--- title: OpenWater Application and Review Cloud Reviews meta_title: 'OpenWater Application and Review Cloud Reviews 2026: Details, Pricing, & Features | G2' meta_description: Filter 150 reviews by the users' company size, role or industry to find out how OpenWater Application and Review Cloud works for a business like yours. aggregate_rating: rating_value: 4.4 review_count: 150 scale: '5' date_modified: '2026-07-07' parent_category: name: Education url: https://www.g2.com/categories/education --- # OpenWater Application and Review Cloud Reviews **Vendor:** Advanced Solutions International (ASI) **Category:** [Scholarship Management Software](https://www.g2.com/categories/scholarship-management) **Average Rating:** 4.4/5.0 **Total Reviews:** 150 ## About OpenWater Application and Review Cloud OpenWater streamlines program management with its end-to-end solution for accepting and reviewing applications, awards, grants, scholarships, proposals, and abstracts. OpenWater’s secure, all-in-one platform makes navigating the review process easy with its user-friendly features. Empower your program administrators by automating time consuming administrative tasks, collecting high volume submissions, and driving data-proven decisions through custom reporting and analytics. ## OpenWater Application and Review Cloud Reviews ### 1. Definitely Recommend! **Rating:** 4.5/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Janelle S. | Senior Manager of Programs, Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** January 26, 2023 **What do you like best about OpenWater Application and Review Cloud?** I like the AI feature. Have been testing it out and hope to use in practice soon. **What do you dislike about OpenWater Application and Review Cloud?** Make it easier to label applications for judges when seeing their assignments. Support was helpful and they were able to do the work on their end as it was a development fix but it should be something I should be able to do. **What problems is OpenWater Application and Review Cloud solving and how is that benefiting you?** OpenWater is helping us with our grant submission and abstract submission process. It makes the process more streamlined and efficient. ### 2. Seamless AMS Integration, Intuitive Onboarding, and Great Ongoing Support **Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Heidi D. | Sr. Enterprise Project Manager, Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** July 02, 2026 **What do you like best about OpenWater Application and Review Cloud?** What I like best about OpenWater Application is the integration with our AMS system as it streamlines the log in process and allows for reduced data entry. Additionally, the onboarding process is intuitive, it allowed for more ownership by me and department staff. Ongoing support continues to be an added benefit. **What do you dislike about OpenWater Application and Review Cloud?** There isn’t much I’ve found to dislike, but if I had to point to an area for ongoing improvement, it would be usability. Building “prettier” forms often requires in-depth CSS knowledge, plus time to experiment and test. It would be great to have a bit more flexibility out of the box for that, so it’s easier to achieve a polished look without so much custom styling. **What problems is OpenWater Application and Review Cloud solving and how is that benefiting you?** OpenWater Application and Review Cloud provides solutions for all of our organizational forms, including scholarship, grant, and election forms. It has helped our committees collect data more efficiently and reduce user errors, thanks to its strong integrations and reliable performance. We support nearly 40 active forms throughout the year and continue to grow our portfolio. ### 3. User-Friendly and Makes Awards Management Easier Every Time **Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Christy M. | 4-H Educator, Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** June 12, 2026 **What do you like best about OpenWater Application and Review Cloud?** Our organization uses Open Water to manage our awards submission and review. As the primary manager, I find the application user friendly and capable of meeting our needs. Every time I use Open Water I find something that makes my job easier. **What do you dislike about OpenWater Application and Review Cloud?** From a user standpoint there is not anything that I really dislike. Every once in a while I find something I wish the app would do but there is usually an easy work around. **What problems is OpenWater Application and Review Cloud solving and how is that benefiting you?** Our organization accepts award application from all states and reviews in three different rounds. From my computer I can manage the entire process easily. I really like that I can impersonate people in the app so I can see what they are seeing and problem solve with them. I can also send email blasts directly from Open Water to designated groups which helps communication. **Official Response from Brittany Holt:** > Thank you for your wonderful review, Christy! We're thrilled to hear that OpenWater is making your awards management process easier and helping you efficiently manage submissions, reviews, and communications. We appreciate your feedback and are always looking for ways to make the platform even more powerful and intuitive. ### 4. Robust Platform for Awards and Scholarships **Rating:** 4.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Maddie L. | Marketing and Communications Manager, Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** May 28, 2024 **What do you like best about OpenWater Application and Review Cloud?** The way judges are added is very easy. We never have any issues with judges accessing their assignments or logging in. **What do you dislike about OpenWater Application and Review Cloud?** It's not very easy to copy over a program from one year to the next if there are any changes to the categories. Also, the design options could definitely be improved for a better overall look and feel. **What problems is OpenWater Application and Review Cloud solving and how is that benefiting you?** OpenWater gives us an easy to use, all-in-one system to collect our Awards submissions. When we started a scholarship program several years ago, we were excited that we could use OpenWater for that program as well. We love how judging is done through the platform and we don't have to download submissions and send to judges like we did before using the platform. ### 5. Powerfully Customizable: OpenWater Application and Review Cloud for Tailored Program Setups **Rating:** 4.5/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Katie H. | Director of Operations, Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** June 30, 2026 **What do you like best about OpenWater Application and Review Cloud?** I like how many options there are to set up our programs and to collect the information we need from applicants. I can customize each program to match our specific requirements, and I keep discovering additional ways to use OpenWater Application and Review Cloud that I hadn't anticipated. **What do you dislike about OpenWater Application and Review Cloud?** The only thing I don't like about OpenWater is the fact that only one person can talk to support without paying for an additional admin seat. **What problems is OpenWater Application and Review Cloud solving and how is that benefiting you?** We used to have a very complicated application process run through emails, forms, and spreadsheets - all disconnected from one another. Now we can run everything through the same system, and all of the information is in one place. It's a game changer! ### 6. Highly Customizable Apps, but Slowdowns and a Confusing Admin Interface **Rating:** 3.5/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Verified User in Non-Profit Organization Management | Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** July 02, 2026 **What do you like best about OpenWater Application and Review Cloud?** Applications are highly customizable. You can create almost any type of application field that you may need. Help Center is extremely helpful when looking for more information on how to do a specific action. **What do you dislike about OpenWater Application and Review Cloud?** The website slows down when there is a lot of traffic and often operates slower then other sites that I use. The interface can be confusing for users that seldom are on the site, especially navigating through the different areas of an application and knowing exactly where to go within an application on the admin side. Knowledge of HTML is helpful and not all users have that. Our integrations only go one-way, so once an applicant starts an application and then goes back to update their member profile on our organization's website, the new content does not get updated through the API on their local OpenWater application. **What problems is OpenWater Application and Review Cloud solving and how is that benefiting you?** OpenWater solves our challenges of collecting all different formats of applications in one site. Each application is unique and the admin user can customize based on their use needs. ### 7. OpenWater Stands Out: Applicant Communication and Data-Driven Outreach **Rating:** 4.5/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Ellie M. | Manager, Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** April 16, 2026 **What do you like best about OpenWater Application and Review Cloud?** We regularly use the email/communication function in OpenWater to stay in touch with our cohort of applicants throughout the year. While the formatting can feel a bit clunky at times, the ability to pipe in application data is excellent. We especially appreciate being able to add additional contacts to the CC line. The option to create and maintain unique links that allow non-users to download data reports is also incredible. In my experience working with two other comparable application/review platforms, OpenWater really stands out as the exception when it comes to this tool. **What do you dislike about OpenWater Application and Review Cloud?** Formatting in OpenWater’s outreach tool can feel clunky. It would be much easier if we could match the tool to our organization’s style and brand—fonts, colors, and similar elements—without having to manually customize everything. My biggest complaint, though, is the lack of bulk application management options. In our program flow, we include an optional form, and when applicants leave it incomplete, our team has to manually finalize and complete it for every person who didn’t submit. With a group of 500+ applications, this ends up taking roughly 1 hour and 15 minutes. Also, the OpenWater feature that hides applications older than 120 days creates more problems for us than it solves. Our program runs for 13 months, and applicants log in and see “0” applications even though they know they previously submitted two other forms. That creates a lot of confusion and anxiety, and clearing it up takes significant staff time that could be better spent elsewhere. **What problems is OpenWater Application and Review Cloud solving and how is that benefiting you?** Our application timeline spans five months, and applicants who enroll in month 1 are typically much farther along by month 6 compared with those who enroll in month 4. OpenWater’s customizable, nimble communication tools let us easily reach specific groups based on when they applied and send messaging tailored to what was most relevant to their stage in the process. This became a critical solution for my team’s workflow, saving us time and contributing to positive improvements in application completion. **Official Response from Brittany Holt:** > Thank you for your thoughtful feedback, Ellie! We're glad to hear OpenWater’s communication and reporting tools have helped your team connect with applicants more effectively and streamline your workflow. We also appreciate your suggestions around branding, bulk actions, and application visibility, and we'll continue working to make the experience even better. ### 8. Strong, Responsive Support That Shines During High-Volume Periods **Rating:** 4.5/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Verified User in Non-Profit Organization Management | Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** June 15, 2026 **What do you like best about OpenWater Application and Review Cloud?** What I like most about OpenWater is the strong customer support. Their support team is responsive and helpful when questions or issues arise, which is especially important during high-volume submission and review periods. **What do you dislike about OpenWater Application and Review Cloud?** One current limitation is that we are not able to fully manage all of our data within OpenWater. For example, we collect initial conference session information from one person (the session organizer), including speaker details, but then we must create a separate program for individual speakers to submit their own required information, which is not linked to their session(s). As a result, we rely on a separate system to manage these connected data points, which creates a duplicative and time-consuming workflow. **What problems is OpenWater Application and Review Cloud solving and how is that benefiting you?** OpenWater provides an integrated platform that supports both submission and review processes in one centralized system. In addition, it allows us to schedule sessions and publish gallery views as public-facing sites, which helps streamline both internal management and external visibility of our conference content. **Official Response from Brittany Holt:** > Thank you for your thoughtful review! We're so glad our support team has been there for you, especially during your busiest submission and review periods. We appreciate your feedback on managing connected conference data and are always working to enhance the platform while helping organizations streamline their workflows. ### 9. OpenWater Replaced Our Custom Awards Portal with Less Manual Upkeep **Rating:** 4.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Verified User in Non-Profit Organization Management | Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** May 13, 2026 **What do you like best about OpenWater Application and Review Cloud?** Our organization moved from a custom built awards portal that required a lot of manual upkeep. OpenWater has helped us replace that system without needing staff to be well informed in coding and other back end building features. **What do you dislike about OpenWater Application and Review Cloud?** There are some features that are not as flexible as expected and requires us to figure out workarounds. One example of this is in the judging portal. Our awards use ranking, but the standard ranking option feels kind of unofficial without a submit or finalize button. We moved to using an entry field to have reviewers rank the applications. However, since the score ranking only allows ranking from the highest score to the lowest, it has been confusing for our reviewers who don't read the instructions carefully. **What problems is OpenWater Application and Review Cloud solving and how is that benefiting you?** OpenWater is solving several long‑standing operational and user‑experience problems that existed in our previous custom‑built, largely manual application and review system. 1. Reducing process complexity and manual administration Our previous system required significant hands‑on management, manual troubleshooting, and one‑off workarounds to keep programs running. By moving to OpenWater, we centralized submissions, eligibility rules, judging workflows, and communications into a single platform, dramatically reducing staff time spent on manual coordination and maintenance. This allows staff to focus on program quality and outreach rather than system upkeep. 2. Improving the applicant experience and accessibility The old system created barriers for applicants through outdated workflows and confusing navigation. OpenWater provides a modern, structured application interface, clearer award grouping, and single sign‑on with Society membership. This has made the application process easier to understand and complete, which directly lowered friction for applicants and nominators. As a result, multiple award categories saw record‑high application numbers after the transition. 3. Enabling scalable and consistent review workflows Previously, review and judging processes were difficult to standardize and scale, particularly when managing multiple programs with different eligibility and scoring requirements. OpenWater allows us to configure judging teams, permissions, scoring fields, and review visibility in a repeatable way across programs. This has improved consistency, transparency, and oversight in the review process, even as program volume has increased. 4. Supporting growth without rebuilding infrastructure The custom-built system was not designed to evolve easily as programs expanded. Any new requirement often meant additional manual work or custom development. OpenWater provides a configurable platform that can support new award categories, new application logic, and integrations (such as Higher Logic membership data) without rebuilding the system each cycle. This flexibility makes it possible to grow programs without proportionally increasing staff workload. 5. Improving data quality, tracking, and future planning OpenWater gives us better visibility into participation, engagement, and bottlenecks across the application lifecycle. This data is now being used to establish baselines, guide process improvements, and inform future marketing and award strategy—capabilities that were extremely limited in the previous system. Compared to our old custom-built program, OpenWater has shifted our awards and application processes from being staff‑intensive and fragile to being scalable, more applicant‑friendly, and easier to govern. While any new system involves an adjustment period, the overall impact has been increased participation, reduced administrative burden, and a more sustainable foundation for future growth. **Official Response from Brittany Holt:** > Thank you for your thoughtful feedback! We're glad to hear OpenWater has helped streamline your awards programs, reduce administrative effort, and support continued growth without the need for extensive custom development. We also appreciate your insights on judging workflows and flexibility, and we're always looking for ways to make the experience even more intuitive for reviewers and administrators. ### 10. User-Friendly with Great Support and Easy Setup **Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Sharon L. | Marketing Operations Specialist, Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** May 12, 2026 **What do you like best about OpenWater Application and Review Cloud?** I find OpenWater Application and Review Cloud super easy to use, which is really important for my workflow. The customer support is great, making it easier to navigate any issues I might have. I love the feature that allows me to port forms to a PDF, as it reduces room for human error and simplifies processing. Additionally, the setup was very easy, thanks to the wonderful setup guides and help articles that are easy to access and understand. **What do you dislike about OpenWater Application and Review Cloud?** I think the category or group's name setting could be improved, as it's not as quick as I would like. I'd like to be able to create a judging group directly from the list of judges. **What problems is OpenWater Application and Review Cloud solving and how is that benefiting you?** I use OpenWater Application and Review Cloud to save time and labor by avoiding separate form functionalities and Excel sorting. It's super easy to use, provides great customer support, and it makes workflows easier with reduced human error. **Official Response from Brittany Holt:** > Thank you so much for your feedback, Sharon! We're so glad to hear OpenWater is easy to use, well-supported, and helping your team save time while reducing manual work and errors. We also appreciate your suggestion around judging group setup and will continue working to make those workflows even more efficient. ### 11. User-Friendly Application Management Platform with Great Customization Options **Rating:** 4.5/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Christine K. | Learning & Education Specialist, Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** December 11, 2024 **What do you like best about OpenWater Application and Review Cloud?** We use OpenWater to manage our application process, and it has significantly streamlined our operations. The platform allows us to maintain our organization's branding while providing a seamless experience for applicants - they simply click a link on our website and are directed to our customized application portal. What I like best about OpenWater is its comprehensive functionality. We can collect applications, process payments, and conduct multi-stage reviews all within one system. The filtering and sorting capabilities are particularly useful when handling large volumes of applications. Being able to generate detailed reports about submission status and reviewer progress has made tracking much more efficient. **What do you dislike about OpenWater Application and Review Cloud?** Some of the default terminology doesn't align perfectly with our specific needs, which required additional training for our team to get everyone comfortable with the system. We've also noticed that the portal can occasionally run slower when processing large amounts of data. **What problems is OpenWater Application and Review Cloud solving and how is that benefiting you?** Prior to implementing OpenWater, managing applications would have required juggling multiple systems for collecting applications, processing payments, and reviewing credentials. Now, we have a single integrated platform that handles our entire application workflow seamlessly. The system allows applicants to submit their information through a branded portal that maintains our organization's look and feel while providing us with powerful backend tools for processing and review. **Official Response from Brittany Holt:** > Thank you for your feedback, Christine! We're delighted to hear OpenWater has helped streamline your application process by bringing submissions, payments, reviews, and reporting together in one platform. We also appreciate your comments on terminology and performance and are always looking for ways to make the experience even more intuitive and efficient. ### 12. Reliable Platform with Outstanding Support **Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Angie R. | Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** May 14, 2026 **What do you like best about OpenWater Application and Review Cloud?** I appreciate OpenWater for making it easy to get and understand information, and the single sign-on to our member site makes everything easier, especially reporting. The software is good at getting the job done, but what really stands out is the amazing customer service. Our account manager, MiAnn is a rockstar and helps us with any issues, making the software great because we can rely on her. The support we receive truly makes a difference, and it's why I have the best relationship with OpenWater Application and Review Cloud. Would definitely recommend. **What do you dislike about OpenWater Application and Review Cloud?** The initial setup was a lot of work. There is so much information sometimes it's hard to sort through it all. **What problems is OpenWater Application and Review Cloud solving and how is that benefiting you?** OpenWater Application and Review Cloud makes information easy to access and understand, simplifies processes, and enhances reporting. The ability to have single sign-on with our member site streamlines everything. **Official Response from Brittany Holt:** > Angie, thank you for your feedback! We're thrilled to hear OpenWater's reporting capabilities, single sign-on experience, and support team have made such a positive impact on your organization. We also appreciate your comments about the initial setup process and are always looking for ways to make getting started even easier. ### 13. Efficient Application Management, Needs Better Winner Allocation **Rating:** 4.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Ava Z. | Awards and Recognition Specialist, Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** May 12, 2026 **What do you like best about OpenWater Application and Review Cloud?** I love how easy OpenWater Application and Review Cloud is to use. The letters of recommendation function works great, making my job a lot easier by allowing me to manage all the letters internally instead of over email. I really appreciate having an OpenWater rep available to ask questions. **What do you dislike about OpenWater Application and Review Cloud?** I don't really like the way the winners allocation function works. In the current setup, I have to mark everyone as a 'winner', even the people who are not winners, to be able to send emails to the group of people who didn't win a specific award. There should be a separate category for non-recipients, that is not called 'winners allocation'. **What problems is OpenWater Application and Review Cloud solving and how is that benefiting you?** I use OpenWater Application and Review Cloud to manage applications and nominations. It handles submissions, notifications, and letters of recommendation, simplifying my tasks by organizing all letters internally rather than over email. **Official Response from Brittany Holt:** > Thank you for your review, Ava! We're glad to hear OpenWater has made application management easier and that features like letters of recommendation and dedicated support have been valuable to your team. We also appreciate your suggestions around the winner allocation process and will continue looking for ways to make workflows more intuitive. ### 14. Running a conference with a Call for Proposals? Open Water is your answer! **Rating:** 4.5/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Verified User in Non-Profit Organization Management | Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** November 19, 2025 **What do you like best about OpenWater Application and Review Cloud?** I have been using Open Water daily for more than 5 years and I will continue to do so. For the moment, I haven't found a reason to stop doing it. Due to my frequency of use, I consider that I know the software very well. The judging process is probably my favourite feature. In our review process, we involve over more than 80 internal and external experts who review more than 1600 session proposals. We divide the experts according to program categories. Open Water allows you to assign by category, which is super helpful. It also lets you decide how many sessions each expert should evaluate and other features. It is very personalized to the experience that you need. Sessions can also be assigned randomly at first, and then easily moved between judges as needed, ensuring that the right expert evaluates each proposal. I believe this part is super important in case you want judges to review specific proposals according to their expertise within a general category. One of the best aspects of OpenWater is its library of resources, for example, their onsite training. I do it every year before we begin our review cycle just to remind myself. There is always one feature that you forget that you can use to make better. If you are not DIY, which I am, their customer service is amazing. They are always there to answer any question that you need or to help you come up with an answer to a problem that is bothering you. In summary, the platform offers an excellent balance between responsive customer support and comprehensive resources for self-learning. Briefly, ease of use and ease of implementation is guaranteed. This has allowed us to implement new features each year that improve our workflow and make the system even easier to use. I now only contact customer support when I encounter a significant issue, and their responses are always prompt and direct me to helpful resources. On this point, ease of of implementation is guaranteed. I must admit that customer support is amazing. I love working with our account manager. In terms of value (money), Open Water is great. I like that it does not charge per application or participant. This makes it very flexible. Also, depending on your package, you can have different programs. We use several and this is great. It really allows us to have a program for each of the different needs we have. While OW is often used for grant or scholarship management, we use it to collect session proposals for a conference focused on technology and human rights. The overall process is quite similar, and we collaborate with OW to refine our evaluation process to fit our needs. The number of features really is in line with our needs. The integrations hub also works pretty well. I would suggest getting it if your organization needs it. **What do you dislike about OpenWater Application and Review Cloud?** I believe that Open Water could enhance its dashboard features. It can be difficult to follow all the key data points of your program. For instance, seeing how many sessions have been submitted, completed, or are still in process is not always straightforward. Nevertheless, the reporting features is amazing. It is really tailored to any report that you need and you can have them customize. As for the interface, it may have looked outdated until recently, but they are currently working on a redesign, which I am very much looking forward to. I also feel like OW could upgrade its look and feature, however, I am aware that they are working on this with strong efforts. **What problems is OpenWater Application and Review Cloud solving and how is that benefiting you?** OpenWater is the tool you need to push your conference program to the next level, whether in quantity and quality. You can use it for more than academic conferences. I always promote it when I have the opportunity. I am really happy with it. Thanks to its different features, we've been able to adapt to our constant growing number of proposals received and thus the number of judges needed to be review. OpenWater has all the tools to help you adapt and keep your workload stable. Also, the various tools available in OpenWater, including gallery view and community voting, have enabled us to expand the avenues of participation for community members. No matter the problem you may have, OpenWater has a tool to help you solve it. Their team can also support with this. **Official Response from Brittany Holt:** > Thank you for sharing such a detailed and thoughtful review, Luis! We’re delighted to hear OpenWater continues to support your complex conference program and evolving needs. It’s great to know the judging workflow, flexibility, integrations, and support resources have helped you scale and refine your processes over time. We truly appreciate your feedback on dashboards and design, and we’re excited for you to see the improvements ahead! ### 15. Versatile and User-Friendly Platform with Great Support **Rating:** 4.5/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Verified User **Reviewed Date:** May 19, 2026 **What do you like best about OpenWater Application and Review Cloud?** I really appreciate the great support that I get from OpenWater Application and Review Cloud. MiAnn, my contact, is very quick to respond and gives us different options on how we can proceed. I like that the system allows us to have several different options for planning out our sessions, content, and submission forms. There are a lot of options and ways to configure the system to make it work for us. **What do you dislike about OpenWater Application and Review Cloud?** There are very few things that I don't like about the system. It's hard to think of things I don't like about it because my aunt is always able to pivot and give us alternatives even if it's not what we expected. So, overall, we end in a good place. I also would appreciate some education on how to create better emails in the email wizard (The information could be out there, but I haven't dived into it yet.) **What problems is OpenWater Application and Review Cloud solving and how is that benefiting you?** OpenWater Application and Review Cloud handles our call for proposals and helps us judge and rank sessions for our large conference. **Official Response from Brittany Holt:** > Thank you for your review! We're delighted to hear that OpenWater's flexibility and support team have helped you successfully manage your call for proposals and session review process. We also appreciate your suggestion around email creation resources and are always looking for ways to help users get even more value from the platform. ### 16. OpenWater Streamlines Complex Reviews with Flexible Workflows and Strong Reviewer Management **Rating:** 4.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Verified User in Philanthropy | Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** May 19, 2026 **What do you like best about OpenWater Application and Review Cloud?** OpenWater has been an incredibly valuable platform for managing and streamlining multiple components of the review and application process. One of the most beneficial features has been the centralized submission and review workflow, which allows our team to efficiently manage applications, reviewer assignments, scoring, and communications all in one place. The customizable forms and automated workflows have significantly reduced administrative burden and improved organization across large-scale funding and technical assistance initiatives. The reviewer management functionality has been especially helpful. Being able to assign reviewers, track completion status in real time, and export scoring data has improved both transparency and efficiency during competitive review processes. The reporting and dashboard features also make it easier to monitor progress, identify gaps, and quickly generate summaries for leadership and stakeholders. Another major benefit has been the platform’s flexibility. OpenWater allows us to tailor workflows, eligibility questions, and evaluation criteria to fit the unique needs of our programs without requiring extensive technical expertise. This adaptability has supported smoother implementation across multiple initiatives and diverse user groups. An unexpected benefit has been the improved communication and user experience for applicants and reviewers alike. Automated reminders, status tracking, and centralized document management have minimized confusion and reduced the volume of manual follow-up emails our team typically handles. Overall, OpenWater has improved our workflow by increasing efficiency, enhancing organization, and creating a more seamless experience for both administrators and participants. It has saved our team substantial time while supporting a more structured and equitable review process. **What do you dislike about OpenWater Application and Review Cloud?** One of the biggest challenges we experienced with OpenWater was around workflow efficiency and usability across multiple programs. For example, we often had to repeatedly re-enter or re-save customized language and settings because content would unexpectedly disappear or not save properly. This became time-consuming, especially when managing multiple application and review cycles simultaneously. Another limitation was the inability to batch programs together for reporting or exports. Since we manage several related initiatives, having to export each program separately created additional manual work when trying to analyze data collectively or prepare leadership summaries. Similarly, the inability to search across programs made it difficult to quickly locate applications, reviewers, or records when information was spread across multiple workflows. We also found the reviewer/judge experience somewhat clunky at times, particularly around password setup and login management. Some reviewers had difficulty accessing the system, resetting passwords, or navigating the login process, which required additional troubleshooting and support from our team. This occasionally created delays during time-sensitive review periods. While the platform is highly customizable and ultimately very useful for managing complex workflows, there are opportunities to improve the user experience, cross-program functionality, and administrative efficiency for organizations managing multiple initiatives at once. **What problems is OpenWater Application and Review Cloud solving and how is that benefiting you?** We no longer had a need for OpenWater so we don't have anything to solve. **Official Response from Brittany Holt:** > Thank you for your thoughtful feedback! We're glad to hear OpenWater helped streamline your review processes, reduce administrative effort, and create a more efficient experience for both administrators and reviewers. We also appreciate your insights on cross-program management and usability; we're always looking for ways to make the platform even more intuitive and efficient! ### 17. Seamless AMS Integration and Reliable, Helpful Support! **Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Verified User in Non-Profit Organization Management | Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** May 12, 2026 **What do you like best about OpenWater Application and Review Cloud?** It integrates with our AMS platform, allowing our members to complete applications and reviews seamlessly. We’ve also been thoroughly impressed by the reliable, helpful support we’ve received throughout our time with OpenWater. We are ablet to adapt the platform's capabilities to meet the needs of our various application and review programs. **What do you dislike about OpenWater Application and Review Cloud?** It is more of an opportunity for improvement than a dislike but I feel like the look of the application and review could be modernized. **What problems is OpenWater Application and Review Cloud solving and how is that benefiting you?** We need to use OpenWater across our multiple entities within our organization and we are able to customize the logos and URL to show which entity the application/review is referring to. It is great! **Official Response from Brittany Holt:** > Thank you for your feedback! We're thrilled to hear that OpenWater’s AMS integration, flexibility, and support team have helped you successfully manage programs across your organization. We also appreciate your suggestion around modernizing the user experience as we are always looking for ways to enhance the platform. ### 18. Intuitive UI, Easy to Use, and Wonderful Support **Rating:** 4.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Jaclyn G. | Executive Director, Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** May 12, 2026 **What do you like best about OpenWater Application and Review Cloud?** What I like best the ease of use and the UI - makes its easier to be intuitive with it. The support from the team members, is wonderful and the price for us works. **What do you dislike about OpenWater Application and Review Cloud?** I get frustrated with the lack of permission controls **What problems is OpenWater Application and Review Cloud solving and how is that benefiting you?** its the best - it solves our many applications - i don' t have to use google forms or chase people to do the application **Official Response from Brittany Holt:** > Thank you for your feedback, Jaclyn! We're thrilled to hear that OpenWater’s intuitive interface, supportive team, and value have been a great fit for your organization. We also appreciate your comments on permission controls and will continue looking for ways to enhance flexibility while helping teams streamline their application processes. ### 19. An Efficient and Well-Organized Platform for Managing Peer Review Processes **Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Verified User in Non-Profit Organization Management | Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** April 16, 2026 **What do you like best about OpenWater Application and Review Cloud?** The OpenWater Application and Review Cloud provides a clear and well-organized interface that makes it easy to navigate both applications and review materials. I especially appreciate the streamlined workflow, which allows for efficient access to proposals, scoring, and reviewer comments in one place. The system’s structure supports a thoughtful and thorough review process while minimizing administrative burden, which is essential when managing a high volume of applications. **What do you dislike about OpenWater Application and Review Cloud?** I do not have any specific concerns or dislikes at this time. The system has worked well for my needs and has supported an efficient and organized review process. **What problems is OpenWater Application and Review Cloud solving and how is that benefiting you?** OpenWater Application and Review Cloud streamlines the management of applications and the peer review process by centralizing submissions, reviewer assignments, scoring, and communications in a single platform. This reduces the need for manual tracking and significantly improves organization and consistency. For me, this has been especially beneficial in managing a high volume of applications efficiently, ensuring a fair and structured review process, and allowing more time to focus on the quality and substance of each proposal rather than administrative tasks. **Official Response from Brittany Holt:** > Thank you for your review. We’re glad OpenWater is helping streamline your peer review process and making it easier to manage proposals, scoring, and feedback in one place. It’s great to hear it’s supporting your team in handling high volumes while staying organized and focused on quality. We appreciate you sharing your experience. ### 20. Has been a game changer for our scholarship program **Rating:** 4.5/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Danielle A. | Marketing Manager, Youth Strategies, Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** April 23, 2024 **What do you like best about OpenWater Application and Review Cloud?** I used to collect our scholarship applications by paper copies that were mailed in, and then I had to scan everything in. After that I had to save applications for our judges to access and they had to fill out paper forms. OpenWater has saved our team hundreds of hours; our scholarships look cleaner than they did before and we can make sure applicants are supplying the information we need with the required fields! Applications often came in with missing information, which disqualified them. Collecting the information for payment has also been made a breeze! **What do you dislike about OpenWater Application and Review Cloud?** One of the downsides to the platform is where some of the items are located; there are several spots for judge information or what limitations you want to have on your application. With having multiple locations for different things, it takes a little longer to set things up. I absolutely love the customer service in terms of how quickly they respond and assist with any questions- when they go on vacation there is always someone else to help. But some of the things that I have felt should be intuitive are not, which results in me reaching out and having to get assistance when it could have been right there. **What problems is OpenWater Application and Review Cloud solving and how is that benefiting you?** Saving hundreds of hours for administrators or our programs, users and judges! Were able to make fields required so information is not missed. **Official Response from Brittany Holt:** > Danielle, thank you so much for your thoughtful review and for sharing how OpenWater has transformed your scholarship program! We’re thrilled to hear it’s saved your team so much time and helped streamline your application process. We also appreciate your feedback about setup navigation; your feedback is invaluable to OpenWater. It’s wonderful to know our support team has been able to assist you quickly whenever needed. Thanks again for being part of the OpenWater community! ### 21. Highly Customizable Application That Adapts to Your Needs **Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Verified User in Education Management | Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** May 14, 2026 **What do you like best about OpenWater Application and Review Cloud?** I like that the application can be customized. OpenWater stores everything, and I can quickly pull information and stats without relying on other staff. **What do you dislike about OpenWater Application and Review Cloud?** You have to become familiar with the platform, but it becomes much easier the more you use it. **What problems is OpenWater Application and Review Cloud solving and how is that benefiting you?** It compiles all of the information in one place. Our department no longer relies on paper filing or manual storage of applications. The process for approving and processing is much faster. **Official Response from Brittany Holt:** > Thank you for your review! We're glad to hear that OpenWater's flexibility and reporting capabilities help your team work more efficiently while keeping everything organized in one place. We also appreciate your perspective on the learning curve and are committed to making the platform as intuitive as possible for all users. ### 22. OpenWater streamlined how we do EVERYTHING! **Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Chantelle L. | Internship and Work Study Coordinator, Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** September 18, 2025 **What do you like best about OpenWater Application and Review Cloud?** There are many things I like about OpenWater. Before using OpenWater, our organization did everything via email. When you have 400 or more students and businesses applying via email, that gets very overwhelming and becomes inefficient. OpenWater has allowed our organization to streamline every one of our programs and application processes. Not only that, but creating the applications and procedures on OpenWater is clear, straightforward, and efficient. On the user side, we've been told that the software is easy to navigate. Lastly, the customer support has been stellar! Once we began using OpenWater, we've worked exclusively with the Director of Customer Support, and she's been amazing! She answers every question or concern I have. It's felt very much like a collaborative process as my coworkers and I learn to use the platform. OpenWater has gone above and beyond for our organization. **What do you dislike about OpenWater Application and Review Cloud?** I have yet to find a downside of using OpenWater. **What problems is OpenWater Application and Review Cloud solving and how is that benefiting you?** Our organization desperately needed help organizing and streamlining our application and job board processes. OpenWater hosts almost all of our programs on it's platforms. It allows us to receive applications, build the job board, send emails, organize participant information, and even lets us pull reports that we use for metrics/data needs. **Official Response from Brittany Holt:** > Thank you so much for your kind words, Chantelle! We’re thrilled to hear OpenWater has streamlined your processes and made things easier for both your team and your applicants. We’re especially glad our support team has been able to guide you every step of the way. We look forward to continuing to support your success! ### 23. User-Friendly and Easy to Navigate, but Customization Feels Limited **Rating:** 3.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Lori D. | Awards and Recognition Manager, Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** February 19, 2026 **What do you like best about OpenWater Application and Review Cloud?** Overall, the program is user-friendly and easy to navigate. **What do you dislike about OpenWater Application and Review Cloud?** The customization options are limited, which makes it harder to create a smoother, more user-friendly interface. **What problems is OpenWater Application and Review Cloud solving and how is that benefiting you?** We appreciate being able to move from manually reviewing nominations to a more automated process. The judge review workflow is straightforward and easy to navigate, which makes the overall experience feel clear and efficient. Overall, the added automation has noticeably improved the experience for our judges. **Official Response from Brittany Holt:** > Thank you for your thoughtful feedback, Lori! We’re happy to hear OpenWater has helped simplify and automate your nomination and judging workflows while providing an easy-to-use experience for reviewers. We also appreciate your comments on customization and are continually working to enhance flexibility and create even more seamless user experiences. ### 24. Versatile Data Tools Enhance Award Processes **Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Paige B. | Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** February 19, 2026 **What do you like best about OpenWater Application and Review Cloud?** I like using OpenWater Application and Review Cloud for its data tools that allow me to accomplish multiple tasks. I also appreciate how everything can be saved, so I can return to my work at a later time. The initial setup was very easy too. **What do you dislike about OpenWater Application and Review Cloud?** I find that settings can get bungled, especially the settings related to sending automatic notifications to applicants. **What problems is OpenWater Application and Review Cloud solving and how is that benefiting you?** I use OpenWater Application and Review Cloud for awards and scholarships. It helps with reports and data tools. I like how I can save my work and return later to finish the project, and I appreciate the versatility of the tools for multiple tasks. **Official Response from Brittany Holt:** > Thank you for your feedback, Paige! We’re glad to hear OpenWater’s data tools and save-and-return functionality have helped streamline your awards and scholarship processes. We also appreciate your comments about notification settings and will continue working to make configuration and automation management more intuitive. ### 25. Customizable Features and Unparalleled Customer Support **Rating:** 3.5/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Verified User in Motion Pictures and Film | Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** May 15, 2026 **What do you like best about OpenWater Application and Review Cloud?** I love how customizable and thorough openwater is! The report functions are particularly great. Also, the customer service is unparalleled! **What do you dislike about OpenWater Application and Review Cloud?** I would love to have better control over the voting/scoring systems. **What problems is OpenWater Application and Review Cloud solving and how is that benefiting you?** I use openwater to run a documentary awards competition and, after reviewing many other platforms, I've found it's the best to help us through the process from beginning to end. **Official Response from Brittany Holt:** > Thank you for your feedback! It's great to hear that OpenWater's customization, reporting capabilities, and customer support have helped make your awards program a success. We also appreciate your suggestions around voting and scoring flexibility as we continue to enhance the platform. ### 26. Highly Customizable Apps with Responsive, Helpful Support **Rating:** 4.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Verified User in Management Consulting | Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** April 20, 2026 **What do you like best about OpenWater Application and Review Cloud?** The ability to custom build the applications to meet your needs is one of the best features. The support from the team is also great and they are very responsive. **What do you dislike about OpenWater Application and Review Cloud?** The learning curve and training of new members is the most difficult part. Many features are buried in the platform and can be hard to find. **What problems is OpenWater Application and Review Cloud solving and how is that benefiting you?** We have always used Open Water, so there are no current features that are now benefiting us. **Official Response from Brittany Holt:** > Thank you for your feedback! We're glad to hear OpenWater’s flexibility and responsive support team have helped meet your organization’s needs. We also appreciate your comments about the learning curve and platform navigation, and we're always looking for ways to make the experience more intuitive for new users. ### 27. Excellent Support, But Needs UI Improvements and Fewer Bugs **Rating:** 3.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Verified User in Non-Profit Organization Management | Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** October 29, 2025 **What do you like best about OpenWater Application and Review Cloud?** Great customer service and quick response times. **What do you dislike about OpenWater Application and Review Cloud?** We've experienced several "bugs" (more than we think is acceptable) as well as other not so great standard features that have affected our own processes as well as our applicants'/reviewers' experiences. (For example, in the review form, when going to the second page, it does not take the user to the top of the form, it starts them in the middle. We've been told that this is just the way it is... But we keep getting complaints about it because it makes our reviewers' jobs harder.) This is just one example of a standard feature that we are not happy with. The amount of bugs we have experienced has also been frustrating. The overall look and feel / user experience of the software could also be improved. (Just looks outdated and is not always very user friendly). I know you are working on updating this, so we are hopeful it will improve soon. Also, this is probably our biggest issue, but only one person can own and fill out a form— others can't log in to complete their own sections. We wish it were possible for multiple people to enter their individual information into a shared form, with everything connecting to the same place. I know you said you were working on adding this too, so we are holding out hope! **What problems is OpenWater Application and Review Cloud solving and how is that benefiting you?** We need a way for people to apply to speak at our Conference, for reviewers to review the proposals, and then ways to collect the finalized session and speaker information. **Official Response from Brittany Holt:** > Thank you for taking the time to share your detailed feedback! We’re delighted to hear that our support team has provided quick and helpful assistance - they take great pride in delivering excellent service. We truly appreciate your honesty about the user experience and bugs you’ve encountered. Your input is invaluable as we continue to enhance the platform’s interface and functionality. Thank you for your patience and for being part of the OpenWater community as we continue to make things even better. ### 28. Easy Setup Instructions and Fast, Helpful Support **Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Verified User in Hospital & Health Care | Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** May 12, 2026 **What do you like best about OpenWater Application and Review Cloud?** Easy to follow instructions for setting up your application. Super helpful support team answers questions quickly and usually with video clips for future reference. **What do you dislike about OpenWater Application and Review Cloud?** If you do not use it very often, it is easy to forget how to use it, but the nice thing is, you can copy what you did the last time and only have to tweak dates and deadlines, so you are not always starting from scratch **What problems is OpenWater Application and Review Cloud solving and how is that benefiting you?** It is a huge time saver when it comes to capturing all responses, particularly for judging or choosing award winners **Official Response from Brittany Holt:** > Thank you for your review! We're delighted to hear that OpenWater's setup resources and responsive support team have helped make the process easier for you. It's also great to know the platform is saving your team time and simplifying the management of responses and award judging. ### 29. Efficient Abstract Management with Stellar Support **Rating:** 4.5/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Sam W. | Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** March 12, 2026 **What do you like best about OpenWater Application and Review Cloud?** I like the ability to clone the programs annually in OpenWater Application and Review Cloud. The Online Gallery is very helpful for directing attendees who need an agenda. I find the tech support to be very timely, which is reassuring. Building our own reports is also a great option to have. **What do you dislike about OpenWater Application and Review Cloud?** I find the integration with other systems difficult sometimes, and certain import features are not available. **What problems is OpenWater Application and Review Cloud solving and how is that benefiting you?** OpenWater Application and Review Cloud solves the abstract submission process, reviewing process, and scheduling conflicts. **Official Response from Brittany Holt:** > Thank you for your review, Sam! We're glad to hear OpenWater's program cloning, reporting capabilities, Online Gallery, and responsive support team help make your abstract management process more efficient. We also appreciate your comments on integrations and imports and are always looking for ways to enhance connectivity and ease of use. ### 30. OpenWater streamlines our Awards process **Rating:** 4.5/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Tricia J. | Senior Director of Events & Marketing, Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** August 21, 2025 **What do you like best about OpenWater Application and Review Cloud?** We have been using OpenWater for 5-6 years now to assist with our Emerald Awards program. It has significantly streamlined not only the back end process, but the front end for our members. We had to do some custom development to make the system work like we wanted but the development team was great. Because we're only in the system 1x per year, it's hard to remember all the necessary steps and their customer service is fantastic. **What do you dislike about OpenWater Application and Review Cloud?** There is some functionality that didn't work as we hoped so we did need to spend some additional money for custom development. **What problems is OpenWater Application and Review Cloud solving and how is that benefiting you?** We use the program mainly for a large awards program where we receive over 500 nominations across many categories. OpenWater has helped to streamline the process for the nominators, nominees, our judges and our staff. Secondarily, we use it for our scholarship program. **Official Response from Brittany Holt:** > Thank you for sharing your experience and for trusting OpenWater with your Emerald Awards program! We’re glad to hear the platform has streamlined your processes and that our customer service and development team have been able to support you along the way. We appreciate your continued partnership and remain committed to evolving the platform to deliver even greater value. ### 31. Quick, Responsive Account Support **Rating:** 4.5/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Verified User in Non-Profit Organization Management | Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** May 14, 2026 **What do you like best about OpenWater Application and Review Cloud?** If I have a question, the person assigned to my account is quick to respond. **What do you dislike about OpenWater Application and Review Cloud?** I dislike the price increases when renewing a contract. **What problems is OpenWater Application and Review Cloud solving and how is that benefiting you?** My organization uses OpenWater for journalists to submit their work to our journalism prize and for two rounds of review and judging. **Official Response from Brittany Holt:** > Thank you for your feedback! We're glad to hear that your dedicated account support has been responsive and helpful whenever questions arise. We value your input and appreciate the role OpenWater plays in helping manage your submission and judging programs. ### 32. Streamlined Award Submissions, Outstanding Usability **Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Madison C. | Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** March 12, 2026 **What do you like best about OpenWater Application and Review Cloud?** I like that OpenWater Application and Review Cloud is super user-friendly. I can pretty much figure anything out, and when I've had any sort of problems, the customer service has been really good. The initial setup was really easy as well. **What do you dislike about OpenWater Application and Review Cloud?** I don't think anything does not work or could be improved. **What problems is OpenWater Application and Review Cloud solving and how is that benefiting you?** I use OpenWater Application and Review Cloud to streamline the collection of ADI award submissions and enable judges to review entries in an organized manner. **Official Response from Brittany Holt:** > Madison, thank you so much for your feedback! We're thrilled to hear that OpenWater has provided an easy-to-use experience and helped streamline your award submission and judging process. It's also wonderful to know that our support team has been there when needed to help ensure your success. ### 33. OpenWater - Easy to Use Software, Great Support **Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Verified User in Mental Health Care | Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** December 08, 2022 **What do you like best about OpenWater Application and Review Cloud?** The application is pretty easy to navigate. The reports and export function save a lot of time. When I do need help, the support team is so responsive. Really appreciate the care and consideration that the team at OpenWater takes to answer questions and when necessary, address issues. **What do you dislike about OpenWater Application and Review Cloud?** I don't have anything to mention for OpenWater. **What problems is OpenWater Application and Review Cloud solving and how is that benefiting you?** We needed an award application software that created a simple and easy application experience and that's what OpenWater has done for us. The links to letters of recommendation, the judging views, the pdf options, and data export options all work well for us. We needed the back-end not to be too complicated and we also got that with OpenWater. **Official Response from Brittany Holt:** > Thank you for your review! We’re so glad to hear OpenWater’s ease of use, reporting, and export features are saving you time. We truly appreciate your kind words about our support team and are happy the platform is delivering a smooth application and judging experience for your program. ### 34. Open Water in use for Annual Award Process **Rating:** 4.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Tom C. | I am a board member of the Buffalo Ethics Association., Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** March 25, 2025 **What do you like best about OpenWater Application and Review Cloud?** Open Water has enbaled us to adhere to it's process in defining an application, and using that application to create an online portal for which interested partis can interact with application over a period of time, and submit a final application within the deadline for that calendar year. THis software allowed us to automate this process for whioch was one a very manual, paper-based process. This process starts with the application setup, and then bringing in the invited nominated companies, bring forward their application submissions, and move us through the judging stage. **What do you dislike about OpenWater Application and Review Cloud?** We use Open Water for most of this process. However, we tend not to use the built-in email functions as the email tends to fall into "spam" mailboxes, and is no longer effective for us. We email our nominated parties separate from Open Water. **What problems is OpenWater Application and Review Cloud solving and how is that benefiting you?** Open Water gives us a "single database" and ways of interacting with it to manage our Award process. Previusy, we had many sources of data that was diffecult to manage throughout the Awards season. ### 35. A Learning Experience! **Rating:** 4.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Samuel Y. | Administrative Coordinator, Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** March 24, 2025 **What do you like best about OpenWater Application and Review Cloud?** I was not familiar with the workings of the application website, but the help page came in handy when it was time to make updates and changes as the year progressed. I still refer to the help page when I need a refresher on how everything works or how to adjust some things so that is what I like best, having simple instructions and easy to follow steps. **What do you dislike about OpenWater Application and Review Cloud?** Although our office workflow has greatly improved with the OpenWater Application, I do find some things not available to us or have not found a work around to every issue but overall, the whole process has been an improvement for our program so far. **What problems is OpenWater Application and Review Cloud solving and how is that benefiting you?** OpenWater has made it easier for our applicants to apply with our program and make it easier for them to submit everything that is required. Everything can be done online now, and it helps for users outside of our immediate area. ### 36. Impeccable service and breadth of customizability **Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Jessi M. | Executive Director, Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** March 17, 2025 **What do you like best about OpenWater Application and Review Cloud?** The OpenWater team has an impressive response rate (they are quick) and their customer service is beyond compare. Any time I've needed assistance, our dedicated team member has answered my questions fully, taken initiative to find us better solutions, and assists in customizing our experience and use of their platform as we go. After being in the system every day most months of the year, I can say that it does take time to learn - but the OpenWater customer service team gives you every bit of help in implementing your programs and each step of the way. The platform is already nearly-infinitely customizable, and if needed, they have a team of brilliant programmers who will create a solution specifically for your program. For example, they built a solution for our complex scoring system in a way that reduced our workload significantly. **What do you dislike about OpenWater Application and Review Cloud?** I think the only thing I cold point to as a negative is the time to familiarize yourself with the system. It means having a dedicated, tech-savvy person in charge is imperative. That said, I haven't looked into OW's learning programs as much as I should for our other team members - I usually train them on the specifics of what I need them to do in the system. **What problems is OpenWater Application and Review Cloud solving and how is that benefiting you?** Our entire awards program is built on OpenWater and has grown there. OpenWater has solved every problem we've thrown at them: from managing 60-80+ categories and 100+ judges across multiple rounds of judging, a complex scoring system, remembering judges while having them complete a new judging application annually, adding additional judging rounds for specific top-tier awards...you name it, they've helped us figure out how to manage it and create a workflow to make it easier for us to handle. ### 37. Absolutely Love This Software! **Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Paige S. | Membership Manager, Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** November 03, 2025 **What do you like best about OpenWater Application and Review Cloud?** The ease of use and customer support. I can always count on the support team to respond is a very timely manner. The number of features that are available is a top benefit for us. **What do you dislike about OpenWater Application and Review Cloud?** There is a learning curve to Open Water, but once you learn the system, the possibilities are endless. **What problems is OpenWater Application and Review Cloud solving and how is that benefiting you?** We use open water for our awards management. We receive hundreds of submissions that are then judged. **Official Response from Brittany Holt:** > Thank you for your wonderful review, Paige! We’re so glad to hear you love OpenWater’s features and ease of use. We appreciate your note on the learning curve and are happy the platform and support team are helping you manage a high volume of award submissions with confidence. ### 38. OpenWater is great! **Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Michael A. | Senior Manager of Membership, Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** September 24, 2024 **What do you like best about OpenWater Application and Review Cloud?** It's easy to use, intuitive, and malleable. Tech support is also great! I love that you can clone your awards each year and make changes as needed. Having a public website is a fantastic feature as well. **What do you dislike about OpenWater Application and Review Cloud?** Nothing really. All of the things I listed previously are true.one thing I'd change is being able to change the open/close dates for each section at once rather than individually. **What problems is OpenWater Application and Review Cloud solving and how is that benefiting you?** We didn't have an awards platform and now we do. It also allows us to take in many submissions with little it no hassle. **Official Response from Brittany Holt:** > Thank you for refreshing your review, Michael! We’re so glad to hear that OpenWater’s ease of use, flexibility, and features like program cloning and public websites have been helpful for your team. We also appreciate your suggestion on managing section dates; insights like this guide our improvements and make the platform even stronger. We are grateful for your continued trust in OpenWater! ### 39. Intuitive, easy-to-use system that covers all our organization's needs **Rating:** 4.5/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Verified User in Public Relations and Communications | Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** September 23, 2025 **What do you like best about OpenWater Application and Review Cloud?** Quick to set up, simple to learn, comprehensive in functionality, and accompanied with excellent customer service. **What do you dislike about OpenWater Application and Review Cloud?** Not always clear if some fixes or refinements are included as standard customer service or if they involve an additional cost. **What problems is OpenWater Application and Review Cloud solving and how is that benefiting you?** OpenWater provides an all-in-one award-entry platform that allows my professional organization to receive award entry submissions, charge and receive payment for entries, distribute entries for judging, track judges' progress in scoring, and tabulate final judging scores. **Official Response from Brittany Holt:** > Thank you for sharing your thoughtful feedback on OpenWater! We’re glad to hear you find the platform intuitive, easy to set up, and well-supported by our customer service team. We appreciate your note about clarity on what’s included as standard - feedback like yours helps us improve transparency and support for our customers! ### 40. Very happy with OpenWater **Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Verified User in Education Management | Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** August 26, 2025 **What do you like best about OpenWater Application and Review Cloud?** Being able to have multiple calls open at the same time and love the customization options. **What do you dislike about OpenWater Application and Review Cloud?** I don't like when you turn off an option in a dropdown, it still shows up in the dropdown grey'd out. I would like the option to not show it at all. **What problems is OpenWater Application and Review Cloud solving and how is that benefiting you?** We use OpenWater for our Conference management. Call for Proposals, Call for Abstracts, Calls for Posters, etc. **Official Response from Brittany Holt:** > Thank you for sharing your experience with OpenWater! We’re pleased to hear the customization and ability to manage multiple calls have been valuable, and we appreciate your feedback on dropdown options. It’s great to know the platform is supporting your conference management needs! ### 41. OpenWater's limits can be frustrating, but their customer service is excellent **Rating:** 3.5/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Verified User in Non-Profit Organization Management | Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** January 24, 2023 **What do you like best about OpenWater Application and Review Cloud?** Louisa is wonderful -- she's so responsive and helpful with our various issues **What do you dislike about OpenWater Application and Review Cloud?** Two way integration with our AMS would be great **What problems is OpenWater Application and Review Cloud solving and how is that benefiting you?** The integration with our AMS is great and helps streamline our application processes **Official Response from Brittany Holt:** > Thank you for your review! We’re so glad to hear Louisa has been such a helpful and responsive support partner for your team. We appreciate your feedback on two-way AMS integration and are happy OpenWater is already helping streamline your application processes! ### 42. Manual and Outdated **Rating:** 2.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Ada T. | Research Project Manager, Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** May 14, 2025 **What do you like best about OpenWater Application and Review Cloud?** The best thing I enjoy using the OpenWater application is the dashboard and the ease of reviewing all our current applications. **What do you dislike about OpenWater Application and Review Cloud?** The OpenWater application is very antiquated and outdated. We can customize with our logo's, headers, but it the appearance does not look very modern. I **What problems is OpenWater Application and Review Cloud solving and how is that benefiting you?** OpenWater has solved our issue with our grants being processed via email. It provides us with one location for all our grants to be accepted, reviewed and tracked. **Official Response from Debbie Willis:** > Hi Ada, thank you for your feedback — we understand your concerns and want you to know that we're launching a new, improved user interface later this year designed to significantly enhance the overall experience. ### 43. Great platform to run a competition **Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Jane R. | Marketing Director, Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** September 16, 2025 **What do you like best about OpenWater Application and Review Cloud?** It enables us to receive entries and manage the judging process, as well as take the configuration over into future contests. **What do you dislike about OpenWater Application and Review Cloud?** The email interface/reporting could be improved **What problems is OpenWater Application and Review Cloud solving and how is that benefiting you?** How to manage entries for a global online competition, communicate with entrants at variouys stages and then manage the judging process online. **Official Response from Brittany Holt:** > Thank you for sharing your experience, Jane! We’re glad OpenWater is helping you manage entries, communication, and judging for your competitions. We appreciate your feedback on the email interface and reporting as well; our team is always looking for ways to improve. Thanks for choosing us to support your contests! ### 44. Great to use for awards judging. **Rating:** 4.5/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Verified User in Higher Education | Enterprise (> 1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** February 18, 2025 **What do you like best about OpenWater Application and Review Cloud?** I use OpenWater to judge awards. It is easy to use and the customer support is excellent. Questions are answered quickly and accurately. I have been using it for four years now. The judges also mention the system is very user friendly. We use it for three programs. It is easy to convert the submissions into PDFs for review. **What do you dislike about OpenWater Application and Review Cloud?** The only issue I have had is when people submit documentation that is not a Word doc or PDF. Some use Pages or other programs that don't upload as easily. I have been able to convert most attachments and resave them as a PDF to make it easy for the judges. **What problems is OpenWater Application and Review Cloud solving and how is that benefiting you?** OpenWater is making it much easier for our alumni to submit their awards. It saves time and money since it is all online and there is no need to print submissions to send to the judges to review. ### 45. Submission Process Streamlined **Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Verified User in Non-Profit Organization Management | Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** August 03, 2023 **What do you like best about OpenWater Application and Review Cloud?** Responsive and knowledgeable support staff. **What do you dislike about OpenWater Application and Review Cloud?** Setting up sessions can be a bit cumbersome. **What problems is OpenWater Application and Review Cloud solving and how is that benefiting you?** OpenWater saves time! I am able to sort data and build reports quickly. **Official Response from Brittany Holt:** > Thank you for your review - we’re glad to hear our support team has been responsive and helpful, and that OpenWater is saving you time with reporting and data management. We appreciate your feedback on session setup and will continue looking for ways to make that experience smoother. ### 46. Highly recommend Open Water for your society awards and election needs **Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Tina E. | Manager, Membership Services, Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** October 25, 2024 **What do you like best about OpenWater Application and Review Cloud?** I pushed for my organization to adopt use of Open Water for our fellowship nominations and grant application needs. It's been a game changer for us as it allows us easily create nomination forms that have multiple layers of review and approval processes. What I like most about using it is that we can easily integrate it with our AMS system in order to seamlessly confirm qualification criteria (such as having a membership in our oganization) when needed. I also like one of their newest features, which is it continuously updates the application form with data from our AMS with each login. For example if a particular status is needed before proceeding with a form, the nominee can log out of the platform, update their information in our AMS and then login again for the newest updates to be recognized. **What do you dislike about OpenWater Application and Review Cloud?** I enjoy use of the database update feature when integrated with our SSO. I would like it to be easier to initiate two way updates. **What problems is OpenWater Application and Review Cloud solving and how is that benefiting you?** Our previous system was archaic. It was difficult to link sponsorship support letters to the initial nomination. Our system also did a poor job of indicating application status or notifying users of their progress. ### 47. Excellent program! **Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Emily A. | PLA Administrator, Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** March 25, 2025 **What do you like best about OpenWater Application and Review Cloud?** The best feature is the reccomendation upload! Instead of having to wait for emailed or mailed submissions, the ability for documents to be directly uploaded into a client file has saved us numerous hours! **What do you dislike about OpenWater Application and Review Cloud?** We were hoping for an easier payment system but alas this did not come to fruition. **What problems is OpenWater Application and Review Cloud solving and how is that benefiting you?** We actually do not use this for Grant Management but rather file management. The problems they are solving was our manual processing time. ### 48. An amazing program that has saved our team hours! **Rating:** 4.5/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Danielle A. | Scholarship Coordinator & Youth Strategies Manager, Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** September 30, 2024 **What do you like best about OpenWater Application and Review Cloud?** The OpenWater application has been great for our team. Our original process was having students mail in their application, which would then need to be scanned by an employee - saved into the correct folder and renamed. When you get hundreds of applications, this can be quite time consuming. Then, we would have to organize the applications into specific categories for our judges to be able to go through. A spreadsheet was used as their scoring rubric, and a judge would need to open each individual PDF and enter their scores into the spreadsheet. Someone would then have to cross check all of the scoring and formulas to make sure everything came over corrected, and then enter each applicants data into a spreadsheet. We would use this spreadsheet to compare data year over year. As you can imagine, this took countless hours for an employee to do - OpenWater has saved us hundreds of hours of work! In addition, implementation was quick and easy. The platform is very easy to use and all of the HELP guides are easy accessible. Whenever I have a question, there is a chat feature to get into contact with our Customer Service Rep. The best part - if our rep is out of the office, it doesn't go unanswered - others quickly chime in and help with any issues! Overall, our entire team has been very satisifed - from the Admin, to the judges, to the users! It has been a much better member experience than before! **What do you dislike about OpenWater Application and Review Cloud?** The only downside that I have found to OpenWater so far is that I don't always find the things I'm looking for where I intuitively think they would be. It makes sense on the back-end as to why they would be there, but from an admin user standpoint it seems hidden. This has been felt by my admin coworker as well. **What problems is OpenWater Application and Review Cloud solving and how is that benefiting you?** OpenWater has helped us solve many of our painpoints -from no longer needed to scan individual applications to securly allowing our judges to judge files instead of on USB drives! ### 49. Great Customer Support **Rating:** 4.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Verified User in Food Production | Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** September 16, 2025 **What do you like best about OpenWater Application and Review Cloud?** the team is very responsive. they answer quickly and make efforts to find a solution. **What do you dislike about OpenWater Application and Review Cloud?** the way it is organized on the admin side is a bit confusing. **What problems is OpenWater Application and Review Cloud solving and how is that benefiting you?** I no longer have to track aard manual and have a auto scoring ability for one of my programs that is conditional. **Official Response from Brittany Holt:** > Thank you for your feedback! We’re glad our support team has been responsive and that automated scoring is making your process easier. We appreciate your note on the admin side and are always working to improve usability. Thank you for trusting OpenWater! ### 50. Exceptional Service & Easy to Use! **Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Marla P. | Grants & Research Manager, Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** May 16, 2025 **What do you like best about OpenWater Application and Review Cloud?** Once the submission process is set up, the system is very easy to navigate and use. Customer support is exceptional and makes learning the system fast. **What do you dislike about OpenWater Application and Review Cloud?** Minor limitations on some processes, but customer service is adept at figuring out solutions. **What problems is OpenWater Application and Review Cloud solving and how is that benefiting you?** OpenWater makes it easy to access information and sort data into reports to better analyze and improve outreach for submissions. ## OpenWater Application and Review Cloud Discussions - [Is there any plan to expand the capabilities of OpenWater to an Event Management Tool?](https://www.g2.com/discussions/13738-is-there-any-plan-to-expand-the-capabilities-of-openwater-to-an-event-management-tool) - 1 upvote - [When will we be able to customize more with CSS?](https://www.g2.com/discussions/13605-when-will-we-be-able-to-customize-more-with-css) - 1 upvote - [View OpenWater Application and Review Cloud pricing details and edition comparison](https://www.g2.com/products/openwater-application-and-review-cloud/reviews?section=pricing&secure%5Bexpires_at%5D=2026-07-14+18%3A47%3A51+-0500&secure%5Bsession_id%5D=3eeea679-44ec-45c2-b5f8-8d4f0fb6816b&secure%5Btoken%5D=46fbfcf6371ca2c23c11a6a4d9e2e3eee1920e155a67799ea4ebd10904e11338&format=llm_user) ## OpenWater Application and Review Cloud Integrations - [Drupal](https://www.g2.com/products/drupal/reviews) - [Higher Logic Vanilla](https://www.g2.com/products/higher-logic-vanilla/reviews) - [iMIS](https://www.g2.com/products/imis/reviews) - [Impexium](https://www.g2.com/products/impexium/reviews) - [Neon CRM](https://www.g2.com/products/neon-one-llc-neon-crm/reviews) - [Nimble AMS](https://www.g2.com/products/nimble-ams/reviews) - [Personify](https://www.g2.com/products/deepquery-personify/reviews) - [Protech AMS](https://www.g2.com/products/protech-ams/reviews) - [Swapcard](https://www.g2.com/products/swapcard/reviews) ## OpenWater Application and Review Cloud Features **Application Collection** - Custom Application Forms - Attachments - Scholarship Matching - Application Tracking **Proposal Management** - Form Building - Review Tools - Grantee Portal - Attachments - Task Management **Submission Management** - Form Builders - Countdown Timers - Landing Pages - Applicant Portal **Application Review** - Automated Review Assignments - Scoring Tools - Review Portal - Review Comments - Messaging **Fund Tracking** - Disbursements - Grant Allocations - Email Notifications **Judging Management** - Judge Assignments - Multiround Scoring - Scoring and Voting - Submission Dashboards **Administration and Integrations** - Administrative Dashboard - Reports - Integrations **Impact & Outcomes** - Program Evaluation - Ad Hoc Reporting - Dashboards **Awards Administration** - Event Support - Applicant Communications - CRM - Reporting **Grant Prospecting** - Funder Lists - Automated Responses **Compliance** - Eligibility Screening - Auditing **Integrations** - Fund Accounting - Donor Management ## Top OpenWater Application and Review Cloud Alternatives - [Submittable](https://www.g2.com/products/submittable/reviews) - 4.5/5.0 (167 reviews) - [SurveyMonkey Apply](https://www.g2.com/products/surveymonkey-apply/reviews) - 4.4/5.0 (41 reviews) - [Award Force](https://www.g2.com/products/award-force/reviews) - 4.7/5.0 (289 reviews)