Purple Patch Blog

What is the point of the Single Supporter View?

At the IoF IT Group Conference yesterday, I was involved in a discussion on the "single supporter view". As the debate progressed, it became apparent that some people were talking about IT and database intergaration, whist others were re-examining the concept itself.

Especially in light of new ideas in online fundraising based aroud social networks, I wonder if the accepted wisdom of the centralisation of data, also known as the 360-degree view, is still valid?

Are you in favour or not? And what's the point of it anyway?

To prompt discussion, I've created a LinkedIn poll. Please cast your vote at:
http://polls.linkedin.com/p/38072/pkouv

And/or simply post your thoughts here ...

The importance of being earnest

For me, one of the advantages of getting older, and hopefully wiser, is that I can be more relaxed about admitting that, sometimes, I just haven't got a clue what somebody is talking about!

As a consultant, one of the most important skills I have to demonstrate is clarity of communication. If a client doesn't understand what I'm saying, and I don't understand what they're saying, we're hardly going to have the most productive consultancy session!

It's vital that I take every opportunity I can to clarify ideas, make sure the client and I are truly on the same wave length, and that decisions and next steps are documented and minuted.

With my colleagues at Purple Vision, when we're knocking around new ideas, this still holds true. Last week, we had a 'teach-in', where David Williams-Jones gave us all an overview of our new product 'Total Sketch', which, simplistically, can help an organisation identify the true demographics of their supporter base, and identify and target people just like them.

This link here explains it all...in plain English!

http://www.purple-vision.com/product-service-detail.asp?Auto_ID=17&SectionID=2&SubSectionID=3

It's a very, very, very clever piece of kit - and the sort of thing that somebody with a) a geography degree and b) a distinguised career in charity database management should instantly get...

...but I didn't get it. I just simply had little or no idea how it worked at all.

I had two choices a) be quiet and pretend I understood what was going on to save face or b) be frank and explain that if David had explained it all in Korean it would not have been less clear.

I chose option b. I need to understand this tool to be able to explain it's value to our clients. I need to understand this tool in order to help deliver any projects related to it.

Ignorance would not be bliss, it'd come back and bite me very hard on my posterior. So, for the sake of several hand-in-the-air/'please Sir, can you explain it again?' moments, I've saved myself some future pain - and I'm sure it'll be worth it

"It will never work"

We’ve been working on a project recently that aims to change the culture of a complex medium-sized organisation and create a customer-centric culture.

I can already hear you crying “don’t bother”! But before you scroll down to the comments window to tell me it will never work, let me share with you some comments from one of the working groups about their interactions with colleagues when introducing business process redesign:

“when told what successful CRM systems can achieve, they are very positive about it, and give every indication of committing to the change”

“it is difficult for people to visualise something that is not yet in place and the benefits need to be neatly described to those who don’t know much about CRM”

“can we think of quick and dirty examples of how the CRM will change the face of [the organisation] if we were all to sign up to it 100%. This is what we could look like it 3 years time ... paint the picture and tell the story maybe?”

“I think some of them will come from organisations that have successfully implemented CRM systems and can evangelise about them”

When I hear comments like these it brings a real sense of satisfaction and achievement. At Purple Vision we spend a lot of our time evangelising the benefits of real CRM (ie not just the database) to clients and others who typically see it as a just a technology solution.

Real CRM is about building a shared attitude where an organisation collectively places its customer (aka stakeholder, client, supporter, donor) at the centre of it’s work. We reckon CRM should be about 25% TECHNOLOGY, with the rest of the effort going in to PROCESS and PEOPLE.

The members of this project team are experiencing this for themselves – and reflecting it in their enthusiasm to spread the word! This is really encouraging for the chances of success for this organisation's ambitious plans.

OK, now you can be cynical (sorry, realistic) …

If it walks like a duck and quacks like a duck … it must be The Raiser’s Edge!

The Raiser’s Edge version 8 revolution is coming (in 2010 we hear).

Using an all-new ‘Infinity’ platform based on Microsoft’s .net technology, Blackbaud’s flagship product will be transformed into an open and accessible tool that integrates with a growing range of third party solutions, especially online tools.

When (and if) existing users choose to accept the upgrade to version 8 they will automatically adopt the new technology, but to ease this transition it will be built to look and feel (and quack) much like the current beloved product.

But the big change comes for larger players. The same Infinity platform will be used for a new product called Enterprise CRM. This will enable Blackbaud customers to mix and match different solutions to suit the needs of the whole organisation – including back office, local branches, head office, web, service delivery, marketing – all in one joined up architecture.

This is important because it takes a big step towards the holy grail of the 360-degree customer view and total relationship management. In future, you will be able to look at an individual and see not only their recent donations and communications preferences but also their history of services used, online interaction and any other relevant links to your organisation.

Our sources at Blackbaud liken their new technology to lego!  Buy the simple model and it comes out just like the picture on the box; buy the big kit and you can build it the way you want.  Crucially, it all fits together all the time.

“Bring it on” I hear you cry!  But Blackbaud are not planning to launch these new products until they have credible anchor clients up and running successfully.  We have all read that Oxford University is the first high profile early adopter, and we hear that others are likely to be announced in the next few weeks.

It's membership, Jim, but not as we know it ...

At the NCVO's Annual Conference last week, Matthew Taylor led a thought provoking workshop on the future of membership.

Working with membership organisations quite a lot, we see all sorts of clients with various kinds of stakeholders at different stages in their lifecycle (birth, growth, maturity etc) and most are struggling to work out how to relate to (what they call) their 'members' in light of new technology.

One client recently described our work to help introduce web 2.0 as 'giving the organisation back to its members'. Those that don't understand what he meant are beginning to lose out, their old momentum, thought leadership and influence is seeping away to spontaneous new spaces - like online groups, wikis and open media.

In this way, open source disempowers traditional membership organisations but also nurtures new forms of social capital. I agree with the conclusion in the workshop that "membership as we know it" is seriously under threat - but I regard this as refreshing not depressing.

I wonder what happens to organisations after they get to maturity in that lifecycle model? Is there a further stage? Could they disintegrate, regenerate, or regroup? I see parallels with the classic Boston Matrix. It's all rather interesting and I will be following closely the progress of the research project initiated by Karl Wilding and his team at NCVO.

The Credit Crunch and non-profit CRM

Just how much is the Credit Crunch going to have an impact upon investment in technology, and, from a selfish perspective, upon investment by charities and membership organisations in technology to help them communicate with their supporters or members?

At Purple Vision we've been lucky in some respects, long-standing clients have asked us to contribute to further phases of their CRM projects, or work with them in new ways. However, it's been noticeable that more questions are asked about costs, and decision makers at charities have to seek higher authority for budgets or funding before they can authorise some spend.

We've also noticed some concerns from boards of trustees, with them sometimes advocating the same policies of retrenchment - "digging in" during the tough period hoping to ride out the storm. Schools of thought from some analysts that organisations should start investing now so that they can be in a good position when the up-turn comes, seem not to be reaching some quarters.

We're living in difficult times - and it looks like it's going to continue for quite some time