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Tech Toolkit
a special advertising supplement
to the april 2011 issue of AssociAtions now
published by asae: the center
for association leadership
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2011 Tech Toolkit
Every association has different essentials when it comes to technology, but
everyone wants to stay ahead of the curve. The trends in technology can be dif-
ficult to implement alone.
The 2011 Tech Toolkit is here to help. A number of companies offer ideas and
solutions to some of your most time-consuming technology problems. Maybe
you’re trying to get started in cloud computing or create a new social media ini-
tiative. Or maybe you’re looking to learn more about hosting a successful webi-
nar and create an AMS system.
Whatever your need, this special advertising section will be useful for your
next technology strategy session. Pull it out and keep it handy—your next tech-
nology decision may depend on it.
xx
In Memoriam
Cort M. Kane, director of association consulting and COO of Design Data and an
influential and longtime ASAE industry partner member and volunteer, passed
away on March 14. As chair of the Technology Council, he was a leader in the
creation of the ASAE Technology Conference. Most recently, he was a member of
the Finance and Business Operations Council and a past member of the Industry
Partner Alliance Committee. Cort’s enthusiasm was contagious, his conviction
steadfast, and his longtime volunteer efforts will be forever remembered by his
colleagues and the associations he served.
Associations Now Supplement April 2011
Associations Now Supplement April 2011 1
Social Media and Your Organization
By Van Leigh
I’m ROFL. Can u believe they did that? comparison to what she says after you
Some of your members say you should leave. But can she really do any dam-
throw out traditional marketing princi- age to you? Perhaps not, but since you
ples when deploying social media. Just really don’t know what she is saying,
go for it. Other key members and stake- maybe it is worse than you think? The
holders wonder if you even need to big difference with social media is that
manage social media much less have a you don’t have to wait to find out your
social media strategy? I’ll tell you what, reputation is being tarnished in the
let’s just tweet that question to gauge a eyes of those you care about the most.
response? But wait, what will everyone Many would agree that a key to
think if we do that? Hmm … BRB. association success is not only surpass-
Social media outlets have become a ing current member expectations to
mainstay in today’s business environ- drive membership renewal but also
ment as well as a key personal interac- attracting new members via a range
tion tool. Accepting that as fact, how of valuable benefits. Believe it or
does one manage an effective social not, interactive, social, digital-media
media presence? I liken it to a large management is a key benefit to your
Thanksgiving gathering with your in members. Sure, you have to maintain
laws: You have to attend and act like some recipe of an association-branded
you are enjoying it, but you never really blog, Facebook page(s), LinkedIn pres-
know what Aunt Betty is going to say ence, Twitter feed(s), and so forth.
to you (or even about you) after you And the content has to be compelling,
leave. But, you still go, don’t you? right? And it has to be fresh, right? And
The same is true for social media. it can’t offend any of your members,
Your members are utilizing social right? And, and, and … Whew, now we
media every day, and they are talking are all tired, but at least we have the
about you. Yes, gulp, accept it. You are social media strategy deployed, and we
being talked about behind your back, are effectively offering the social media
sometimes a lot. The big question is, do benefit needed.
you know what is being said? Do you Not so fast. That is only a piece of
really even want to know? the interactive, social, digital-media
In a fast-moving world where per- strategy required to effectively satisfy
ception is now reality, you must man- your membership and drive prospec-
age your entire social digital-media tive members. Your stakeholders need
environment and manage it closely. you to manage your reputation within
Just like at Thanksgiving, what Aunt the entire interactive, social, digital-
Betty may say to you may pale in media environment. It is expected that
2 Associations Now Supplement April 2011
you will do more than develop content are invaluable in managing your public
and respond to members within your perception. When you know what is
association-branded social portals. Your being said behind your back, you can
current and potential members want positively affect the outcome. So, how
you to fiercely protect your reputation should you manage your social media
throughout the digital world. strategy? Engage and embrace all your
Sound easier said than done? It is stakeholders by fiercely managing your
simple, really. The key is understanding reputation and overall message utiliz-
what is being said about your organiza- ing the latest reputation-management
tion each and every day. Reputation- technology. Now you too can have the
management tools are available and peace of mind to ROFL. TTYL.
Van Leigh
Company Bio
MultiView, Inc., is the number-one publisher of industry-specific, association-
branded digital media solutions. Through state-of-the-art online directories
and dynamic e-news briefs, MultiView supports its partners in surpassing their
electronic initiatives and delivering valuable member benefits. Utilizing the
largest, most successful digital ad network in the association world,
MultiView’s experienced team of digital media professionals use proven
techniques to provide unparalleled service and generate increased member
engagement. Find out why MultiView is the leading provider of royalty rev-
enue in the world of associations today.
Contact:
Van Leigh, Vice President of Marketing
7701 Las Colinas Ridge, Suite 800
Irving, Texas 75063
Phone: 972-402-7070
Fax: 972-402-7074
163 Waterfront Street, Suite 300
National Harbor, Maryland 20745
Phone: 202-684-7110
Fax: 301-567-5671
www.multiviewpartners.com
Associations Now Supplement April 2011 3
Want Social Media ROI?
Your Job Board Can Help
By Christine Smith
Everyone has heard that measuring n Many job seekers have set up alerts
social media return on investment to be notified via email when new
can be very difficult, if not impossible. jobs that match their criteria are
Your job board naturally creates ROI posted to the job board.
opportunities, but first we need to n Depending on your site’s functional-
talk about positioning. Many associa- ity, additional reasons might include
tions have had employers post jobs the ability for employers to see job
for free on their Facebook fan page or activity stats, the ability to search
LinkedIn group and are wondering how resumes, a network of other job
to handle this. Here are a few things to boards displaying their job, having
consider: jobs pushed out to Indeed or Simply
1. You want your job board to be the Hired, and so forth.
go-to resource for your profession, So, rather than creating multiple,
yet if employers can post separately competing job-posting resources on dif-
to LinkedIn/Facebook, you’re send- ferent platforms, use your social media
ing a mixed message. Plus, job seek- efforts to drive traffic back to your job
ers will have to visit multiple places board and reinforce that your job board
if they don’t want to miss any post- is the go-to place.
ings. In other words, you’re confus- n If you have a Facebook fan page for
ing people and diminishing your job your association, push your job list-
board’s value as a one-stop resource. ings to a tab on your page (manually
2. LinkedIn has a competing (fee- or via a Facebook app). List it as a
based) job board that is promoted benefit of paying to post on your job
heavily within a group if you don’t board. You’re saving employers a
disable the “Jobs” tab. Also, the step while expanding their reach for
email digest that your members them. When someone clicks on a job,
receive with the day’s activity will it will take her directly to your job
also promote the LinkedIn job board. board.
3. Your job board is going to deliver the n If you have a LinkedIn group, disable
best results because the “Jobs” tab that LinkedIn provides
n You market the job board regularly to and push your job listings (manu-
ensure a steady stream of candidates. ally or via an RSS feed) to the “News”
n The job board is visible to your entire tab of your group. Promote this as
profession, not just the smaller num- a value-added benefit of paying to
ber of individuals engaging with you post on your career center. Again,
via social media. you’ve saved the employers a step,
added more value to a paid listing,
4 Associations Now Supplement April 2011
and promoted your fee-based ser- came to you via social media.
vice instead of LinkedIn’s. If you have access to stats on job
When employers try to post on your activity, track the jump in activity
LinkedIn/Facebook page, be ready with after you start pushing jobs to your
a response that explains your policy social media outlets so you can show
and outlines the value of the job board. employers that you’ve increased their
Offer them a discount—if they are a results. Compare the average number
new advertiser, use a different discount of postings your site generated before
code and perhaps a larger discount. Use and after you started coordinating with
the discount codes to track the revenue Facebook/LinkedIn. The ROI is there;
generated from new advertisers that just don’t give it away!
Christine Smith
Company Bio
Boxwood helps associations become the go-to employment resource for
their industry. To date, Boxwood clients have earned more than $200 million
in nondues revenue with Boxwood-managed job boards and job-board net-
works. Boxwood clients put more money in the bank because of our proven
marketing strategies, tactics, and materials, as well as our suite of supporting
products, including online career fairs and mentor systems. Boxwood is also
creating new revenue-generating opportunities for associations via social net-
works and integrations with association management systems. Endorsed by
the American Society of Association Executives, Boxwood is a proven partner
to the association community.
Contact:
Christine Smith, President
Boxwood Technology, Inc.
590 Herndon Parkway, Suite 100
Herndon, VA 20170
Phone: 800-331-2177
Fax: 703-707-6210
www.boxwoodtech.com
Associations Now Supplement April 2011 5
The Next Generation of
Hosted Systems
By Jon Danforth
The hosted association management tions in house.
system (AMS) is a well-established Productivity is also increased as
method of operation for many associa- web-based, hosted applications are
tions. Traditionally, the benefits have accessible from home, while on travel,
included the platform being web based: onsite at an annual conference, or any-
no longer having to own, operate, and where there is an internet connection
manage servers, licenses, security, back- available. Access is typically granted to
ups, and upgrades, as well as having those involved with the organization,
access to more resources than would such as the board of directors, special
otherwise be affordable. While all of interest groups, and region and chapter
this holds true today, hosted systems officers, while working remotely within
are building on this to deliver the next the internal network of the association.
generation of data services. The evolution toward mobile apps and
social networking tools is further accel-
The Origin: More Affordable erated when built in conjunction with
Computing Power these web-based systems.
The hosted-system model has been
built on the premise that there is a New Opportunities
series of large, independent databases The focus has turned from developing
being accessed from a farm of web serv- the hosted solution to how to better
ers, with additional functions of report- leverage the available resources to
ing, emailing, and electronic-payment deliver greater functionality, function-
processing handled by additional serv- ality that is not possible or affordable in
ers and resources. As more data storage premise-based systems.
is needed, the storage area network is Data replication is one such function
enlarged. As more processing power that has grown in use. For many years,
is required, more virtual servers and the practice has been to transfer a back-
memory are allocated. The cumulative up copy of a database to the association
cost of these components is far more via FTP transfer. While this works as an
than most associations can or want to additional backup point and provides
afford, thus the hosting center evolved the association with a playground for
as a way of affordably sharing resourc- training, self-development, and testing,
es. The result has been a migration of it is disconnected from the live updates
applications toward their web-based and transactions. Data replication is
versions, access to greater performance, a real-time synchronization between
and a reduction in IT responsibilities the live database and a copy of the
and costs versus managing these func- database that is typically located in the
6 Associations Now Supplement April 2011
office of the association. This allows for is for finely tuned, targeted resources
the same functionality and redundancy specific to the data-mining operations
in real time, without draining the being created. Thus, the costs of a single
resources and bandwidth of the appli- instance of this framework is consider-
cations and websites. ably higher than a single association
Another growing opportunity is can afford. The hosted-system model of
for associations to take advantage of sharing the cost burden across all of the
data-mining technology. Typically the associations that access it makes this
resources for data mining are tremen- technology available to all.
dous, both from storage and processing
points of view. Entire sets of data are
created by the algorithms used for data
mining, resulting in a need for dynamic
data allocation in large quantities. The
queries and reports that are then run
against these stores of data are complex
and need to deliver the results quickly.
The data and processing resources for
data mining are typically separate
from the resources of the AMS, website,
and all other applications, as the need Jon Danforth
Company Bio
NOAH from JL Systems is an enterprise association management system and
has been used by associations for more than 28 years. It is an entirely web-
based, hosted system that utilizes the most advanced technology available
to achieve the operational and data-mining goals of your organization. There
is no fee for upgrades or individual modules, which include membership,
meetings, events, tradeshows, certification, continuing education, facility
accreditation, mentoring, sponsors, donors, grants, pledges, publications,
subscriptions, advertising, social networking, blogs, forums, wikis, a fully func-
tional WYSIWYG CMS editor for website content creation and management,
and more. Visit www.jlsystems.com for more information.
Contact:
Jon Danforth, Chief Operating Officer
JL Systems, Inc.
4312 Evergreen Lane, Suite A
Annandale, VA 22003
Phone: 703-941-0077
Email: jon@jlsystems.com
Associations Now Supplement April 2011 7
What’s Next for Webinars in 2011
By Christopher Urena
Webinars gained popularity in the early A blended-learning approach. More
1990s when their primary purpose was organizations will be incorporating
to provide access to subject-matter webinars into a course structure that
experts, hear a lecture, and have the includes community-driven content,
opportunity to ask questions. However, idea sharing, and pre- and post-session
with such rapid progression in social work. These programs can potentially
media and collaborative learning, the span the course of many weeks. In this
webinar curriculum is in transition. format, the webinar can be used to
Some essential modifications to accom- introduce new learning components
modate the changes in 2011 are as fol- or topics, summarize ideas, or provide
lows: the opportunity for connecting with
The implementation of social subject-matter experts.
learning. Social learning has increas- Webinar structure. In addition to
ingly become one of the most influ- opening up lines of communication,
ential trends in online education over webinar planners will begin to insert
the past few years. Knowledge is being set times for interaction that will
shared among peers more often, thus include purposeful chat sessions that
shifting the role of webinar planners to ask participants for their experiences
include a more collaborative approach. or ideas. To support this structure, a
Paralleling this trend is needed to sup- second webinar host will need to be
port the increased desire for an active responsible for incorporating audience
learning experience. The outcome is contributions into the presentation.
a shift in the webinar model from the This format keeps participants engaged
“podium” type of presentation to one throughout the entire session.
that focuses on collaboration. Alternative business model. More
A movement toward openness. It organizations will be using webinars
is estimated that roughly 90 percent of as a component to a more significant
webinar hosts still prefer to keep the fee-based learning program, such as
chat area accessible only to presenters. a virtual course. There is an increase
This is a trend that will be changing in in sponsorship where members may
2011. The balance between control and watch at no charge. Sponsors will
openness is shifting, and there is now typically receive about five minutes to
more of an expectation for participant speak in addition to branding and pro-
dialogue and an increase in contribu- motional opportunities.
tion. The result is the creation of a In 2011, there will be significant
back-channel process to invigorate the changes in the use and design of webi-
presentation. nar programs. An increase in program
8 Associations Now Supplement April 2011
attendance is expected, as organiza-
tions learn how to apply new tactics for
planning and delivery. There is always
a learning curve in understanding a
new medium and discovering its full
potential; however, we are confident
the changes outlined above will posi-
tively affect the webinar experience for
all participants.
Christopher Urena
Company Bio
Established in 1994, CommPartners provides organizations, associations,
nonprofits, and businesses with technologically advanced webinar and online
media solutions. CommPartners’ unique offering is their hands-on approach,
offering expert consultation and management of online events, from planning
and promotion to production and archiving.
CommPartners has been actively involved in the association, organization,
and nonprofit community through our strategic partnership with ASAE over
the past 11 years.
As the only ASAE Endorsed Business Solutions Partner providing webinar
and web-event marketing solutions, CommPartners has the respect of the
association community at large and the trust of thousands of organizations
like yours.
Contact:
Christopher Urena, Director of Business Development
CommPartners
7230 Lee DeForest Drive, Suite 206
Columbia, MD 21046
Phone: 443-539-4846
Email: curena@commpartners.com
www.commpartners.com
Associations Now Supplement April 2011 9
Email Marketing in a
Mobile World
By Lori Ely
In today’s on-the-go world, it seems like large images will force the body of the
mobile is everywhere. A recent study email further down on the screen. On
of Informz’s association and nonprofit a mobile device it is best to keep the
clients found that mobile readership number of page scrolls to a maximum
of email has more than doubled in the of five.
past 12 months alone. Why is mobile Font size should be greater than 12
such a pain point for email market- pixels. Every mobile device does things
ers? Email renders quite differently on a little differently; some will zoom in
a mobile device than it does on a PC, for the reader, and some will not. Using
and to add to the challenge, all mobile a larger font size will ensure that your
devices differ in how they render email. copy will be legible on all devices.
Here are some options for how you can Leave plenty of white space
master email marketing in a mobile between links. Your personal-com-
world. puter users have the benefit of using a
Create a web version of your email. mouse to pinpoint the link they want
Try calling out the web version with to click on, but mobile users have their
text such as, “Reading this on a mobile fingers and the precision tends to be off
device? Click here for the mobile-friend- sometimes. Do not make your readers
ly version.” The Satellite Broadcasting work harder to reach the information
and Communications Association tried they want.
this after it discovered nearly 20 per- Use alt tags on your images. When
cent of its members were reading its images are disabled, alt tags will allow
newsletter on a mobile device, and in the reader to read what the image
the first email with the new language, would be. Without alt tags, your image
clicks increased by 173 percent. may come across as “123.jpg,” instead
Set width to equal 100 percent. This of “Conference hotel deals.”
will allow the web page to size itself Keep copy and subject lines brief.
to the width of the screen it is render- Typically you can fit about 12-15 lines
ing on. If you used pixel size, the email on a mobile screen. If you try to send an
would be forced to maintain its size and email that is significantly longer than
when appearing on a three-by-two- this, you will likely lose your reader.
inch screen, the reader has to scroll left Make your call to action clear and your
to right, making it difficult to read. copy concise.
Keep image size less than 480 Subject lines are limited as well;
pixels. Images do not always render many devices display 30 characters or
correctly, causing the “story” being less. Make sure you know how your
told through them useless. In addition, subject line reads if truncated and keep
10 Associations Now Supplement April 2011
the most important information first.
Your subject line and from address are
the first thing your readers see and are
big factors in their decision to open
your email.
Use only one column for your
email layout. Sidebars and multiple
column tables have a tendency to
reformat themselves on mobile devices,
causing the other columns to display
above or below the main body. To
maintain effectiveness it is best to limit
it to one column.
If you do not have many mobile
readers now, chances are you will soon.
Don’t wait for them to jump on the
bandwagon; start creating emails that
stand the test of digital devices, and
you won’t be left behind.
Lori Ely
Company Bio
Since 1997, Informz has been dedicated to serving the association and non-
profit industries by offering affordable and easy-to-use email marketing solu-
tions. From customized HTML email templates and advanced targeting to
powerful analytics and expert support and advice, sending targeted, personal-
ized communications has never been easier. Informz is a web-based, hosted
solution, and our product portfolio includes email marketing, online surveys,
SMS text messaging, event registration, and AMS integrations.
When you choose Informz, you aren’t just choosing an email-marketing
service provider but a partner for success. For more information on the
Informz difference, visit us online at www.informz.com.
Contact:
Lori Ely, Marketing Manager
Informz
Phone: 1-888-371-1842, ext. 5
Email: ely@informz.com
www.informz.com
Associations Now Supplement April 2011 11
Cloudy Forecast for
Small Associations
By Chris Capistran
Small-staff associations often have ware to the cloud. Oracle’s OpenOffice
limited technology staff and budget. is a free, open-source office software
For that reason, cloud-based computing suite for word processing, spreadsheets,
and software as a service (SaaS) might and presentations. Google Apps is a
be the best tool for small associations. complete suite of online tools, includ-
This pay-to-play model allows organi- ing email, calendar, word processing,
zations to pay for the resources they spreadsheets, and presentations as well
need, when they need them. as online collaboration and intranet
SaaS is helpful in multiple ways. and extranet sites. Microsoft’s new
First, implementation time is signifi- Office 365 brings its communication,
cantly reduced. Because cloud solutions collaboration, and desktop suite into
tend to be less customized, implemen- the cloud for a low, per-user, per-
tation is often only as complicated as month fee. Office 365 includes all of
your data conversion. Second, there the productivity software most orga-
can be a significant cost savings by nizations are using today, including
eliminating on-premise hardware. For Word, Excel, and PowerPoint. Office
many associations, the level of security 365 also includes Exchange, SharePoint,
and availability, disaster recovery, and and Lync for all your communication
backup provided by a SaaS provider far and collaboration needs. Office 365
exceed that which they can provide is unique in that it allows you to also
themselves. Finally, the most signifi- download the latest version of the
cant cost savings comes from software Office applications for use on your local
licensing and administrative costs. computer as long as you maintain a
Typical on-premise solutions include subscription.
a relatively large upfront licensing Beyond standard office-productivity
fee plus an ongoing service and sup- software, more and more companies
port fee. Most SaaS solutions have no are offering specialized software-as-a-
upfront fee and a competitive, ongoing service offerings, such as association-
subscription fee. When you factor in management, project-management,
the replacement or upgrade cost of an accounting, sales-force and marketing-
on-premise solution, most SaaS offer- automation, event-management,
ings will best their on-premise coun- and learning-management software.
terparts when it comes to total cost of These solutions are starting to push
ownership. their traditional on-premise brethren
For productivity software, there are to the brink of extinction in certain
a couple low-cost options to move your industries. One example of this is cus-
typical Microsoft Office desktop soft- tomer relationship management (CRM).
12 Associations Now Supplement April 2011
Salesforce.com, Microsoft Dynam- The SaaS and cloud-computing
ics CRM online, and SugarCRM have movement will allow smaller organi-
grabbed large shares of the CRM market zations to access solutions previously
and have forced market leaders SAP reserved for larger organizations with
and Oracle to develop their own SaaS significant technology budgets. Of
offerings. course, these solutions are not only
The adoption of these SaaS offerings for smaller organizations. Many large
can be attributed not only to the trend associations and corporations are lever-
toward cloud computing but also to the aging SaaS solutions to manage their
advances in browser-based technolo- operations. In the end, organizations of
gies. The rise of Web 2.0 applications all sizes can leverage this distributing
that leverage Ajax, JQuery, Adobe computing and software as a service
Flash, and Flex have allowed software model to increase staff efficiency and
developers to build browser-based ultimately reduce tech-
applications that offer much of the nology expenditures.
functionality previously only avail-
able with local, client applications. The
release of HTML 5 and browsers that
fully support this latest standard will
further blur the line between desktop Chris Capistran
application and website.
Company Bio
Cobalt is a privately held, database-software development firm that spe-
cializes in serving associations, certification boards, and other nonprofits.
Cobalt’s latest product release, CAMS 5.0, offers a variety of new features and
functionality, including personalized dashboards, integrated Outlook client,
dynamic marketing, fundraising, and more. CAMS 5.0 is the next wave of asso-
ciation management software, offering a familiar, intelligent, and connected
experience for staff users and association members. Now your association
has the option to have the power of productivity that CAMS 5.0 provides as an
on-premise or cloud-based solution.
Contact:
Chris Capistran, Chief Operating Officer
Cobalt
10 Prince Street
Alexandria, VA 22314
Phone: 1-888-4-COBALT
Fax: 703-836-4705
Email: info@cobalt.net
www.cobalt.net
Associations Now Supplement April 2011 13
Social CRM for Associations:
The End of the AMS?
By Lindy Dreyer
As social media changes the way mem- tools to catch up and make our work a
bers engage, associations need sharper lot simpler. It just hasn’t happened. Yet.
tools to take full advantage. Social In our view, technology should
customer relationship management be the easy part of social media, and
(Social CRM) refers to both a business it soon might be. Last month, Avec-
strategy for managing customer rela- tra unveiled extended functionality
tionships in the age of social media designed to transform netFORUM from
and the evolving technology that helps an AMS into Social CRM for Associa-
organizations do this. It’s been creating tions. It’s a good idea, and other AMS
buzz in the corporate world for several companies will be fast followers, espe-
years, as businesses race to integrate cially as associations become more
social media into their processes to gain certain of their social media objectives.
a competitive advantage. While there is This may not be the end of the AMS, but
no universal definition for Social CRM, in five years, the AMS could be (should
most agree on one point: Traditional be! needs to be!) a very different kind
CRM systems don’t do enough in cap- of tool. (Full disclosure: SocialFish has
turing and converting online social been consulting with Avectra on Social
interactions into sales. CRM trends and applications to the
The same could be said for the association industry.)
association management systems “It is not about layering in a few
(AMS) that associations rely on. From social plug-ins to your association man-
what we’ve observed, associations are agement system and conducting busi-
developing social media strategies and ness as usual–that would be too much
processes independent from their other work and a tremendous waste. Instead,
systems. This has been necessary, as no Social CRM supports a change in the
AMS or social application has supported way you interact with your members,
the full range of traditional and social making it much easier to understand
interactions. Combine this with the fact what they want and when they want
that associations are still doing a lot of it. Where once we relied on transac-
experimenting with social media, and tions to drive engagement, Social CRM
it’s no surprise that few association pro- practices give us the means to manage
fessionals have been able to focus suf- engagement in a way that drives the
ficiently on deeper social media work, transaction,” explains Don Prodehl, vice
deciding what information to capture president of R&D at Avectra.
and how to analyze it and apply it to The tricky part, for many of us, will
business decisions. As in the private be making good use of the capabilities
sector, we’ve all been waiting for the that this technology gives us. Social
14 Associations Now Supplement April 2011
CRM changes the work of member Lindy Dreyer is the chief social media
recruitment, retention, services, sales, marketer at SocialFish, a company that
marketing, and especially member helps associations get the most out of
engagement. Even though we’re all social media. Blog: www.socialfish.org.
careful about change and have inter- Email: lindy@socialfish.org
nal and external hurdles to overcome,
associations have a major advantage
over corporate Social CRM practitioners.
After all, we’re already in the business
of building relationships, both with
and among our members. What con-
cerns us all is finding time to focus on
social media and give it the attention it
requires, especially during these early
days.
Associations are changing, and so
is the technology that supports us. The
advent of Social CRM means we can
focus more on what we want to do with
social media and less about how to do
it. Will you sit back and observe, or roll
up your sleeves to find a competitive
advantage?
Lindy Dreyer
Company Bio
Avectra Social CRM for Associations, the association industry’s first and only
Member Engagement Platform, is uniquely positioned to usher in a new era
in membership management with its ability to provide a world-class member-
ship management solution, netFORUM, with a built-in social networking and
private online community solution, MemberFuse, and a powerful analytics
suite, including Avectra’s propriety A-Score.
Contact:
Patrick Dorsey, Vice President of Marketing
Avectra
Phone: 703-506-7000
Email: pdorsey@avectra.com
Twitter: @PatrickFDorsey
www.avectra.com
Associations Now Supplement April 2011 15
Your AMS and CMS Should
Work Together to Create a Great
Member Experience Online
By Joanna M. Pineda
If your association is considering a rede- about single sign-on. Definitely don’t
sign of its website, chances are you’re tolerate a solution where members
implementing a new content manage- have two or more passwords to access
ment system and thinking about ways member services.
to add member services through your Seamless look and feel. I recom-
association management software. mend letting your AMS vendor know
Here are my top recommendations for early that you are planning to redesign
integrating your CMS with your AMS your site and would like to update the
so members have a great online experi- templates, headers, and footers for your
ence: web forms. Ask your vendor if its web
Integrate AMS functions into the forms and pages have any constraints
navigation. It’s tempting to take the with regard to page width, support for
web modules offered by your AMS ven- jQuery or Flash, support for different
dor and put them into a section of the navigation dropdowns, and so forth.
website called “member services.” Since This information will ensure that your
making information easy to find is usu- web designer will not come up with
ally a goal with any redesign, inventory design elements that your AMS vendor
all AMS functions (e.g., manage profile, can’t support. Be sure also to coordinate
update password, meeting registration, launch schedules so that your CMS and
online store, and so forth) and include AMS pages all get updated according to
them in your overall navigation where a master schedule.
it makes sense. Don’t require your Shared taxonomy. I’m a big fan of
members to know that a registration taxonomies because they allow content
or update-password form is an AMS to be categorized and they connect con-
function. tent to users’ special interests. Develop
Single sign-on. These days, your a taxonomy and then make sure your
CMS and AMS web modules likely have CMS and AMS allow you to tag content
features that require a login or are lim- according to the same taxonomy. Use
ited to members only. Your members the taxonomy to create topic pages that
and customers expect that they will show your members everything that
be able to login from the CMS or AMS your association has to offer on a par-
side and not have to login again when ticular subject.
they jump over to protected content on Web services are your friend. Web
the other side. If you have one vendor, services are application programming
expect one solution. If you have mul- interfaces that use standard technolo-
tiple vendors, get them talking early gies and data formats to simplify the
16 Associations Now Supplement April 2011
exchange and integration of large Your next website redesign
amounts of data over the internet. Any shouldn’t just be about design; it needs
good CMS or AMS will have a web-ser- to be about the full user experience. Be
vices framework that allows data to be sure to integrate your CMS with your
accessed, shared, and integrated. These AMS.
web services will allow you to integrate
member data with custom web applica-
tions, display content by topic, and sup-
port multiple access levels.
Integrated analytics. Since visitors
to your site will likely bounce around
your site, it’s important that your usage
reports track user behaviors across
your website. Use a tool like Google
Analytics to track usage between
CMS and AMS pages, even if they are
hosted under different domains or
subdomains.
Joanna M. Pineda
Company Bio
Matrix Group International is a leading web-design and development firm in
the Washington, DC, area that specializes in helping associations, nonprofits,
and professional societies develop and implement their online strategies.
Our core capabilities include strategy and branding, web design and mul-
timedia, content management systems, custom development, managed web
hosting, integration services, and a web-based association management sys-
tem called MatrixMaxx. MatrixMaxx ties together your membership database,
website, online store, meeting registration, exhibit sales, corporate sponsor-
ships, fundraising, and mailing lists. We can also create a custom solution and
integrate it with your website. Seamless integration and single sign-on made
easy!
Contact:
Joanna M. Pineda, CEO/Chief Troublemaker
Matrix Group International, Inc.
2711 Jefferson Davis Hwy, Suite 1200
Arlington, VA 22202
Phone: 703-838-9777 x 3006
Email: jpineda@matrixgroup.net
www.matrixgroup.net
Associations Now Supplement April 2011 17
Use the Cloud Successfully
By Martin Block
It is tempting to “soar in the cloud,” but So what are you responsible for?
it’s important to remember that other For starters, a reliable and high-
factors are critical to your success and speed internet connection. How reliable
that you must consider many of the is your connectivity? If your connectiv-
same things you do for in-house sys- ity is slow or constantly interrupted,
tems. how long can you last by sending
The cacophony of marketing everyone to the coffee shop for free
hyperbole and enticement is seem- wireless? How much bandwidth do you
ingly endless. Cloud computing offers really have? Read that fine print on the
tremendous advantages for the asso- cable or DSL line you pay for; it speaks
ciation industry. But when analyzed only to typical and maximum speeds,
completely, it may not be a total solu- not guaranteed bandwidth. What
tion. In spite of its advantages, “cheap” happens to your mission-critical appli-
does not mean you get to ignore other cation and your productivity when
items critical to success and to protect data-delivery speeds drop? What about
your mission-critical data. your internal network? Is your CRM
Cloud computing is like borrowing data competing with streaming music
your uncle’s sports car. You get tremen- or video to a desktop?
dous leverage picking up your date The same type of thinking needs to
in a sleek, sporty vehicle, and you did go into disaster recovery. Should the
it with virtually no investment. Your vendor be the only source of disaster
uncle practically imports the mechanic recovery? You can either leave it up to
from the factory overseas to maintain the vendor exclusively, or you can cre-
the car. He has your cousin wash it by ate an arrangement to maintain your
hand and wax it every week. And you mission-critical data. How do you do
got to borrow it for the cost of the gas that? That depends on the vendor and
you use. the platform. Is it prudent to put all of
But this isn’t a car; it’s your associa- your membership or customer data
tion’s data. While a vendor may have on a geographically disparate system
significant resources that you could and not have any type of backup in
never replicate, you have to consider case of disaster? You must have some
the whole picture and not only what way to ensure that there is a useful
the vendor delivers. copy of your own data available in
Many of the applications you will the event the vendor has a long-term
choose from are browser based, mean- interruption.
ing no special client or software is The last piece of the puzzle is sup-
required. A vendor hosts it; you use it. port. Our support experiences with one
18 Associations Now Supplement April 2011
popular $50-per-person, per-year cloud
offering has been abysmal. You can
talk to a human to report an issue but
never again. It’s a seven-hour time dif-
ference. Clients have lost mail folders
with client data, spent six days playing
email tag, and never get an answer
as to whether there is a backup folder
of data or if the problem source was
found. Comprehensive service-level
agreements are critical to your ongoing
success. Remember, it’s easy to scale
up hardware and applications; it is far
more difficult for cloud providers to
scale support.
Martin Block
Company Bio
Kesem Technology is a 10-year-old computer and network-support firm in
the Washington, DC, area. Started as a custom web-applications company,
the firm now encompasses web hosting, broadcast-email services, computer
and network support, network security services, and common-sense advice
on making computing work for your small business or association. Kesem
provides onsite and remote support and managed services for the five- to
100- seat organization. We help small organizations grow into larger ones by
providing appropriate and cost-effective solutions designed to allow you to
transition to the next level without wasting existing resources.
Contact:
Kesem Technology
4938 Hampden Lane #429
Bethesda, MD 20814
Phone: 301-562-9339
www.kesem.net
Associations Now Supplement April 2011 19
Technology Trends for 2011
By Cort M. Kane
2010 was a year in transition for the on the internet for satisfying the com-
association community. Many associa- puting needs of the end users. This net-
tions experienced small growth after work of servers and connections is col-
the tough year of 2009, while others lectively known as “the cloud.” Current
either leveled out or experienced a studies predict that, by 2012, 20 percent
slight downturn. What this meant for IT of businesses will own no IT assets. In
was a modest increase in spending, and 2010 we saw a dramatic increase in
2011 promises more of the same. the number of associations adopting a
The current economic downturn cloud-based strategy.
has been unlike others we have experi- Associations, known for their adop-
enced the past 30 years in that associa- tion of socially responsible policies, have
tions had to cut IT budgets to align with increasingly made green IT a part of
their revenue base, but IT spending was their IT goals, which will play a signifi-
not slashed as in past recessions. Why? cant role in companies’ efforts to reduce
The answer lies in the realization that their carbon footprint in response to
IT underpins virtually all of the key global climate changes attributed to
strategic initiatives of an association, greenhouse gases. Adopting virtualiza-
and management has recognized the tion and cloud-computing initiatives are
importance of maintaining the IT infra- key components of green IT.
structure if they are to survive in the
digital age. Mobility
Below we have summarized some Why will mobile technologies be a
of the key technology trends for 2011. driving force for delivery of services
While they may bring real value to by associations? Consider these facts:
your staff and members, it is essential By 2013, mobile phones will overtake
they be weighed in the greater strate- PCs as the most common web-access
gic IT vision of the organization, not devices worldwide, and, by 2014, more
as separate technology-solution silos. than three billion people will process
IT solutions of the future have to be transactions electronically via mobile
intuitive and predictive of users’ needs, and internet technology.
not simply tools for processing transac- Because mobile devices are capable
tions. The age of reverse consumerism of rich, mobile commerce and the
is upon us, and IT is adapting to this devices have become small computers
new paradigm. in their own right, they provide an ideal
environment for the convergence of
Cloud Computing and Green IT mobility and the web. The explosion of
Cloud computing is a general concept mobile applications will allow associa-
where the common theme is reliance tions to interact with members prefer-
20 Associations Now Supplement April 2011
entially though mobile devices. The real counterparts, need to develop strategies
value will come in determining how to integrate these social technologies
to leverage this technology to fit your into their business applications (i.e.,
member base. customer relationship management
or association management systems),
Social Media bringing together their social CRM,
Social media can be broken down into internal communications and collabo-
social networking, social collaboration, ration, and public social-site initiatives
social publishing, and social feedback. into a coordinated strategy.
Social media employs tools that man-
age social profiles such as Facebook, Video
LinkedIn, and MySpace as well as the Use of digital and internet-based video
tools used to understand and discover is becoming more common. As asso-
people and expertise. Social collaboration ciations conduct more meetings and
uses tools such as blogs, wikis, instant training via mobile technology, video
messaging, and crowdsourcing. Social is being utilized in growing numbers
publishing pools individual content into as the most effective means of bridg-
content repositories such as YouTube ing the geographic
and Flickr. Social feedback is gaining divide of face-to-face
feedback from sites such as YouTube, interactions.
Flickr, and Amazon.
Associations, like their corporate
Cort M.Kane
Company Bio
Design Data has been providing associations with an exclusive combination of
independent consulting and network support services since 1979. Our technol-
ogy and management consulting services include existing-systems evaluation,
IT strategic planning, AMS selection, contract negotiation, implementation man-
agement, web strategies, staffing analysis, and business-process reengineering.
Contact:
Matthew J. Ruck, Vice President of Sales & Marketing
Design Data
7606 Lindbergh Dr.
Gaithersburg, MD 20879
Phone: 301-921-6696
Fax: 301-921-8775
Email: mruck@designdata.com
www.designdata.com
Associations Now Supplement April 2011 21
