I love our Graduway platform. It has brought our alumni relations platform into the 21st century

An engaged and re-invigorated former pupil platform that attracts alumni on a global scale and encourages them to interact and respond.

Pros

Our Graduway platform is engaging and sticky and encourages users to interact on the site. They post photos and message each other independently.

Cons

The UK searching fields by location are ridiculous - there are thousands of towns on there listed that I've never heard of - too many to make it of any use... It would also be useful to have the 'work' filter in the invite and message function too.

A platform I'm proud to provide to my network

Where to begin? The customer service is top notch! I don't think of Graduway as a vendor, I think of them as a partner in my work. Not only have they ensured that what I'm presenting to my network is beautiful and user friendly but they are always innovating and sharing best practices so that our users can get the most out of this product.

Pros

It is beautiful and intuitive to use (as an administrator and as a user). Every time I share the platform with someone new they say, "wow" and get what we're trying to do immediately.

Cons

This is tough to say because as soon as I come up with something new that I want the platform to have, the team tells me it is already in progress and within months, we have it.

Easy platform for pushing information to alumni. Could be more customized but otherwise good.

Alumni are able to engage with one another and get more information from the school all in one email.

Pros

The weekly digest is a great way to aggregate info and send it to all alumni. The job posting feature is fantastic and provides a great way for alumni to share job opportunities, as well. The updates section is a nice feature but lacks the ability to sort into categories. The events page is a great place for the school to update alumni about events without sending another email to their inbox.

Cons

The software isn't as customizable as other softwares that I've used. For example, in the posting section, there isn't a way to create categories for posting. It would be great if alumni could tag the post with a category (mentoring question, general question, etc.). Plus, when people reply to the post, it doesn't ping you or let you know a reply was received. You have to rely on logging in to see if you got a reply. The reply doesn't show up on the next news digest, which would be helpful if it did.

One of the alternatives considered as my Alumni platform

When we went to implement the new platform of our Alumni, this was one of the 4 main alternatives considered, along with AlumnForce, AlmaShines and Hivebrite. However, it was not chosen, because although it is a good platform, it has less functionality than the competitors and has a relatively high cost.

Pros

It has a very beautiful aesthetic, it is quite easy to use, for both administrators and users. Very low usage learning curve. Its use is pleasant. Excellent technical assistance. Good deployment cost. The [SENSITIVE CONTENT HIDDEN] of the company that owns the product has a great vision on Alumni, and his book is the basis for the implementation of a successful Alumni.

Cons

In the short term, the company provides a low cost of implementation, but in the long term, the platform's annual fee is high. It is a well-built product, but it lacks many features that already exist in competitors. The cost-effectiveness of competitors is much better.

Implement this platform immediately

Excellent, fantastic, and superb.

Pros

If I have to limit my response it would be the support of the Graduway staff. They are super responsive and extremely knowledgeable about their product. Another pro, is they always seem to be improving the product by adding functionality and I believe they really understand their user and their needs. This product really has everything that we need and would want to virtually engage our constituents. They also prepare marketing to help us reach our audience. They want us to be successful.

Cons

2 things: first I wish that there was some functionality that would allow our users to post on Graduway and then instantly post that same thing on LinkedIn or another social platform.