Associations have a reputation for being slow-moving ships, but JP Guilbault say he thinks they have an opportunity to play catch-up quick.

Guilbault, CEO of association technology firm YourMembership, has been contemplating five shifts in the technology world that associations can take advantage of without breaking the bank. In a larger sense, though, he argues that the most important change has to do with mindset. "The big shift we have to make is the shift to continuing curiosity and a shift to always looking to adopt or improve or capitalize on a particular trend in our marketplace," he says.

Associations can do a lot more to use data to be predictive about members and customers.

1. Think Mobile, But Get Beyond Apps

Associations are getting better at deploying apps to help attendees navigate meetings, but the bigger challenge is making sure your association is the first thing somebody sees when they have a need you can serve. Guilbault calls such experiences micromoments.

"Imagine a member on a downtown street," he says. "They just came out of lunch and they might have been identified for a future job opportunity inside their company. But they had a course they needed to learn or a particular skill they needed to apply. They type in, 'I need to learn social selling.' Who comes up?"

That just-in-time service will be increasingly essential as many more outlets compete for a member's attention and dollars while offering similar services.

2. Let the Cloud Set You Free

The distributed nature of the cloud doesn't just rejigger the structure of the IT department; it has the potential to change the entire organization so that you can hire the best people and corral the best volunteers, regardless of where they live.

"The cloud is going to allow for distributed workforces and access to talent [associations] didn't have, and the cloud's going to open up the availability of prospective members that could be global," he says.

3. Go Big on Data

Associations are typically good at gathering information about what their members have done: renewals, purchases, certifications, meetings attended. But they can do a lot more to use data to be predictive about members and customers.

"Instead of waiting to identify a member that maybe didn't come to an event or maybe missed their first or second renewal notice, what if you could find that member and know early in their journey that they only logged into the website one time?" Guilbault asks. "Or they hadn't downloaded any content that was relevant to their career or was connected to a cause or policy. And what if you could apply those metrics and trends, who they were or their particular profiles? Those are leading indicators that will allow you to take action."

4. Get Granular With Social Media

Large campaigns pushed out via Facebook or Twitter have their place, but the true value of social media, Guilbault says, are the opportunities to build one-on-one relationships.

"You don't have to define people in broad cohorts or criteria," he says. "It can be, 'I want a person that is involved in this cause' or 'I want a person that has shared this political view.'"

As the "Internet of Things" expands and more devices carry a record of our actions, he adds, "social is not just going to be about the explicit act that someone has done. You are going to be leaving social breadcrumbs all over based on the devices and applications you're using. That can become rich social data for marketing."

5. You're In the Customer Service Business—Deal With It

In the corporate world, customers are expected to demand both control and an emotional connection to a product. Associations need to be similarly engaged. "Members have strong loyalty and affinity for their association brands. But where associations have to start moving is creating and focusing on this positive emotional response to a program or a cause with every single member," Guilbault says.

How should association leadership implement these shifts? For one, Guilbault suggests that board candidates should be considered more often in terms of their understanding of technology. He says boards optimally include volunteers with product management and CIO/CTO backgrounds. "Change inherently involves risk, so have the appropriate people who can explain how that risk will be mitigated," he says.

After that, pick smaller pilot projects, but make sure that the pilot actually speaks to the bigger changes you're trying to make. A new data project is only genuinely new if it has a predictive element to it. "Start small, but small with the idea of 'We're going to fundamentally change the way data is going to be collected,'" he says.