Reflections on the Year 2007
Here's some thoughts/notes from 2007 as we approach another new year.
Industry wise, there was a lot of movement- both forward and backward- for many companies. eTapestry was bought by Blackbaud, reinforcing the lesson that history (i.e. Fundmaster) repeats itself. It seems like I spent a lot of my time squashing rumors that DonorPerfect will be next and nothing could be further from the truth- DonorPerfect is not for sale. I'm fortunate to be one of the owners and I'm pretty sure I would know that we plan on staying independent (and more importantly healthy and profitable) for a very, very, very long time. In reality, I guess that some competitors have to resort to rumors and innuendos to defend their overpriced, cumbersome, or featureless software.
Convio acquired GetActive, and together with Kintera, both companies are falling over themselves trying to be more 'open' as the next. It's great to see companies get out of a 'walled-garden' approach and make their technologies more accessible than ever- we agree and have offered our XML API toolkit since 2003. However, it's not a magic bullet. After all, shouldn't the majority of the functionality already be in a product? Why do customers have to go to the expense of building widgets, programs, or reports themselves when these items should already be available? These are the hings that make you go hmmmmmmmm.....
Here at DonorPerfect, we launched two major revisions of our core software platforms, DonorPerfect and DonorPerfect Online. For DonorPerfect, we completely redesigned the system, and made a much more effective and friendlier user interface. For DonorPerfect Online, we beefed up our server infrastructure and in fact, did you know that DPO uses the same infrastructure as YouTube? Yes, it's true.
We also created a brand new viral fundraising program, codenamed Spider.net, that's currently in Beta with some very happy clients who are raising more money and spending less time that they thought possible. Look for a product announcement after the new year, and a special session at the 2008 National AFP Conference.
Growth has been staggering, and there has been some growing pains. Our support response time has not been what it should be, and I take personal responsibility for that. However, with some of the best support people in the industry, we got though it, we did hire what seems to be a zillion more people, and even had time to move and double our office space.
We made a lot of progress in 2007 and I look forward to 2008- it's going to be an exciting and wild ride!
Industry wise, there was a lot of movement- both forward and backward- for many companies. eTapestry was bought by Blackbaud, reinforcing the lesson that history (i.e. Fundmaster) repeats itself. It seems like I spent a lot of my time squashing rumors that DonorPerfect will be next and nothing could be further from the truth- DonorPerfect is not for sale. I'm fortunate to be one of the owners and I'm pretty sure I would know that we plan on staying independent (and more importantly healthy and profitable) for a very, very, very long time. In reality, I guess that some competitors have to resort to rumors and innuendos to defend their overpriced, cumbersome, or featureless software.
Convio acquired GetActive, and together with Kintera, both companies are falling over themselves trying to be more 'open' as the next. It's great to see companies get out of a 'walled-garden' approach and make their technologies more accessible than ever- we agree and have offered our XML API toolkit since 2003. However, it's not a magic bullet. After all, shouldn't the majority of the functionality already be in a product? Why do customers have to go to the expense of building widgets, programs, or reports themselves when these items should already be available? These are the hings that make you go hmmmmmmmm.....
Here at DonorPerfect, we launched two major revisions of our core software platforms, DonorPerfect and DonorPerfect Online. For DonorPerfect, we completely redesigned the system, and made a much more effective and friendlier user interface. For DonorPerfect Online, we beefed up our server infrastructure and in fact, did you know that DPO uses the same infrastructure as YouTube? Yes, it's true.
We also created a brand new viral fundraising program, codenamed Spider.net, that's currently in Beta with some very happy clients who are raising more money and spending less time that they thought possible. Look for a product announcement after the new year, and a special session at the 2008 National AFP Conference.
Growth has been staggering, and there has been some growing pains. Our support response time has not been what it should be, and I take personal responsibility for that. However, with some of the best support people in the industry, we got though it, we did hire what seems to be a zillion more people, and even had time to move and double our office space.
We made a lot of progress in 2007 and I look forward to 2008- it's going to be an exciting and wild ride!
posted by Jon Biedermann at
12:24 PM
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