Five Golden Things Which Underlie CRM Systems

On the fifth day of Christmas, my truelove gave to me... 5 Golden Rules (which are not about the software)

Whenever an organisation is reviewing or implementing a database, it is important to understand that it is not just the CRM software/the database which needs to be considered. There are at least five other key factors which influence any CRM system.

• Strategy - i.e. your fundraising strategy, management structure, communication strategy etc. This may sound obvious but if your fundamental strategy for fundraising, your communication policies, your IT strategy, even your management structure is not well structured then how can you expect your database to support your requirements. This underlies all aspects of CRM and indeed most technology projects. (And trust me, I have consulted at one or two organisations where some of the above were definitely not in place).
• Data: The best CRM system in the world will not be efficient for your use if your data is not up to scratch. You need to consider what data you are recording, how you capture it, data quality issues, data consistency, data integrity across fields and tables and so on. (There are plenty of other posts on this blog about data if you want to read more). Of course, any CRM software needs to be able to store the data you want and manage it well, but these days that should be the case with most contemporary solutions.
• Processes: When reviewing/implementing a new fundraising or CRM system, you should review your business processes. In my experience, there are three reasons that any process linked to your CRM software exists:
1. No-one knows why they are as they are, it is just done that way because it is..; or:
2. Because your current computer software makes you do it this way; or:
3. Because you have thought about it carefully and your current process is the most efficient way to do things. 
• Sadly, as much as I wish it was, the third option above is rarely what I find when I talk to charities. So: before you blame any poor database for the situation you might be in with it, have a look at your business processes and decide if they really are setup as best they could be, or whether there is room for improvement. I would bet there is.

• People: Are your staff trained on how to use the software? Who by? How is a new starter shown what to do? Do you have enough and the correct database support staff? And if you are going to buy a brand new CRM system, then be aware that your current database staff structure might not necessarily be what you need going forward.

All the above are, in my opinion, more important than the software/CRM system itself. i.e. You can have the best software but if you have rubbish data, if your staff aren't trained and supported, if your business processes have not been thought through, then you will find it difficult to get the most out of your CRM system.

• I also used to say the same about the final, fifth factor: your IT infrastructure. I would describe how if your server was too old and under-powered, if your internet connection was too slow, then again, your CRM software would suffer. And of course that is still true. But with hardware being so much more affordable and powerful now, with Cloud systems and access to the cloud so much more robust, I hope that this is now rarely such an issue. Of course, it is still important and it can still mean that good software will not work so well, but it is one of those things - given the correct budget - that should be more manageable.

If all this sound obvious to you then that's great, I'm delighted. But if you are finding that your current CRM system is not doing what you want, or you are looking at buying a new system then do bear all this in mind.

The Raiser's Edge: Why does one person like it and the next hate it?

I have recently been talking to several charities who use The Raiser's Edge. And it seems to me that whenever you gather together a group of fundraisers, throw in a few charity DBAs (and a pinch of technology consultants), and start talking about The Raiser's Edge, then, almost inevitably, some of the group will sing its praises and others will slate it and tell you it’s rubbish. But why? It’s the same software being used at the different charities (possible version differences aside), with the same functionality (modules aside) and surely all organisations could use it the same way? So why then, if one person loves it, does the next person find it just doesn’t work for their charity.

At this point, I should offer a clarification and a caveat on this blog post: To clarify, I have used The Raiser’s Edge in the title of this blog because it is used so widely in the sector and thus you inevitably get more people discussing it and therefore liking and disliking it. It is one of the more long-standing products on the market and fundraisers have inevitably heard of it. However, most of the points in this article could equally apply to any other similar fundraising, membership or CRM database package.

Secondly, the caveat is that such a question cannot be answered truly comprehensively in a brief blog post. Each of the points below could justify their own post (or set of posts!) and far more discussion. And of course there can be specific reasons why a database does not work for a specific charity. But because I am asked this or similar questions regularly, and because I really want to encourage charities to consider and understand the fundamental issues so they don’t immediately blame Blackbaud or similar suppliers, I hope this initial post will provide a fair and useful overview and supply the start of the answer.

So here are a few suggestions as to why we love to love or have to hate The Raiser's Edge:

• Data. I have been fortunate to have done quite a few data audits of Raiser’s Edge installations and the data in the system is one of the most important factors in the success of its implementation. Data Quality (accuracy, integrity, consistency, use of look-up tables etc) is key, the data needs to be up-to-date (a classic hate for fundraisers), the breadth of data (or lack of it) within constituent records affects data quality, as does the relevance of data and the trust which fundraisers put in the data which is stored on the database – all these are vital components. Too often I hear words along the lines, “we don’t believe the data in the database is correct or up-to-date”. The time which Raiser’s Edge has been used at an organisation is another factor in this - the data may well have been excellent when it was first implemented but over the years it has deteriorated. That happens, and often it is the poor database which is blamed. Data is the foundation of all good databases and if there are problems with the data then it doesn’t matter how good or bad the database software is.

• Set-up and configuration for your charity – during initial implementation and thereafter. The Raiser's Edge is a sophisticated but quite complex database to learn, even more so to use optimally. And how you use it, how it is configured, where you store data, how you use the “cornerstone” codes and so on can seriously affect how good the implementation is. Codes such as Constituent Codes, Fund and Appeal codes, Action Types (horribly abused in some systems I’ve seen) attributes and so on all need careful attention. And continual attention – if such tables grow uncontrollably they can become unwieldy and unusable. And where you store specific data items - attributes or ‘cons codes’, Appeals tab or Actions, etc – can fundamentally affect the usability.

•  Your Raiser’s Edge Database Manager. For a starter, you need one. Don’t try without. And a good RE database manager is worth their weight in gold: a good database manager not only understands the software, how to use it, what it can do and so on, but can also understand or learn your business, operations and needs and can apply all that information to the implementation so that it bring huge benefits to your charity. I don’t believe that Raiser’s Edge database managers need to be extraordinarily technical people (although a solid technical understanding is very useful) - far more important to me is that they can apply your fundraising requirements to your fundraising software. Give me a business expert with some database knowledge who can learn the system over a ‘pure’ RE database manager.

• Training, procedures, user guides. Again, it doesn’t matter how good or bad your software is, if your users aren’t trained then how can they be expected to use the database to its best potential? And ideally, good procedures and user guides to back-up the training are a key element to the success of the database. (Anyone actually have a data dictionary..?) And please keep them up-to-date…

• Hardware and IT infrastructure. Probably one of the most common complaints I hear about The Raiser's Edge, or any database is, “It’s so slow…” Now of course this could be how the database has been designed by the software supplier, but if one implementation runs fine and the next does not, even with similar record numbers, then that is less likely. Just as likely (more likely?) is that your server or PCs are not of the recommended specification, your network performance needs investigation/optimisation or the IT infrastructure for your remote offices is not sufficient for the database.

• Applicability to your organisation. This is one area where it is feasible that The Raiser's Edge may not be the right database for you. If you are a small organisation with few records or a huge organisation with many millions of records, then The Raiser's Edge may not always be the most applicable. Blackbaud, understandably, will show that RE can help small organisations and that even RE7 can manage millions of records (although their next generation Infinity platform will be better for that), but it is feasible that other solutions could be more applicable. This is of course one point which is completely organisation-specific. It can also be the case that over the years your requirements have changed so that The Raiser's Edge may not meet your current requirements whereas it did originally.

• Blackbaud-specific likes: The Raiser's Edge is generally good quality software, it has good querying tools, and is especially useful for non-technical users; and Blackbaud offer great longevity as a company and have produced many upgrades over the years and with exciting propositions for the future. Users like the software and the company for that. It has many charities using it so you get a good user community.

• Blackbaud-specific hates: Hmm, this really can be a favourite topic for some fundraisers and database managers! (And I’ve certainly had my own gripes over the years…)  As mentioned above, The Raiser's Edge is sophisticated but complex software (in fact, “The Raiser's Edge is so complex…” is probably the number one ‘complaint’ I hear about it) and it does need time and dedication. So if you don’t have people who can put in the time, or that is not your organisation’s requirement then it can be understandable why people don’t like it. RE7 can be quite prescriptive and in some ways it is less flexible than other companies’ offerings in terms of screen layouts, customised fields etc (unless one uses their VBA/API tools), and I personally believe that for the first time recently, RE7 is starting to show its age in that way compared to newer alternatives on the market. Equally, Blackbaud themselves are a large company and not everyone’s cup of tea, support has been up-and-down over the years (it has many clients and some users complain of feeling a small fish in a big pond) and users do relate to previous bad experiences. And it is not cheap. It certainly isn’t the most expensive solution on the market but there are very good, less costly alternatives for small organisations.

So if you are using The Raiser's Edge and you are finding it is not doing what you want it to do, then do consider the above points before you look for an alternative.