07-11-2007
Jason Lamping

Association Management Software helps to Increase Member Retention and Employee Efficiency

Many associations are now taking advantage of new technologies to increase their productivity, member retention, and operating efficiency. One such technology, Association Management Software (AMS), has provided great benefits to associations of all sizes. AMS systems are a specialized breed of CRM solutions which are customized directly to the needs of non-profits.

Association Management Software helps an association automate many of their most time consuming, repetitive tasks, such as dues management. Many of the AMS systems available today will automatically track and invoice renewals. Several of the solutions can also export the appropriate data directly to popular accounting programs such as QuickBooks or Peachtree. This eliminates timely double entry.

Association Management Software also helps track and manage education events, outings, and conferences. Having this information integrated with the member data is essential to efficiently managing an association. Additionally, many systems such as Computility (http://www.Computility.com), also allow you to track education credits and full communication histories. Having a complete communication history makes it very easy to prove your value to a member at renewal time.

Several of the new AMS solutions are "hosted solutions" which means they are web-based. This helps to reduce the initial implementation charges since no server hardware needs to be purchased and installed locally. Additional benefits of hosted solutions include remote access, tighter security of your data, and often times free upgrades.

Associations which host large events or conferences many want to look into AMS systems with an integrated e-commerce solution. The e-commerce solutions allow online event registration and payment. This data is then automatically inserted into the AMS database. Not only does this eliminate timely, manual data entry, but the data can be used to track attendance, print name badges, print event rosters, mass email attendees, etc.

There are a wide variety of AMS systems available from several companies. It is important to choose a solution based on desired features, functionality, prices, and ease of use.