Graduway Reviews

"One of the alternatives considered as my Alumni platform"

Comments: 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.

"SVSUConnect"

Comments: In my 37 years in Higher Education, I have not had a platform that truly can impact our brand (stories) to enhance our reputation and engage our alumni like Graduway has in a short period of time. Everything they have promised they have delivered and more. They are incredibly responsive to our suggestions and their customer service is outstanding. The campus wide community has embraced this tool, understanding its value to the long-term success of our university. Weekly we have generated new ideas and strategies due to the opportunities this platform provides that had not existed in the past. SVSUConnect is now playing an essential role in our university strategic plan. I would highly encourage you to have a demo to see first hand with key players in your university the possibilities this platform could provide your university - you will not be disappointed!

Pros: It provides our alumni and students significant career navigation, mentoring and networking opportunities. Enhancing our reputation and brand through stories. Providing prospective students and their parent's value (outcomes ) to our degree. Mentoring opportunities for our alumni to mentor our students. This tool can also have a big impact on meeting enrollment and retention goals

Cons: It takes time to navigate the university academic side of the house to create win/win scenarios -- one needs to be patient but no doubt the effort will pay off in the long run . Need to create champions through out the university to maximize what the effectiveness of the platform.

"Graduway for UK School"

Comments: We've been live with Grauway for seven months now to our whole community after a test period of six months and we've recovered so many lost alumni, engaged our older pupils with the presence of our office and established ourselves as a hub for the wider community. We'd been working in the same way for the past eight years with very slow progress. Since our launch with Graduway, progress has moved so quickly and engagement levels across the board have gone through the roof! We're delighted with the initial results and would recommend any institute looking to reconnect with the digital generation consider the platform as something which may help, alongside an integrated communications plan.

Pros: the ease of use and the functionality which is very helpful for our office and aims

Cons: the lack of flexibility in structure but it is understandable that there has to be a backbone of core functions that cannot be customised.

"It has helped bringing our alumni community together in a more visual way."

Comments: A location for alumni, to visually track our growing network.

Pros: Statistics, photographs, links to current universities/companies, job posts. The fact that users themselves can create their own groups, etc.

Cons: Guiding videos of the different uses could be integrated into the platform, on the admin side.
There should be regular reminders for alumni members to update their email addresses.
Jobs section should include the possibility of internship/other opportunities since our graduates are from a high school and not a university.

"It's very effective in creating an online presence and community"

Comments: WE finally have a network platform on which our alumni can connect. Also, it gave a certain level of professionalism to our alumni outreach efforts. The only problem is that we're struggling to get people on the website and that limits our ability to really connect people in different professions and locations.

Pros: Easy to use for the admin. It give a specific place for alumni vs. just having an unofficial group on another social media site

Cons: Not many people have a reason to visit it everyday. Also, the admin interface is hard to navigate without much experience. I usually go to a teammate to figure it out. Finally, there is not enough ability to go outside the template of the web page, which makes it difficult to provide for the various needs of our organization and alumni.

"Great product for our Alumni!"

Comments: Increased alumni engagement and the ability to communicate with them.

Pros: I love how easy it was to set up our alumni community. It was also incredible how fast the site grew.

Cons: I would love more customization and features to make the page our own. While I understand the benefit of making it simple to use, but having some more advanced features would be nice as well.

"The platform is sooooo user friendly. Many capabilities."

Pros: The software is easy to maneuver. My example to others who have questions about the platform is, "It's much easier than Facebook, so stop putting too much effort in it. It's not necessary!!!"

Cons: Photos/logos are distorted. The photos I upload to the album section look grainy. A profile picture should be mandatory for everyone who signs up.

"Graduway services are a cut above the rest"

Comments: We have managed to connect our Alumni on a platform they can manage to share professional and business ideas. We have managed to have an easy way to send out relevant communication to relevant chapters.

Pros: The software is compatible and has time saving automated features. This is evidenced through the monthly news letter which is automatically sent to the pre-populated list, the invitation and reminder feature to the new users as well as instant link to the linked-in accounts

Cons: The package needs an extra fee to be accessed through play-store or as an mobile app, nevertheless, I am looking forward to a combined package accessible through google apps for mobile phone users

"so far, we are pleased with the platform but it's more limited than we originally expected it to be"

Pros: The ease of use for both the admins and alumni
Graduway support staff
the options to customize the platform to fit my university look and feel and needs

Cons: we are using RE NXT and we STILL dont have a plug although when we signed the lease (November) we were told there is one There are no option to change the tabs names there is no option to "secretly" invite alumni to events- in case we are having a by-invitation-only event- i can t post it on the platform and make it visible only to selected few all other notes and requests for changes were submitted during every day work flow to our success manager

"Very pleased with this product"

Comments: More engagement with alumni

Pros: This is a great tool for our alumni. People love the newsletter, and we are very happy with the directory and the jobs board. It has been easy to roll out the online community to our constituents.

"Alumni Network Review"

Comments: Graduway is an innovative company always looking to improve; their customer support has been excellent.

Pros: Provides a way to connect alumni from around the world.

Cons: It was designed for colleges and universities not necessarily a high school.

"Graduway"

Pros: Keeps us in contact as a useful to our alumni
Able to tell them about jobs, events, news, etc that might be of interest to them

Cons: Not region specific
Not enough alumni are interested in using it for it to be worth it, but we have hope it will catch on

"It's been a fairly good experience"

Pros: Ease of use to the end user (alumni, students, etc.), easy way to get updated data, app availability, branding.

Cons: Limited reporting, not so clear statistics of use and lack of some content options, like videos on the news feed

"Graduway Application for Alumni"

Comments: We are using Graduway for our Alumni. The web portal is easy to set up. Tables and list export to an Excel spreadsheet for maintenance. Majority of the features are there. The interface is friendly and easy to use. and use.

Pros: Highly customizable, well designed and easy to set up. Can add additional fields for customization to your school. Implementation team is organized and knowledgeable.

Cons: The integration plug-in with Blackbaud Raiser's Edge is not yet ready. There is unknown about how this will integrate with other applications.

"Outstanding software to engage alumni and have alumni mentor students!"

Comments: The experience has been 100% positive. From the ease of the launch to the technical support to the assistance with marketing. No complaints from alumni, very little staff support needed, awesome weekly newsletter highlighting new members, this is a great product to help alumni network and get them meaningfully engaged to mentor students and one another. Also can post internships and jobs.

"Overall experience is great!"

Pros: Google Analysis
Newsletter automatic sending
Populated Groups automatic reminders
Album function

Cons: There is no widget for polls and Instagram
Although there is message history, you can't really see the message.
For Messaging Users, you can't type a specific email to them unless you click on their name on their personal profile

"User-friendly software"

Comments: Alumni interaction and continued connections with alumni.

Pros: User-friendly. Lots of versatility (groups, jobs, etc.). I like the look of the site - it's professional and modern.

Cons: Not mobile friendly unless you pay additionally for the app. I wish the home-page was in more of a Facebook/LinkedIn format.

"The Graduway alumni platform gives our alumni an easy to use networking and engagement tool."

Comments: It's a great way to connect with our alumni and, more importantly, for our alumni to connect with each other.

Pros: The platform nicely balances a way to communicate with alumni, with networking features, and engagement tools. It allows our alumni department to identify alumni who are willing to be involved and at what level from the point of sign in. The integrated e-newsletter feature that reaches participants and prospects is also a great way to regularly communicate with alumni for information and action.

Cons: There is very little I don't like. As with anything social, users should expect to invest time on keeping the platform updated and fresh, so participants have a reason to return and be active and engaged.

"Super User Friendly, Needs Work on Admin Side"

Comments: An attractive and easy to use product.

Pros: I love how user friendly this product is. I rarely have questions on how to access and use the system and I feel users from a variety of generations are able to understand and effectively use the Graduway system.

Cons: There a real lack of control over profiles on the admin side, and the mentorship features need a lot of work (though I hear there's an update that will improve this.) I wish there were more options in reporting. It's tedious to have to pull one huge file and then whittle it down to find the info you're looking for.

"Amazing from both an admin perspective and user. Had wonderful feedback & incredible service."

Comments: Fantastic sign up rate with our alumni - great feedback & interaction. Over 5 mins spend per user. Global reach. First class, quick & professional service.

Pros: Very intuitive for the admin person - also allows for users to post information & contact other users so very dynamic and interactive. Very functional with well thought our pages. The service from Graduway is like no other that I have experienced. Fast response times very effective & friendly.

Cons: Like it all but maybe the newsletter could allow more flexibility in design. But he beauty of it is it is quick and easy to use allowing for a high frequency of distribution to end users.

"Graduway is a great addition to the alumni experience, offering real networking benefits"

Pros: The networking features are simple and straightforward for users and admins alike.
You get the whole package at it's most updated as it is developed, so no need to add Bolt-ons, modules, or worry about which version you are running.
The newsletter function keeps the alumni engaged.

Cons: There are some areas like Groups and Mentoring which still need development and do not have the functionality some specialist competitors can boast. Graduway has a wide-range of features and it is one of the best all-rounders, but some specialist packages outperform it in individual areas (but do you want your users to be juggling multiple log-ins?)

"Love it!"

Pros: The platform is very easy to use. I like the ability to send information to alums who haven't created a profile but have been uploaded to the pre-populated list.

Cons: When you delete a user, all of the photos they have uploaded disappear. I wish there was a way to keep them there. I am anxiously awaiting the new layout in FY18 since it is cleaner and not as overwhelming.

"It has been a great addition."

Pros: Ability to load our own lists and the ability to link profiles to LinkedIn or Facebook. It's also easy to download Alumni updates for our database.

Cons: Slow updates and new feature roll outs. Also inability to match mentors to mentees and see connections.

"Helpful platform for engaging and connecting with our alumni."

Pros: The ability to communicate with our alumni and provide them with an opportunity to connect with each other.

Cons: The scrolling and search features could be improved and there has been a delay in getting an app approved to work with iPhones.

"Having the platform is good in we try to channel all our alumni communication and projects here."

Comments: Offer our alumni the possibility to reconnect and interact (for example in interest groups) in a environment especially adapted to them.

Pros: Interesting features. For example the directory is a great tool for our alumni to reconnect.
They can sign in with LinkedIn, which makes it very easy to use. It can easily be switched between the user and admin interface, which facilitates daily work.

Cons: Quite hard to precisely know, which and how notifiactions will be sent, so sometimes you'll have to create a fake account, to actually see it. Customization possibilites are quite limited (e.g. newsletter picks out parts of the webpage without the ability to adapt), adaption to client's needs is in, many cases, not possible (events are automatically deleted after event date, although we'd need the space for after event surveys etc., to create events for a closed group of selected alumni you'll first have to create a group with these profiles, then create the event in the group and then invite them by name etc.).