How a new AMS can modernize your association
When it’s time for new association management software, you’re not just running away from the old. You’re also moving toward a newer, better future for your organization.
If you’ve ever worked with a mentor or career coach when considering a job change, they may have told you something like this: “Make sure you’re not just running from something you don’t like, but that you’re also moving to something that’s better for your career.” The same can be said for a change in your association management software (AMS).
There are lots of reasons to leave your current AMS:
- It’s woefully outdated.
- Your association has outgrown it.
- Your organization is throwing valuable dollars at something that just isn’t worth the cost and hassle anymore.
While it’s certainly important to recognize the ways your AMS is holding you back, it’s also important to understand the benefits new software will bring to your organization.
Here are three things you’ll be moving to with modern technology like Nimble AMS:
1. Meeting (and exceeding) expectations so you can better recruit, engage, and retain members.
Here’s the truth: As consumers, we have high expectations. For-profit companies provide increasingly personalized experiences, and your members expect the same from your association. You must meet, and ideally exceed, those expectations. Otherwise, there’s a good chance new membership growth will drop off and existing memberships will lapse.
A modern AMS system helps you deliver the experience members have come to expect by giving you capabilities that include:
Artificial intelligence (AI) – Leading companies like Netflix and Amazon use AI to connect with consumers on a highly personal level. This type of connection is well within reach for associations, too.
Using Salesforce platform-based Nimble AMS, which leverages Salesforce Einstein AI technology, your association can become smarter, more predictive, and more in tune with what members need, want, and expect. You can ask Einstein to give guidance and make predictions on things like which members are likely to renew or not renew. And then, most importantly, Einstein empowers staff with tools to act upon what it finds. For example, it can create a call-down list for your membership director of high value members who are most likely to not renew.
A more complete view of your members – To provide a personalized member experience, your association needs a complete view of your members’ interests, preferences, and history with your organization. A modern AMS connects with other technologies, such as learning management, job boards, and event management, giving you the information you need to provide a great member experience.
In fact, Nimble AMS is part of the Community Brands integrated software suite for associations. Nimble AMS integrates with Community Brands’ solutions for learning management, career center, events, and more.
Reports and dashboards – As your association grows, so do executive staff and board member demands for information. They’ll ask for more detailed reports on things like member acquisition and retention to help drive better decision making. A modern AMS allows you to set up dashboards and reports for quick access to key performance metrics and other details about your membership.
For example, Nimble AMS allows you to easily build detailed reports and personalized dashboards. These help you visualize key business metrics and spot trends to identify opportunities and solve issues before they surface.
2. Working more efficiently.
Over time, your membership management processes mature. A modern AMS system includes functionality to help you keep pace with your organization’s growth, including:
Process automation – As your processes become more complex, they also become more time consuming to execute. A modern AMS allows you to automate manual processes so your team can spend more time serving your organization’s members.
Through Nimble AMS, you can use Salesforce Process Builder to save staff time by automating business processes. Without code and in a few simple steps, you can identify process criteria and automatically update or create new records, emails, and tasks or submit approval requests.
Hassle-free product upgrades – When your organization is growing, you can’t slow down for slow product upgrades that often result in system downtime and the need for new, costly software customizations. Modern association software delivers a continuous stream of product upgrades so you’re always using the latest technology without downtime and extra expenses.
Nimble AMS is actually the only enterprise-level AMS to offer continuous delivery. Using this method, the Nimble AMS team provides a continuous stream of upgrades and innovation so all customers are always using the same version of the latest technology without hassles and extra costs.
3. Growing revenue.
To keep your organization moving forward, revenue growth must remain strong. And you can’t just keep increasing the cost of dues. That may cause member recruitment and retention to suffer. A modern AMS system supports activities that increase non-dues revenue, including:
An online store – Offer branded merchandise, event registrations, and other non-dues items. At the same time, you can promote and manage membership dues within the convenience of the online store.
A robust career center – Attract more members and improve member retention while increasing non-dues revenue. You can do things like offer employers sophisticated options that maximize exposure of their job postings to improve their return on investment and, in turn, your revenue. You can increase engagement and job views by recommending opportunities to job seekers based on their prior searches. And, you can automatically send jobs to interested, relevant job seekers via email.
Online learning – Take the content you’ve already created for in-person events and extend it online. This provides a convenient, affordable option that many of your members may be seeking. In turn, offering online learning experiences – from one-day seminars to multi-day conferences – will help your organization bring in revenue that you otherwise wouldn’t capture from members who are unable to attend your in-person events.
Now that you know not just what you’re moving from, but also what your association has to look forward to, it’s time to take the next step: Convince your board it’s time to approve budget for new association technology. Watch the webinar, “Gaining Board Approval for Budget for New Technology” and read the paper, “Gaining Board Approval for Technology Budget.”
