A well-defined strategy that takes account of the disruptive challenges created by newer and more nimble technology is key to success with association management software initiatives. Association leaders must ensure that a clear AMS strategy is agreed to before beginning a detailed technology evaluation.
An association's ability to leverage technology to support its key processes is critical to competing for today's time- and attention-starved member, who has numerous and increasing options for resources traditionally provided by associations. For that reason, association management software remains—and will for some time—a high priority for association executives. Unfortunately, many AMS projects are late, over budget, failing to deliver benefits, or abandoned completely. The potential risk and complexities of AMS initiatives are likewise increasing due to challenges created by cloud software applications.
Cloud applications create opportunities for more specialized software to support key association processes (member relation management, marketing, e-commerce, and so forth) at a lower cost of ownership. However, they can also introduce complexities to your business and technology operations. Associations shouldn't "run to the cloud" as a silver-bullet technology. Instead, they should to begin developing a more modern AMS strategy based on the current realities in the marketplace.
Today's association needs an AMS strategy that automates and links both the administrative and operational business needs (e.g., linking finance to member relations) with appropriate integrations that weigh the benefits of a single-vendor-delivered integration against business flexibility and agility.
Do not begin the vendor-evaluation process until you have an agreed-to and documented AMS strategy.
The goal of an updated AMS strategy remains the same: to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of administrative and operational functions. In contrast, yesterday's AMS strategy was to force a single suite across the entire business. Today's technology solutions allow organizations to develop an AMS strategy in terms of
The goal is to focus on getting the right mix of solutions to support your association instead of forcing a single suite onto the business.
To be clear, I don't suggest that associations divest their current AMS. For most associations, retaining their core AMS system and augmenting with specialist solutions (likely sourced as cloud services) will make the most sense. It also doesn't mean that a single-source vendor is not right for your association. But, the only way to find out is to define your AMS strategy first.
Define your AMS strategy. As mentioned earlier, you or your chief technology staff must work with the business users and senior executives in the organization to define and agree on an AMS strategy before getting too far into technology evaluation. These stakeholders must be involved in a business discussion about the goals and objectives of the AMS initiative and what business capabilities will be included in the strategy. This discussion will help stakeholders identify the business issues that must be addressed (such as process standardization) instead of building detailed requirements and rushing into vendor demonstrations. Do not begin the vendor-evaluation process until you have an agreed-to and documented AMS strategy.
What should that strategy look like? An effective AMS strategy will ensure that the association focuses its resources on the right technologies that support its vision and organizational objectives. First, identify the core processes of the association by asking yourself, "What processes drive our success?" The answer will help determine the tools (technologies) that are needed to support those processes.
In addition to processes and tools, the strategy will also need to identify what is needed out of your human capital. What knowledge, skills, or experience must your people have to effectively manage the processes and leverage the tools to achieve your business objectives?
Finally, I recommend the use of a roadmap to support your long-term plan so that you can educate key stakeholders on when particular functionality will be available. Managing expectations is a key component to success.
Identify your current and future AMS architecture. We are working in a technology landscape today that is a more dynamic and evolving than what we have seen as recently as just a few years ago. Traditionally, single-source vendor solutions were focused on the big implementation and then became fairly static after implementation. Today, there are many architecture options with advantages and disadvantages to each.
At a very high level, your options include:
Much of the decision among these options will be guided by your resources available, risk tolerance, and so on.
Understand that the role of IT will change with your choice of architecture. If you implement a mix of applications, which most associations are doing or will do, then the integrations of these applications become increasingly important and will include challenges. This is not to mention that managing processes and data across a number of applications involves increased complexity and presents new challenges, as well. These are challenges that can be met, but they will require planning and new skills and knowledge that may not be present within your current team.
The good news is that associations have a growing number of affordable options. However, these new technologies require a different approach if you are to successfully leverage their capabilities.
