Blackbaud's Product Roadmaps: Innovation and Connection at Semi-Annual Briefings

Blackbaud, a leading provider of software for powering social impact, recently held its semi-annual Product Update Briefings, showcasing recent innovation and future roadmap direction for its suite of solutions. The event, held virtually from November 12 to 15, 2024, highlighted Blackbaud's commitment to empowering customers with essential software that accelerates impact through unmatched expertise and powerful data intelligence.

Blackbaud's chief product officer, Sudip Datta, emphasized the company's investment in key advancements and AI technology, enabling customers to achieve greater impact with its essential software. The briefings explored the six waves of innovation announced at this year's bbcon, demonstrating how Blackbaud's products drive more connection and deliver more context across fundraising, nonprofit financial management, digital giving, grantmaking, corporate social responsibility, and education management.

One of the key highlights was the transformation of Blackbaud Raiser's Edge NXT®, with a reimagined home page surfacing key insights, benchmarks, and fundraising performance trends for each user. The new, highly scalable navigation system aims to streamline user experience and boost productivity. Additionally, the upcoming release of Prospect Insights for Canadian fundraisers will enable AI-powered tools to identify and cultivate major gift prospects.



Financial Edge NXT® also saw significant updates, with the Payment Assistant feature now in Limited Availability for U.S. customers. This feature automates and accelerates vendor payments, ensuring vendors are paid quickly and on time while safeguarding financial data and decreasing the risk of fraud. The team also shared more Accounts Payable automation tools coming soon, including AI-powered Document Intelligence Scanning, which allows users to effortlessly upload invoices in any format, leveraging AI to extract key information and generate the invoice in Financial Edge NXT®.

Blackbaud CRM™ showcased powerful new connectivity options, including native integration with Blackbaud Donation Forms, particularly the Optimized Donation Form that has already seen strong adoption by Raiser's Edge NXT users. The upcoming Red Arc Marketing Connector will enable Blackbaud CRM cloud-hosted customers to directly connect to their preferred digital marketing solutions, such as Constant Contact, Mailchimp, HubSpot, or Salesforce Marketing Cloud.

Blackbaud's commitment to long-term development themes and roadmaps ensures the relevance and competitiveness of its connected solutions. By investing in key advancements and AI technology, Blackbaud empowers customers to achieve greater impact with its essential software. The briefings showcased recent innovation and future roadmap direction, with a focus on driving more connection and delivering more context across the social impact landscape.

As Blackbaud continues to innovate and adapt, its customers can expect to benefit from a suite of solutions that stay ahead of the curve, driving impact and connection in the ever-evolving social impact sector.