Cobalt Reviews

Working with Cobalt has been a great experience. Their implementation process was so much better than what we’ve seen with other vendors. Instead of disappearing for months and delivering a finished system all at once, they kept us involved at every step. It felt like a real partnership. They also helped clean up our data during the migration, which made the transition so much smoother. On top of that, their self-service portal has been a game-changer—our members can pay dues online now, and we’ve cut down on all the back-and-forth with paper invoicing. We’re really happy with how everything turned out.

We don’t have many complaints about Cobalt. Their training before we went live was excellent, which set us up for success and reduced the need to reach out for support. On the rare occasions we do need assistance, their support team is responsive and makes things easy to resolve. Overall, it’s been a smooth experience.

Cobalt has helped us modernize several paper-based processes, making everything more streamlined and efficient. The system is user-friendly for both our staff and members, which has been a big win. Members can now handle tasks like paying dues directly through the portal, reducing the need for manual back-and-forth. It's a huge improvement that saves time and helps us operate more effectively.

We’ve been in partnership with Cobalt for almost 10 years, and their efficient support has been instrumental in transforming our approach to managing STS. The goal of our implementation was to move away from a disjointed system to one that fully integrated our public-facing website with our member portal, streamlined our data processes, and supported our growing community of cardiothoracic surgery professionals worldwide.

Cobalt guided us through every step to this transition, ultimately moving us from their hosted datacenter to the Microsoft cloud. This move to the cloud has been a game-changer for our organization. Not only has it reduced our ongoing security costs, but also provides us with access to Microsoft’s continuous updates and R&D, and offers us more opportunities for seamless integrations and system enhancements.

Cobalt has exceeded our expectations through migrating our existing data to building a cohesive member experience that now includes single sign-on across multiple systems, authenticated webform submissions, and auto renewals for memberships and/or subscriptions.

Working with Cobalt to transition from iMIS was a smooth and straightforward experience. They made sure everything was handled efficiently, which helped save us time and resources. One of the biggest improvements we've seen is in the accuracy and consistency of our data - it’s all seamlessly integrated with our other systems, which has really built trust in the platform. Our staff loves the user-friendly interface, and our members have also found it much easier to interact with. Being cloud-based has made such a difference, too; we can now access everything from anywhere without relying on extra tools. Plus, the individual membership process is so much more streamlined. Overall, we’re thrilled with how Cobalt has helped us simplify our operations and improve our overall efficiency.

Honestly, we don’t have any major dislikes with Cobalt. There’s always a learning curve when switching to a new system, but Cobalt’s team made the transition pretty smooth for us. Occasionally, we run into small things that we need help with or that could be tweaked, but Cobalt’s support team is responsive and quick to provide solutions. Overall, it’s been a great fit for our needs.

Cobalt has significantly improved the way we operate by addressing some key pain points we had with our previous system. First and foremost, the seamless transition from iMIS to Cobalt saved us both time and resources, which we can now direct toward other priorities. The integration between our various systems has also been a game-changer—data flows smoothly and updates automatically, reducing manual work and errors. This has allowed us to trust the accuracy and consistency of our data, which is crucial for decision-making and day-to-day operations.

After a decade with our previous AMS, we realized we needed a more flexible and scalable solution to keep up with our evolving organizational needs. Cobalt's Engagement Dynamics stood out for its ability to integrate seamlessly with other best of breed systems. We have integrations with Braintree, CMR for event management, ClickDimensions, Higher Logic THRIVE and Informz, and Zoom, as well as our website's content management system.

What truly set Cobalt apart was their commitment to understanding our unique requirements. They tweaked the product and added custom solutions that fit our processes perfectly, allowing us to efficiently manage everything from event registrations to member engagement. The level of support and responsiveness from the Cobalt team helped make the transition smoother. We have a unified system that met our initial needs and continues to evolve as our needs transform.

One area that has been a bit of a challenge for us with Cobalt's Engagement Dynamics platform is the process of making certain changes. Occasionally, we reach out to their support team for adjustments that seem straightforward to our team, only to learn that these changes require code modifications. Since Cobalt handles code changes through formal projects, this means additional steps like legal documentation and regression testing, which can extend the timeline and increase costs. While we understand the need for these precautions to ensure system stability, it can be a bit cumbersome when quick changes are needed.

Our experience with Cobalt Membership Dynamics has been overwhelmingly positive. The custom-built solution is perfectly tailored to our accreditation process, and the efficiency gains have been significant. Tasks that used to require a combination of custom software, manual tracking in Excel, and other third-party software are now managed seamlessly in one system. Having a system built on the Dynamics platform has flattened the learning curve for our internal staff. Due to familiarity and comfortability with Microsoft’s suite of products, our team uses the system daily to pull reports and extract information easily. It is easier to integrate with other Microsoft applications and their built-in tools that allow us to customize the system to our specific needs. The flexibility of the annual report forms has been a huge benefit as well, allowing us to collect program data we need from accredited institutions.

Our dedicated Project Manager and the Tech Lead worked closely with our team and took the time to understand our complex processes and the product we needed. This process was critical in steering the project in the right direction, with our organization providing oversight, approvals, and feedback in regular intervals. This prevented us from having to monitor every aspect of the development, knowing that Cobalt had a comprehensive understanding of our processes and business, saving us time and money in the long run.

We’ve worked with Cobalt for over 10 years, and they’ve become an essential extension of our team. Our system is highly customized to meet the unique needs of our certification processes, and Cobalt has been instrumental in making that happen. While we have worked with Cobalt to create custom processes, there are also features built-in to the base product that have enhanced our users’ experience by enabling a wider range of self-service functionality for portal users. For example, Cobalt’s Universal Cart enables candidates and certificants to purchase multiple products at a given time, making the purchase process more convenient and efficient.

One of the most exciting recent enhancements is our new bundled product functionality. By incorporating product bundling as part of the user experience, our users can benefit from cost savings and have the opportunity to discover new products and offers. The Cobalt product does include bundled product functionality out of the box, but we had a different, strategic objective with this initiative. Cobalt helped bring our idea to life.