Learn How to Integrate Your Nonprofit Software at bbcon 2022
Introduction
Fall is an important season for the nonprofit community. Many organizations are busy finalizing holiday giving campaigns. Others prepare to close out the calendar year, while also determining priorities for the year ahead. As nonprofit professionals embark on these important tasks, what better way to gain inspiration and acquire best practices than gathering with thousands of colleagues for 2 days devoted to learning and sharing at Blackbaud’s tech conference for good, bbcon 2022!
As a Platinum sponsor, Omatic is excited to engage with the Blackbaud community at the event. I recently sat down with three Omatic leaders who will be attending the event: Senior Vice President of Product Emily Dalton, Senior Vice President of Sales Mike Sanders, and Director of Sales Alex Carlyle. Keep reading for their perspectives on the value of bbcon and what attendees can expect from Omatic at the event!
As a Blackbaud partner and multi-year sponsor, tell us why bbcon is meaningful to Omatic?
Mike: bbcon is like a family reunion where we connect with our amazing customers. It is a great opportunity to learn from them what is going well and what we need to do next. Omatic got its start in the Blackbaud ecosystem, and we’ve been partnering with each other for over 20 years. Our teams work closely together and share the same goals of providing solutions that help our clients do more good in the world!
Emily: This is my ninth bbcon at Omatic (and nineteenth overall), so I agree it’s like one big, family reunion. It’s great to be able to reconnect with clients and partners and meet new people too. My favorite part of bbcon is hearing from Omatic clients about how they are using our products, the impact that our products have on their work, and their ideas for the future.
Alex: As Mike and Emily highlighted, we all love bbcon here at Omatic. What I’d add is that bbcon represents an incredible opportunity for learning. We get to learn from our customers what has been going well over the last year. And we also get their perspectives on enhancements they’d like to see. From Blackbaud and our mutual partners, we learn about all the innovation coming and how it will revolutionize the social good sector. At the end of the conference, I feel reinvigorated by all the amazing stories told throughout the sessions.
bbcon 2022 will be held virtually. What are the advantages of the virtual format?
Mike: I appreciate that the virtual format and free registration create opportunities for so many people to attend the conference. You don’t have to be near a host city. Your organization doesn’t have to choose just 1-2 team members to send – really your entire team could attend the event! I’d offer this advice to attendees though: take advantage of all bbcon has to offer. Virtual networking, attending sessions, and visiting booths online is a little different, but the connections are just as meaningful when you really dive-in to the experience!
Alex: Though I always loved attending bbcon in person, I’d echo Mike’s comments that the virtual format has opened the door for more organizations and their staff to attend. This is such a boon for our customers to learn from other organizations, hear about new features, products, and bring new thoughts and ideas to their organizations. Plus, getting access to the on-demand recordings means you can soak in all the sessions at your leisure, instead of running around in person! And you can re-watch something that you found particularly relevant or useful and easily share it with your team.
Blackbaud has shared that bbcon “has been designed to make you, your team, and your organization stronger and more resilient, so you can make the greatest impact possible for your mission.” How does Omatic help organizations become stronger and more resilient?
Mike: For over 20 years, we’ve worked exclusively with nonprofits. We understand the challenges they face, and our solutions are designed specifically to address their needs. There are a few elements of the current landscape that we are really positioned to help with.
First, we’ve seen a rise in the sheer number of nonprofits that exist. Organizations are competing for funds and for supporter engagement. We’ve also seen a proliferation of the tools nonprofits use to engage those supporters in the consumer-friendly manner they expect.
While these tools help nonprofits, they can also create data silos that prevent them from getting a complete picture of their supporters. And that’s where Omatic comes in. By automating manual processes, we free up resources and allow our customers to focus on more strategic initiatives. With Omatic, organizations have the power to choose the solutions that best fit their needs without worrying about how to tie them back to their Blackbaud database. We simplify that for them.
Alex: I’d add that our solutions give organizations the flexibility they need to respond to changes. Organizations with robust, timely, and accurate data can make decisions quickly and easily as things change. If we learned anything through the COVID-19 pandemic, it’s that we need to have plans in place but also be able to quickly make alterations to those plans. The only way to be successful with that is to ensure you have all your data at your fingertips.
What should attendees new to bbcon know about Omatic?
Alex: As a long-time partner to Blackbaud, and with over 3000 clients worldwide, we are here to help organizations simplify their data strategy. We know that most institutions are using 4 or more solutions, in addition to their main CRM, to collect, manage, and store data. Unfortunately, this can lead to a disjointed and messy data strategy, which then impacts donor communication and engagement, accurate reporting, and strategic decision making. We want you to spend more time engaging your supporters, growing your mission, and generating impact in the world – rather than manually importing data or cleaning data for hours!
Mike: Everything Alex said! At it’s simplest, we help Blackbaud customers solve integration and import challenges. We simplify difficult tasks. And we can’t wait to talk to you about how we can help! As an added bonus, through December 16, 2022 we are offering promotional pricing incentives for bbcon attendees.
What’s new that attendees can expect from Omatic this year?
Emily: Our next generation integration solution – Omatic Cloud! We have taken all the great things that we learned from ImportOmatic and built that into a modern integration platform. The Product team has been hard at work adding new Connectors. And we just released new capabilities that give you even more control over your data integrations. Whether you’re new to Omatic or an existing customer, stop by our booth to learn more!
Share a memorable experience – or something important you learned – at a past bbcon.
Emily: Does anyone else remember the ‘Raiser’s Edge Geek Forum’ sessions? These sessions ran for a few years, probably starting around 2012. They were panel discussions with some all-time legends (Bill Connors, Melissa S. Graves, Kirk Schmidt, Ed Hohlbein). I remember the sessions being a lot of fun because the speakers really owned their inner geek for all things Raiser’s Edge and battled it out. I’d love to see the conference bring them back!
Mike: You have a great memory, Emily! I think that just speaks to the power of the conference and the opportunities to learn – in fun and memorable ways! For me, the best part is hearing the stories of our Omatic Fanatics, the customers who come by the booth and tell us about the impacts we have on their day-to-day work.
See you at bbcon 2022!
Inspiration, learning, networking, fun – bbcon has it all, and we hope to see you there! Please stop by our virtual booth to learn how Omatic’s integration solutions can help you save time, enhance data quality, and drive mission impact.
