Generative AI chat capabilities used in the Blackbaud Merchant Services Web Portal to get answers fast.
Expanding the scope and power of Blackbaud AI
Blackbaud AI chat for BBMS
BBMS is used to process an enormous amount of nonprofit payments each year. The BBMS web portal is used to view and manage these transactions but getting what you need can be complex. Countless filters and column views can be confusing especially for new users of the system.
An example of a transaction list in BBMS
With the power of generative AI, we had a chance to find a better way. One of our engineers experimented with creating customized transaction lists from a quick chat. There was potential to find exactly the transactions you wanted without needing a DBA.
I crafted a prototype and gathered feedback from customers about the workflow. Unsurprisingly, we learned that this capability was most useful for new users. But, the problem was that they had trouble finding out where they needed to go.
Blackbaud AI chat button from the header
A key design principle for SKY UX is "Deliver what users need where they are. Don't make them go on an expedition." Based on the feedback we received, we knew that we could improve. The "sparkle" icon may be fine for experienced users since they already had saved lists but new users need to start from scratch.
They see a page with large buttons to get started and this was a prime location to trigger Blackbaud AI chat. I collaborated with the design team to introduce a pattern to trigger Blackbaud AI from a large "action button" component on the empty state page for transaction lists.
This change ensured customers could leverage the power of Blackbaud AI right when they need it the most.
Making AI chat visible and valuable
Unified AI chat
The BBMS implementation of AI chat was one of the first AI feature releases for the company. Since then, it's been introduced into flagship CRM products and our work paved the way for a unified chat experience leveraging the data across a customer's ecosystem.
Blackbaud AI Chat with RENXT Query
Using the lessons we learned from Blackbaud AI chat, several team members took part in an internal hackathon to combine the power of RENXT's query with Blackbaud Copilot. Users can now run advanced SQL level searches with engaging conversations.
The power of Blackbaud RENXT query with Blackbaud AI chat