Blackbaud Support Wins Top Honors
Charleston, S.C., June 17, 2009 — Blackbaud, Inc. (Nasdaq: BLKB), today announced that The Association of Support Professionals (ASP) has selected the company’s support site as a winner of this year’s “Ten Best Web Support Sites” award. The 12th annual competition honors companies that showcase excellence in online service and support.
"The judges were especially impressed by Blackbaud's use of interactive technology to deliver a high-quality customer experience,” said Jeffrey Tarter, ASP's executive director. “The site is much more than a place to look up answers—it's a platform for a genuine self-serve support community."
The award winners were selected by a panel of judges with expertise in web support design and implementation, using a scoring system based on 25 separate performance criteria. The 10 winning sites will be profiled in a book called "The Ten Best Web Support Sites of 2009," to be published by ASP next month.
"Being selected as a Ten Best Web Support Site winner is truly a great honor,” said Jerry Zink, Blackbaud senior vice president and chief customer satisfaction officer. “Our customer support team is dedicated to providing exceptional customer service, which we achieve in part by providing comprehensive online resources and continually seeking ways to enhance them to meet our customers’ needs. Customers are at the heart of everything we do—including the recent, and upcoming, enhancements to our support site.”
Blackbaud was judged based on three key features of its site:
* Blackbaud’s Case Central, which enables customers to review and update their organization’s existing cases, create a new case, or initiate a chat session for immediate online assistance
* Blackbaud’s Support Newsletters, which keep customers informed about the latest software information, tips for using their software effectively, and upcoming events
* Blackbaud’s Idea Banks, which allow customers to submit their own suggestions, add comments, and vote for the suggestions they want the most. Blackbaud’s product management team can then review customer suggestions, leave feedback, and update the status of a suggestion
Additionally, the company was evaluated based on the replacement of its user forums earlier this year. “Since we implemented the new forums in February, more than 500,000 users have contributed to over 14,000 threads and 36,000 posts—we have a truly engaged community of users,” said Jeff Malmgren, Blackbaud’s vice president of support. “Our forums are a lively gathering place for the nonprofit community to exchange ideas, ask questions about best practices, share creative uses for Blackbaud software, collaborate, and network."
Blackbaud will also soon launch a new Knowledgebase, providing further enhancements to its now award-winning site. The new technology will power an improved search engine, an enhanced infrastructure, and the ability to subscribe to specific solution updates, so users will be notified automatically when the company updates solutions or provides a patch.
For more information on Blackbaud Support, visit www.blackbaud.com/support, or visit Blackbaud Forums at http://forums.blackbaud.com. To learn more about the new Knowledgebase, visit the company’s Web Sitings Blog.
About The Association of Support Professionals
The Association of Support Professionals is an international membership organization for customer support managers and professionals. In addition to its annual "Ten Best" awards, the ASP publishes research reports on a wide range of support topics, including fee-based support, services marketing, and support compensation.
About Blackbaud
Blackbaud is the leading global provider of software and services designed specifically for nonprofit organizations, enabling them to improve operational efficiency, build strong relationships, and raise more money to support their missions. Approximately 22,000 organizations — including University of Arizona Foundation, American Red Cross, Cancer Research UK, The Taft School, Lincoln Center, InTouch Ministries, Tulsa Community Foundation, Ursinus College, Earthjustice, International Fund for Animal Welfare, and the WGBH Educational Foundation — use one or more Blackbaud products and services for fundraising, constituent relationship management, financial management, website management, direct marketing, education administration, ticketing, business intelligence, prospect research, consulting, and analytics. Since 1981, Blackbaud’s sole focus and expertise has been partnering with nonprofits and providing them the solutions they need to make a difference in their local communities and worldwide. Headquartered in the United States, Blackbaud also has operations in Canada, the United Kingdom, and Australia. For more information, visit www.blackbaud.com.
