If you’re looking for a new system, there could be any number of reasons:
Whatever your motivation, we’ve compiled a mini guide on how to approach the entire effort to ensure you find the right system for your association. Let’s dive in.
You’ve probably already begun to put together a digital transformation strategy — or you’re at least talking about it. Digital transformation isn’t just a strategic plan — it explores your corporate culture and encourages you to challenge the status quo by testing and experimenting. As part of your digital strategy, you’ll want to look at your:
One of the most critical components of an effective digital strategy is ensuring that you have association software that can support your goals. You definitely need a cloud-based system and one source of data.
And remember that your business goals need to drive your technology decision making — not the other way around.
If you need help getting started on your digital journey, download our complimentary Digital transformation whitepaper, and check out our blog post: 3 Steps for Creating a Winning Digital Strategy.
A cloud-based system is no longer a nice-to-have — it’s absolutely essential that your staff can access your critical systems from anywhere. For associations, you have two primary options to meet your needs:
Engagement Management Systems are Cloud-based platforms with no costly integration or expensive programming headaches because they’re purpose-built for associations like yours. These systems are designed to manage member data, mobile, social, financials, events, and your websites in one solution. By avoiding customizations, an EMS costs a lot less to own and operate year over year.
These types of large CRM platforms were originally developed for the sales forces of large commercial enterprises — not associations. Their licensing fees can be low, but these CRM-based solutions typically require extensive customization to meet even basic association needs — so they can lock you into very expensive, long-term costs.
A “tech stack” is the collection of software and tools your association uses to fulfill your mission and deliver member value. Your stack will be unique to your organization and the ways you serve your members. But effective association software must be:
Your stack will consist of three major components:
Let’s break these down:
You need to choose a software platform that’s designed for the unique complexities that membership organizations face every day. Your core platform will address 4 primary functions:
Your system must be capable of:
Member data is your lifeblood; make sure your system can:
You need a web platform that is robust enough to manage your entire public-facing web presence, member portals, event sites, and special-purpose microsites. It should empower you to:
Accounting affects all areas of your association and It’s critical that you have one source of data that gives you a full 360° view of your members. Integration between systems can be a nightmare while native accounting functionality can be a game-changer. Look for a system that can:
Or if you prefer to use a leading accounting software application, your core platform must have the ability to seamlessly integrate.
As an association, you have unique needs that your association software should address — either with native functionality or a tight, seamless integration with best-of-breed applications. Here’s what to look for:
Your association software needs to be able to:
You’ll want the ability to create an engaging online presence where members feel welcome and motivated to come back again and again. Your community app should empower you to:
If your association just has an event app you use once a year, you’re missing out. A year-round mobile app lets you:
For a more in-depth look at year-round apps, see our 7 Mobile Tactics Every Association Professional Should Know blog post.
More and more members now appreciate a text they can read quickly to bring them up-to-speed. You should be able to:
Events are often a big part of an association’s mission and you need significant control and flexibility to fully execute them. Your association software must allow you to:
Continuing education and certification offerings are important for your members’ professional development. Be sure to look for these capabilities:
Should have an easy-to-use application that can manage the submission, nomination, selection, and notification processes, build sophisticated forms, and support complex review processes.
Should allow you to offer instructor-led, video, and blended learning. It should support your assessment and testing methods, track certification & micro credentials and allow learners to easily access or purchase your content.
Should automate your entire credentialing, licensing, and certification processes. It should offer the flexibility to define multiple certification programs, establish specific requirements and allow certificants to monitor their own progress.
Nearly every association looks for ways to increase revenue beyond member dues/membership fees. The newest association software can help you:
Also consider:
While they can be an essential membership benefit, job boards can also generate additional revenue for your association through subscriptions, bundled job postings, upgraded postings, and branding opportunities for sponsors.
You need a solution that can track and manage everything from the sale to the insertion. The leading modules/applications will help you process orders, automate placements and billing, and analyze your sales performance.
Your association software should help you baseline your individual and corporate member engagement levels, monitor them, and report on progress towards the goals you set.
Look for an extensive library of standard reports and dashboards designed for associations. You should be able to personalize your reports, filter across dashboards, change chart types, zoom in, and easily export reports to common file types.
The latest association software platforms can help you automate tasks based on rules you set, schedule member communications, display personalized messages when members log into your website and alert staff to important updates or tasks when viewing a member record.
Finally, your association software needs to be able to integrate with the latest solutions on the market to provide the specific support you need in key areas. Your association’s needs will be uniquely yours but you want to make sure the system offers the greatest power and flexibility you can get. Look for a platform that can:
RFPs are the norm for most associations but an RFP is probably responsible for the legacy system that’s letting you down right now. A system preview allows you to test the solution provider’s offering in a real-world environment using your own information and processes to see what you can realistically achieve before making a commitment. The entire cost of one of these previews can be less than what you might pay a contractor to develop an RFP for you — and can be a much better predictor of your success.
An effective system preview process should:
Specifics may vary by vendor but most should include the following phases:
Vendor Selection: Start with a vendor offering a solution that’s purpose-built for associations . If you’re unsure where to begin, use your IT consultants to help you identify the top 3 vendors that can meet your needs and choose one for the preview.
Discovery: The vendor should collaborate with your executive team to assess your current situation. They should evaluate the 4 most important areas that contribute to your association’s success: recruitment, engagement, retention, and growth.
Consensus and Preview: Your vendor should work with the executive team to identify strategic targets, help your operational team define key requirements, preview the system using your own data and processes and then prepare a detailed document with all of your requirements.
Informed Decision: After completing the preview, you can decide whether the association software will address your challenges and help you meet your goals. If it can’t, you will still have highly detailed documentation you can use to create a highly targeted RFP that will save you time and yield a better result.
Nothing succeeds like success. It’s always helpful to learn from the best-practices of others who have gone before you. Ask your potential vendors for:
Here are a few independent reviewers you should get to know: G2, Capterra, GetApp and Software Advice.
There are many resources available to help with your selection process. ASI offers a complimentary eBook designed to help you understand what to look for and how to evaluate vendors: The Association Exec’s Guide to Improving Organizational Performance.
To sum up today’s post, remember to: