"The future" is one of those terms that is so simple, yet can carry so much weight. It comes in an instant, yet our imaginations often display it as a far-off, distant place where cars fly and robots roam.
So when PEAK Grantmaking announced it's 2018 conference, happening March 19-21, 2018, in Orlando, would center around the theme "Creating the Future Together," it's no surprise that our team began thinking about how the technology we design, develop, and improve on a daily basis would have a hand in this future space.
The consensus was: a lot. In fact, it already does. Grants management, not too long ago, was a manual process that involved dedicated, tireless program managers manually creating paper applications, receiving the mailed submissions, reading each one, photocopying them, mailing them to reviewers ... it was a never-ending paper trail that overused precious time and trees. The advancements we have made in a few short years have brought more than half of grant makers online, allowing them to use application management software to create beautiful and easy-to-use web-based applications, effortlessly collect, sort, and view the data, quickly share any piece of that data with review teams, generate reports, and more.
And as we work with more organizations and they realize just how flexible, intuitive, and scaleable our platform is, they are challenging us to make things even better. On each requirements call, during each implementation, and through each customer service request, they are helping create the future of grants management.
So what's next?
We are excited to dive into some of the advanced technologies out there, and how they could be logically integrated into a grants management process, during our session at #PEAK2018 next week, "Alexa, What is AI’s role in the future of grants management?"
AI, or artificial intelligence still feels futuristic and even perhaps scary, but it’s alive and in use around us every day -- just as your smartphone or your in-home concierges Alexa or Google Home. The technology we’ve begun to use regularly to check the weather or look for take-out restaurants can also greatly improve the way we manage, track, review, and even improve grants on a daily basis.
We'll be sharing how intelligent automation, machine learning, and chatbots could help you streamline your programs’ processes and enhance your applicant and reviewer experience, as well as how the intersection of big data and deep learning could analyze your information in new ways to better predict and enhance outcomes and impact.
It's exciting stuff, and it's less "futuristic" than you may think. Our Development team prides itself creating one of the most innovative and tech-focused platforms on the market, and these features and functions could be here sooner than later. But what we build depends on what you as grant makers want and need. Tech is its most powerful when it's most helpful.
Will you be at the PEAK Annual Grantmaking Conference? Stop by Booth 3 to say hello, join us during our session on Wednesday, March 21 at 9 am, and truly help us create the future of grantmaking.
