Convio Buys GetActive: Is that the end of software legos?

photo by flickr user michale, licensed with CC "BY"

I arrived back from the UK only to jump into a car and drive out to Western, MA for a meeting to present an evaluation report I've been working on a for a client.   I stopped for yet another a latte on the way home, checked my treo and discovered this email from Ryan at PicNet about the big news in the Nonprofit Technology World -- Convio Buys GetActive.

This big news and it rocked the nonprofit technology world yesterday. (Blog reactions here, here, here , here, here and here.)  Laura Quinn provides a summary of the concerns expressed on different nptech listservs:

As these two software companies are two of the “big three” online integrated packages, this is a major shift in that marketplace. Convio says it plans to integrate GetActive’s advocacy and content management functionality into their own platform, and migrate both sets of clients to the new platform. GetActive’s management will take key roles in the Convio organization.

The listserves are hopping with this news. In general, GetActive clients are interested in adding some of the Convio functionality to their toolset, but are nervous about migrating to a different platform and learning a different tool. There’s also concern about the consolidation in general – that having fewer big players in the space will cause a decrease in competitive pressures and an increase in price.

For those of us without the money to use one of the packages from the big players, we have to deal with the drawback that different packages from different vendors usually don't play nice with each other.  When you try to move data from online fundraising software into your fundraising or volunteer database, it isn't a one-click process.

While in the UK, I was chatting with some colleagues about this issue.  The metaphor of legos came to mind. (Like it has in other nonprofit disciplines)  I want to be able to get a software package that allows me to put together the best set of legos to do what I need.  My next blogging obsession will be to try to accomplish that for the Sharing Foundation - now that we've entered into the world of online fundraising - we need to get our database, newsletter, and campaign software act together. (More about this later ...) 

A group of nonprofit tech colleagues ... plus many users, and developers of these types of software are pushing for interoperability (the term for how different software can work together easily).   This will make building things out of software legos possible.   They have issued a call-to-action --  the "Integration Proclamation."   Here's why it is important:

There are a lot of great tools out there for progressives -- email systems, volunteer databases, donation engines, social networking tools, the list goes on and on. But because these tools can't talk to each other, we can't use them effectively. Ask organizers about their tech tools, and you'll hear the same story over and over: too many overlapping databases, systems that don't work together, hours wasted importing and exporting and de-duplicating lists. In a recent study about progressive technology, lack of data integration was cited as the #1 universal complaint.

It doesn't have to be this way. Recent advances in web development make data sharing much easier. Past attempts at solving the problem have taught us valuable lessons. Technology vendors have become very open to integration (though individually, the market hasn't given them enough incentive to solve the problem themselves). And now, with this Proclamation, a wide community of progressive organizers, campaigners, vendors, consultants and technologists is demanding change.

All these forces add up to historic moment of opportunity - a moment we are coming together and seizing with this Proclamation.

(Here's another article describes the issues.)

On the Integration Proclamation listserv this afternoon, Tate Hausman expressed the following concerns about the merger:

For those of you new to this discussion, Convio and GetActive are two of the largest eCRM / eAdvocacy vendors for nonprofits & campaigns. In theory, their merger moves the progressive tech sector closer to a "one ASP fits all" model.  They'll likely combine their tools into a new toolset that they'll claim is bigger, better, and more comprehensive.  Personally, that's not the direction I want us to go. I strongly believe that model won't deliver the kick-ass, flexible toolsuites we need.

So, this merger seems like an opportunity to highlight an alternative to the "one ASP fits all" model -- ie, the integration model. I want a model in which many different tools can be "snapped together" into powerful, flexible platforms. I don't want to be locked into a single company providing all my online tools, no more than I want Microsoft to make all my desktop software. I want to mix and match!

I have a dumb question.   If there are particular software vendors that haven't signed onto to this petition - does that mean they don't support the idea and want to  keep their products "closed."  Or does it mean that  they just haven't signed the petition?

The big picture question:  What is the right direction?  The trend now is merger after merger into domination by one software company in the sector versus  the integration and specialization of software.  Would it be best to have many smaller software vendors that do their piece really well and can integrate or to have one big software company that does all and is the only one in the market?   I agree with Jon Stahl.

Apologies - still jet lagged and initially published this post without a title ... must drink more coffee

Comments

[Mark]

The problem with both of these companies is that they enable a single portal in the non-profit that all the users are required to come into and access.

Our technology is going the opposite direction. The web becomes relevant when locals have control. We take the "MySpace" approach and enable a non-profit or affinity group to have their own syndicated, "top down" communication portal network, kind of like MySpace for business.

Every user worldwide in the organization gets their own personal website upon which they upload content and communicate with the community of users.

The management of the non-profit has the master portal, and can not only use that as a website, but can control real estate on all the portals in the network.

For example, Amnesty International wants to make all their members worldwide aware of an atrocity and a boycott they want to get awareness of. They upload it once on the top portal, and all the user portals in the network get that same content/video delivered instantly to their personal portal.

Everyone is on the same page instantly. Our suite can enable everything from donation and online giving, to building custom applications for a non-profit.

Rather than try to guess what a np needs, we have the flexibility to build what they want and deliver it to the ultimate stakeholder, the actual member, on their own personal portal.

Comments or interest? Please contact me.

Thanks.