Salesforce Nonprofit Success Pack (NPSP) has been a reliable and effective solution for the nonprofit space, but many nonprofit organizations and industry leaders have also embraced Salesforce Nonprofit Cloud for its innovation and powerful functionality. Salesforce still supports NPSP, but if benefiting from Salesforce’s cutting-edge research and development and if proactively limiting your technical debt are high priorities at your nonprofit, we encourage you to consider upgrading to the data model Salesforce is focusing its nonprofit product investment on: Nonprofit Cloud. Regardless of whether you choose to migrate to Nonprofit Cloud or stay on NPSP, it is important to keep in mind that NPSP and Nonprofit Cloud use two unique data architectures. This means that any AppExchange products you’ve relied on while using NPSP might not be compatible with Nonprofit Cloud. In addition, migrating from one platform to another requires breaking and rebuilding system integration points, which might incur system downtime to your business operations and revenue streams to mitigate.
In the final installment of our blog series on the top considerations for migrating from Salesforce NPSP to Salesforce Nonprofit Cloud, we’ll discuss the importance of identifying the impact of a Salesforce migration on your nonprofit’s AppExchange partners, navigating the connectivity of your organization’s technology stack, and what makes Cloud for Good the best implementation partner for NPSP to Nonprofit Cloud migrations.
Identify the Impact to Your AppExchange Partners
Working with partners whose products add value to your organization’s business tools can be very meaningful. Maybe your nonprofit has a partner whose solution is even vital to your success. But what would it mean if, one day, your nonprofit’s technology changed and was no longer compatible with a longtime partner’s product? This is the situation that many Salesforce customers using NPSP alongside AppExchange or other third-party applications have had to identify and address when considering a migration into Nonprofit Cloud.
Identifying the impact a migration from NPSP to Nonprofit Cloud is an important consideration to do as you plan your migration. If your nonprofit uses an AppExchange or third-party application that is essential to your mission and success, we strongly encourage you to ask those AppExchange partners if and when their product will become compatible with Nonprofit Cloud’s data model. Fortunately, by now, most major AppExchange solutions for the nonprofit industry that were used with NPSP have been updated to run on Nonprofit Cloud, and there are also new solutions that have been developed to support business needs on Nonprofit Cloud. In addition, many cross-industry applications that are already running on Salesforce’s other Industry Clouds are ready to use on Nonprofit Cloud, but keep in mind that some of these applications might require development work to connect with and be compatible with Nonprofit Cloud.
Through our experience completing more than 3,000 Salesforce implementations, Cloud for Good has developed close partnerships with AppExchange vendors, and we have extensive experience with all AppExchange solutions in the nonprofit sector. Our partnerships allow us to stay updated with the latest AppExchange enhancements, including their solutions’ compatibility with Nonprofit Cloud, and we’re happy to share that knowledge with our clients, help you navigate your options, and find the perfect solutions that will support your nonprofit now and in the future on Nonprofit Cloud.
Navigate Your Technology Stack’s Integrations
Salesforce provides several ways to connect business systems. Some Salesforce products, like Marketing Cloud and Data Cloud, have native connections to Salesforce and work seamlessly together. However, some business data sources, such as accounting systems and data warehouse systems, might require extra work to properly connect with the rest of your technology stack.
Now, consider that integration points have to be broken in order to perform a successful data migration from a legacy platform into a new platform, such as a migration from NPSP to Nonprofit Cloud. Any integration points that had to be broken for that migration will need to be rebuilt in your new Salesforce platform. However, setting up a perfect integration can take considerable time and effort, and broken integrations can cause a variety of issues and pose risks. Such issues include errors in calculating ROI and revenue, constituent inquiries or incoming donation gifts getting lost, delayed campaigns and data delivery, and sensitive constituent data being more vulnerable to exposure.
Undergoing system downtime is one way your organization can mitigate the risks and issues that broken integrations present. However, if your NPSP technology stack is connected to other key business systems your organization uses, incurring system downtime can interrupt key business operations and, most notably, donation revenue streams. In fact, if you disconnect your nonprofit’s accounting system from NPSP, your legacy system will no longer track more donations.
Thus, as you plan your migration from NPSP to Nonprofit Cloud, it is essential to evaluate the impact of downtime on your nonprofit and to communicate that impact to your internal stakeholders and teams. Once the migration is complete, it is also crucial to inform when new inbound donations can be added to your new Nonprofit Cloud instance.
Want to Know How Complex Your Migration From NPSP to NPC Might be?
Let Cloud for Good Be Your Implementation Partner for Your Migration from NPSP to Nonprofit Cloud
By transitioning to Salesforce Nonprofit Cloud, your organization will enjoy similar functionality as Salesforce NPSP, take advantage of the same innovation that Salesforce’s other industry clouds receive, and benefit from time-saving automations and data and security features that are standard for major technology giants like Salesforce. In addition, Nonprofit Cloud is a platform for growth and designed to provide substantial cost savings that will positively impact your nonprofit’s bottom line.
But, in order to achieve these goals, enjoy Nonprofit Cloud’s benefits, and set your nonprofit’s migration from NPSP to Nonprofit Cloud up for success, you will need help from an implementation partner that has deep experience with both NPSP and Nonprofit Cloud, and who views every technology shift as an opportunity for growth, automation, and transformation.
Cloud for Good has been that implementation partner to nonprofits for over 14 years. As a member of Salesforce partner advisory boards, we advocate for the features, functionality, and usability of the products that our nonprofit and higher education customers rely on. We also work with you to assess your current technology use and bring you our industry expertise to make industry best practices recommendations that will deliver your nonprofit efficiency, scalability, and effectiveness.
If you’re looking for the right technology partner to support your nonprofit’s migration, look no further than Cloud for Good.
