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Product Updates
Introducing: Beacon AI
David Simpson
August 20, 2024
We've been working on harnessing the power of modern AI and building some amazing new features which will make using Beacon easier every day. This is Beacon AI.
We believe that every charity should have access to the latest technologies to maximise their impact, but we don't build features just to show off, or to hop on a tech bandwagon. We've taken time and care to build three brilliant features which you can use every day to make your life easier and using Beacon faster and simpler.
You can use Beacon AI to write filters for you. When filtering, you'll see a new Beacon AI field in the filter drawer:
Type whatever you like into the box, and Beacon AI will generate the appropriate conditions for you:
You can ask Beacon AI to filter records of any type. You can try asking things like "Show me everyone who has given more than £100 in the last year" and "Show me all memberships expiring this month".
Beacon AI helps you to write the Excel-style formulas in smart fields and import template smart columns. You can simply say what you'd like the formula to do:
And Beacon AI will generate the formula for you:
Want to make changes to an existing formula? Just type the changes you'd like to make:
And the formula will be updated:
Pretty cool, right?
Beacon AI helps you to write (and rewrite!) emails that you send from Beacon, in a style that fits your charity. If you've used AI tools like ChatGPT or Google Gemini, you'll feel right at home when writing emails with Beacon AI.
You can write emails in email templates and in form acknowledgements:
Beacon AI will then generate an email subject and body, pulling in all of the relevant variables:
Want to make changes to the email? Just type the changes you'd like to make:
You can ask to include additional variables, or change the tone or length of the email. It's a great way to get started rather than a blank page!
As ever, we're absolutely committed to protecting your data and take our responsibilities as a trusted technology provider very seriously. As such, it's worth making a few things really clear about Beacon AI:
Data privacy and protection are at the core of everything we do at Beacon. We've taken significant steps to ensure that your data never leaves the UK when AI models are used.
Free AI tools like ChatGPT use your chats to "train" and improve their public AI models, which can lead your data to end up in the public domain.
With Beacon AI, this is not the case. Your data belongs to you, and is not used to train public AI models.
Not ready to use AI in your CRM yet? You can switch off Beacon AI for all users of your account in Settings > Charity Preferences.
Beacon AI's capabilities are impressive and really useful, but you will often get results that you don't expect. AI algorithms are fallible, and will return filters that aren't quite right, formulas that don't work as you expect, and will write things you wouldn't want to send to a supporter. It's important to think of any AI as a tool, like a spelling checker, that's really handy but never always right!
Beacon AI is live and ready to try out in your account. Log in to Beacon and take it for a spin!
Beacon CEO Chris Houghton will be hosting a webinar on Wednesday the 4th of September about all things Beacon AI.
Register now to reserve your spot.
