What can you expect to see in 2015? For one thing, associations will continue to become more data driven. But what else can you expect to see? Here are a few trends to keep your eye out for:

• CRM functionality in your AMS. Last fall, MatrixMaxx upgraded the TaskMaxx module to CRMMaxx. Just like other organizations, associations need to identify, track and manage leads. We believe CRM is hot and we’ll continue to see and hear more about it!
• Business Intelligence and Analytics. Your AMS holds a lot of data. With many systems offering a suite of comprehensive reporting, you’ll be able to dig deeper into your data, discover trends and patterns in your membership and start making decisions based on it.
• Comprehensive API libraries to support integrations. We know that there isn’t one perfect system to do it all. Vendors will continue to work together on integrating their systems, but we’ll also have access to more APIs. More and more companies like reThinkData are building sets of comprehensive API libraries to aid in integration projects.
• AMSs will become more mobile. To meet the needs of mobile users, AMSs will be required to make their systems responsive, giving users access to basic data when they’re on the go. They’ll also be likely to pull reports and visualizations for presentations and meetings. Takeaway: make sure the templates in your AMS are responsive.

Do you agree? Share your thoughts?

Keeping the data in your AMS clean is critical when it comes to managing your association. A badly managed AMS can impact your association’s ROI on marketing initiatives, fundraising activities and more!

When it comes to keeping the data in your AMS clean, you need to have:

• Good data entry process in place
• Standards in place on how to format your data, including rules for fields, titles and other additional content buckets
• Conduct data checks to ensure that member records are current and that there aren’t duplications
• Provide staff with training on a regular basis

Here are some tips to help you keep your data clean:

• Make sure you have all the information you need to create new record. You want to try to avoid putting in records with missing details, such as title, organization and member type.
• Merge duplicate records to avoid having unnecessary ones.
• Ask members to update their profiles on a regular basis. Contact members via phone or email, asking them if their information is up-to-date.
• Use your search and query tools to find missing data in your records.
• Make time! Commit at least 1 hour a week to running reports, staff training and data clean up.

What processes do you have in place at your association to ensure your data is clean?