Microsoft Azure OpenAI 서비스와 Microsoft Power BI를 Blackbaud Impact Edge™ 솔루션에 통합했다고 발표했습니다. 이 개선은 사회적 영향을 추적하는 기업 고객의 성능, 확장성 및 보고 기능을 향상시키는 것을 목표로 합니다. 통합 내용은 다음과 같습니다:
1. Power BI Embedded를 통한 데이터 시각화 및 대시보드 안정성 향상
2. 콘텐츠 생성을 위한 생성적 AI 챗봇인 Blackbaud Copilot
3. 향상된 보안 기능 및 AI 능력
Blackbaud Impact Edge의 사용 가능성은 특정 고객과 함께 시작되었으며, 일반 사용 가능성은 2024년 4분기로 예정되어 있습니다. 향후 업데이트에는 UN 지속 가능한 개발 목표 및 커뮤니티 재투자 법안과 같은 글로벌 기준과의 조정이 포함될 예정입니다.
Blackbaud (NASDAQ: BLKB) a annoncé l'intégration du Microsoft Azure OpenAI Service et de Microsoft Power BI dans sa solution Blackbaud Impact Edge™. Cette amélioration vise à améliorer les performances, la scalabilité et les capacités de reporting pour les clients d'entreprise qui suivent leurs initiatives d'impact social. L'intégration comprend :
1. Power BI Embedded pour une meilleure visualisation des données et la stabilité des tableaux de bord
2. Blackbaud Copilot, un chatbot d'IA générative pour la création de contenu
3. Des fonctionnalités de sécurité améliorées et des capacités d'IA
La disponibilité de Blackbaud Impact Edge a commencé avec certains clients sélectionnés, et la disponibilité générale est prévue pour le quatrième trimestre de 2024. Les mises à jour futures incluront un alignement avec des normes mondiales telles que les ODD de l'ONU et la loi sur la réinvestissement communautaire.
Blackbaud (NASDAQ: BLKB) hat die Integration des Microsoft Azure OpenAI Service und von Microsoft Power BI in seine Lösung Blackbaud Impact Edge™ angekündigt. Diese Verbesserung zielt darauf ab, die Leistung, Skalierbarkeit und Berichterstellungsfähigkeiten für Unternehmenskunden, die ihre sozialen Einflussinitiativen verfolgen, zu verbessern. Die Integration umfasst:
1. Power BI Embedded für eine bessere Datenvisualisierung und Stabilität der Dashboards
2. Blackbaud Copilot, einen generativen AI-Chatbot zur Inhaltsgenerierung
3. Verbesserte Sicherheitsfunktionen und KI-Fähigkeiten
Die Verfügbarkeit von Blackbaud Impact Edge hat begonnen, zunächst bei ausgewählten Kunden, die allgemeine Verfügbarkeit ist für das vierte Quartal 2024 geplant. Zukünftige Updates werden die Ausrichtung an globalen Standards wie den UN-Nachhaltigkeitszielen und dem Community Reinvestment Act umfassen.
- Integration of Microsoft Azure OpenAI Service and Power BI to enhance performance and reporting capabilities
- Introduction of Blackbaud Copilot, a generative-AI chatbot for content generation
- Improved data visualization and dashboard stability through Power BI Embedded integration
- Enhanced security features aligned with best practices
- availability rollout has begun, with general availability scheduled for Q4 2024
- None.
Insights
Blackbaud's integration of Microsoft Azure OpenAI Service and Power BI into their Impact Edge platform marks a significant technological advancement in the social impact software sector. This move demonstrates Blackbaud's commitment to leveraging cutting-edge AI and data visualization technologies to enhance their product offerings.
The integration of Azure OpenAI Service is particularly noteworthy, as it will power Blackbaud's generative-AI chatbot, Blackbaud Copilot. This feature has the potential to revolutionize how corporate impact professionals interact with their data, enabling more intuitive and context-aware data exploration and reporting. The ability to generate content based on trusted sources, including a company's brand voice and public information, could significantly streamline the process of creating impact reports and narratives.
Moreover, the incorporation of Power BI Embedded platform is a strategic move to enhance data visualization capabilities. This integration should result in a more robust, scalable and performant reporting experience for users. The improved dashboard functionality could be a key differentiator for Blackbaud in the competitive social impact software market.
From a technical perspective, the collaboration with Microsoft engineers in developing key elements of Blackbaud Copilot suggests a deep integration that goes beyond mere API usage. This level of cooperation could result in a more seamless and powerful AI experience for end-users.
However, it's important to note that the success of these integrations will largely depend on the quality of implementation and user adoption. The planned rollout strategy, starting with availability to select customers, is a prudent approach that allows for iterative improvements based on real-world feedback before general availability in Q4 2024.
Blackbaud's strategic partnership with Microsoft to enhance its Impact Edge platform could potentially strengthen its market position in the social impact software sector. This move aligns with the growing trend of incorporating AI and advanced data analytics in corporate social responsibility (CSR) and environmental, social and governance (ESG) reporting tools.
The integration of Azure OpenAI Service and Power BI addresses several key market demands:
- Improved data visualization and reporting capabilities, which are important for stakeholder communication
- AI-powered insights and narratives, reducing the time and effort required to generate impact reports
- Enhanced security features, addressing the growing concern over data protection in CSR initiatives
The planned alignment with global standards such as the UN Sustainable Development Goals and the Community Reinvestment Act is particularly noteworthy. This feature could significantly enhance the platform's appeal to multinational corporations and financial institutions that need to comply with these frameworks.
However, the market impact of these enhancements will depend on several factors:
- Pricing strategy for the enhanced platform
- Ease of adoption and integration with existing corporate systems
- The actual performance and reliability of the AI features in real-world scenarios
The phased rollout approach, starting with select customers, suggests a cautious strategy that could help Blackbaud refine the product based on initial feedback. This could lead to a more polished and market-ready product by the time of general availability in Q4 2024.
Overall, this move positions Blackbaud to potentially capture a larger share of the growing market for advanced CSR and impact reporting tools, particularly among larger corporations with complex reporting needs.
New Enhancements Further Strengthen Performance, Scalability, Stability, and Reporting Power for Blackbaud Impact Edge Customers
Blackbaud Impact Edge enables corporate impact professionals to easily monitor, report on, and articulate the various aspects of their organization's social impact initiatives. The software brings together an organization's impact data spanning employee engagement programs, philanthropic programs, and educational initiatives—incorporating rich data from both YourCause® from Blackbaud® CSR solutions and EVERFI® from Blackbaud® community education initiatives—along with other trusted external data sources. Whether an organization needs to produce a global, unified view of their impact or dive into a granular local community initiative, Impact Edge instantly delivers data, insights, and AI-powered narratives, with best-practice security principles built in.
In collaboration with Microsoft, Blackbaud has integrated new features and solutions into Impact Edge that align with security best practices and expand the robust artificial intelligence capabilities and reporting dashboard.
The integration of Microsoft's Power BI Embedded platform will enable better data visualization and put key outputs at the user's fingertips. This integration will also allow Blackbaud to design a more stable and scalable reporting experience within the dashboard while increasing overall performance.
In addition to updates to Impact Edge's dashboard, Microsoft engineers are supporting the development of key elements of Blackbaud Copilot that is being built into Impact Edge. The features being developed for this version of Blackbaud Copilot will allow Impact Edge to answer questions and generate content based on trusted sources of information, such as the company's brand voice, information on their website, or other public-facing web domains. With future, more advanced Copilot features, Impact Edge will provide stronger data visualizations, the ability to ingest different formats of data, and improved access to structured data.
"The architecture we are building with Microsoft will help increase overall performance, stability, and scalability for our customers while helping keep their information secure," said Dale Strange, president and chief operating officer, Corporate Impact, Blackbaud. "Microsoft is a leader in secure and scalable AI capabilities, and their strategic consultation and support have allowed us to build out the cutting-edge reporting and AI features of Impact Edge to produce this incredibly powerful platform that the industry has never seen before."
"Blackbaud has been using Microsoft services in an innovative, intelligent way," said Eduardo Kassner, chief data & AI officer, Software & Digital Platform, Microsoft. "With the support of our engineering teams, Blackbaud has designed their architecture to enable a sophisticated generative AI, data access, and visualization experience, using Microsoft Azure OpenAI Service and Power BI solutions."
Blackbaud is preparing for the next phase in the roll out of Blackbaud Impact Edge for Corporate Impact customers following a successful early adopter program. Limited availability of Blackbaud Impact Edge has begun with select customers. All features will continue to be enhanced and improved throughout limited availability, plus new features will be added, like data alignment to industry standards such as the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, the Community Reinvestment Act, and other globally relevant standards, as well as the ability to input and manage toward program goals. Blackbaud Impact Edge general availability is scheduled for the fourth quarter of 2024.
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
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Blackbaud 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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