ToucanTech Reviews

Pros

I like that you get to know the staff at Toucantech; and that they get to know you as well. This means we all better understand how to deal with problems.

Cons

Although "glitches" appear in the software from time to time, even this "down arrow issue" is usually dealt with speedily and efficiently. I assume rival software also can have these problems, so I prefer to work on the basis that Toucantech resolves them more quickly than its rivals.

Pros

The product is easy to use and I like the logic of the search function. The support team is great and it's very helpful to have the tutorial pages.

Cons

Data hosting. This is an issue for overseas users as different countries have different data privacy standards.

Alternatives Considered

Blackbaud Raiser's Edge NXT

Reasons for Choosing ToucanTech

It was expensive and the CRM functions are limited, the UX is not friendly.

Switched From

Graduway

Reasons for Switching to ToucanTech

Our organisation has a very unique structure and therefore ToucanTech system works best in terms of support and pricing wise.

Pros

Using Toucan it is very apparent that it has been thoughtfully developed as the fit-for-purpose tool to handle all aspect of community management. The back end database is allowing us to build and record a quality data set that will enable Brentwood School to continually improve communication, engagement, and fundraising in our wider school community ('Association').

Having this one stop hub makes our day to day easier as a Development team, but also offers convenience and consistency to those in our Association. Working with Toucan we are able to execute best practice through a well presented and user friendly system.

Cons

Toucan was built as a bespoke "all in one" system when they recognised many of the alternatives were slow moving or just repurposing more generic systems. This means they are still developing some integrations with third parties, but we have always found an option that works.

Pros

It's comprehensive and obviously has many features that are not relevant to some users

Cons

I didn't find it very intuitive and would have found more hints useful when errors occurred, although I know ToucanTech are always looking to improve the system

Pros

The team are incredibly helpful. Our account manager has worked in a school before so knows exactly what we need and can always see things from our perspective. The product is user-friendly and intuitive.

Cons

It is a product that is still developing - but the team take on feedback and work in an agile way.

Pros

The friendliness and efficiency of all the ToucanTech team, from the initial sales enquiry and contract negotiation through to the onboarding, data migration, training and support. The whole team have been extremely supportive and patient when at times we were not in a position to make immediate decisions.

Cons

We have found nothing that we dislike in our use of the product to date.

Alternatives Considered

Potentiality and HubSpot CRM

Reasons for Choosing ToucanTech

Because our product was not giving us what we needed in term of a system that links a CRM database, fundraising, events and communications.

Reasons for Switching to ToucanTech

1. Because we felt there was a more professional approach and consistency in handling the enquiry. 2. The internal and external user experience was preferred. 3. It was not the cheapest of the three products but overall, when all things considered, we felt that we got better value for money.

Pros

The whole team is very approachable and helpful, the tech team takes onboard all our comments and implements most of them and the software is very intuitive and user friendly. The software is also very complete with both an alumni and fundraising platforms.

Cons

I absolutely love everything about Toucan Tech!

Pros

Detailed help guides and a generally logical system that's easy to use. Responsive support team that are always available to help when you occasionally get stuck! Also the design team have been very helpful in totally changing the look and feel of the site for the better.

Cons

Occasionally you might want enhancements or new functionality that is more unique to your institution. These understandibly take longer to implement but are always taken into consideration and logged.

Pros

Easy to use. Keeps records, fundraising, and comms all in one place

Cons

I sometimes struggle with the design elements -- however, the team are giving me lots of support with that.

Pros

Event and fundraising management; customer support

Cons

The wide range of functionality sometimes means a lack of flexibility

Pros

The online alumni community is very impactful, the news stories create a real feeling of community and there are many features such as Clubs, Events, Support Us, Forum, etc. which can be developed over time. I also like the fact that when you capture new members they update their contact details straight into the database. The software is very user friendly and is a pleasure to work with.

Cons

I don't think there is anything I don't like about the software. The company is constantly reviewing and upgrading features and software and respond to customer feedback where appropriate. I am still learning to use the fundraising software and I think it would be great to have some webinars on the fundraising side of the database as well as how to create clubs, etc.

Alternatives Considered

Graduway

Reasons for Choosing ToucanTech

I found Donor Strategy very cumbersome and there was no online community facility.

Reasons for Switching to ToucanTech

Value for money, the fact that you offer both the online community and a very user friendly fundraising database.

Pros

Toucan Tech is very user friendly and has been designed with School use in mind - which is fantastic!
Data entry is straight forward. Emails can be designed by template or you can create your own and the fundraising function is superb.

Cons

We have not found too many complications. It can be frustrating having to enter the same address multiple times when adding details of a family.

Pros

I like the ongoing updates to the software and fresh ideas

Cons

You need to constantly use it to understand its full functionality. Training is always a must.

Pros

Creating our site with ToucanTech has been incredible for our school community and far exceeded our expectations. We started with the goal of having a central place for events, news & information, and a way for parents to network. All of these goals have been met and with better results than anticipated. The Event function, probably our most used, has brought our community together so that our events are more discoverable and inclusive. The number of events, type, and number of participants have all increased. For news and photo/video galleries, our site has lessened our reliance on email and allowed us to share more and have a central place for parents to search for anything they may have missed in newsletters (so much better than searching through emails). We have also expanded our offering of parent interest groups, allowing parents to take the initiative to create and manage groups on their own. This has been really fun and helped to create the “close-knit” community we hoped to build. Another great function has been networking – great for parents, but also great for our high school students looking for guidance about universities and career paths. It feels like the sky is the limit!

Cons

There are a lot of functions the site has to offer that we have not yet fully explored & mastered. Our plan was to start slowly and then expand, but the lure of all of the features and potential positive impact for our community-led us to take on a lot all at once. We are still finding our way with managing content, and I think we will have a better plan in place for our 2nd year. Our first year was amazing, but we just made it up as we went along. Next year we’ll be more organized in our approach.

Pros

Our alums love learning about the university/industry/geographic Hubs they can join to connect them with other alumni. They are always keen to learn how they can use the platform to network. The Resources section, with digitized yearbooks, is also very popular, as are the Photo Galleries. It was very easy to migrate our data at the beginning.

Cons

There are many features that I forget to use, but ToucanTech sends out newsletters with examples from other schools that are always so useful.

Alternatives Considered

Graduway

Reasons for Switching to ToucanTech

Customer service, price and value.

Pros

ToucanTech is an incredibly user friendly piece of software and it's very easy to build the online portal. The features we use the most are the mass email function, the events page, the online shop and the news section. Recently we've launched a second online portal for a different section of our community that can all be managed from the same database.

Cons

There isn't a feature of Toucan that I would say I like the least. We were early customers of ToucanTech and the features and functionality that have been developed since we first used the software have only improved what was already a very good product.

Pros

Easy to use
Links to SIMS so makes downloads easy
FUN for our end users
If you see improvements they really will listen!
Additional Services they provide e.g. Report on how your network is performing making it easy to feedback to your school
They have a network where you can link in with other people using the software to share ideas/experiences

Pros

- A fantastic feature that ToucanTech offers is the Activity tracker – it shows us how people are engaging with our programme – from which emails they have opened to how many events they have attended. We are even able to sync external communications to the activity tracker so that all members of the team can view ongoing conversations.
- The events module and particularly how bookings are made is a lot easier to handle than our previous database.

T

Cons

improved integration with other platforms. e.g.PASS

Pros

The ToucanTech software is engaging from the word go! Its bright, colourful appearance does not betray what lies beneath. The best thing about the software is its intuitive design which make operations simple, straightforward and easy. Almost everything you want to do/find is underpinned by logical thought and programming, so that the user can navigate easily around the software.

Cons

I am honestly not sure there is an answer to this question. My whole experience with ToucanTech to date has been positive, from sales, to customer service to to the user end of the software. Although a cost is involved, I would say the value for money and customer care makes this well worth the expenditure.

Pros

The best part of the software is that it is a one stop shop, so you have your database, fundraising, online portal, and events functions all tied into one package rather than needing different software options to answer different needs.

Cons

We are generally very happy with this product, but of course as with all products, there are occasional glitches. However, the customer support team always respond very quickly and efficiently to these and they are constantly working to improve and to bring out new features.

Pros

Customer service, issue resolution, responsiveness, new product releases, ease of use, competitive pricing, willingness to find custom solutions, training, and lots of resources, a community of users.

Cons

Can have slow load speeds at times and other bugs (but those are quickly fixed with support)

Alternatives Considered

Workplace from Meta and Graduway

Pros

News, events, obituaries are easy to add

Cons

It takes a little time to get trained up but once you are familiar with the system it is fine

Pros

I like TT because it is an integrated Database, CRM and CMS - and the system is easy to use with training others a fairly simple process thanks to support from TT. It provides all the engagement tools we need, it's keenly priced, they respond quickly to queries, implement customer product requests regularly, and are constantly refreshing and upgrading their offer.

Cons

Volunteer management could be better, but there are useable workarounds.

Pros

Ease of use and support has been very good. The company is very responsive and informs of all latest updates which are clear and easy to update or implement. The training given has been excellent when required.

Cons

There is nothing I have found that I do not like.

Pros

The absolutely best part of Toucan Tech is their responsive support and development team. Whenever there have been issues, the team has responded rapidly and with a determined goal of resolving any problems.

Cons

The software is at time clunky and the user experience is not always the best possible, but with little tweaks these can be improved.

Alternatives Considered

Graduway

Reasons for Switching to ToucanTech

Price and accessibility.