Choosing Membership Management Software

It’s not just about the software solution – although that’s a big part – it’s about the implementation process too.

I like to think of myself as a reasonably self-motivated person. When I became a Functional Consultant, I studied for my Salesforce Administrator Certification I put in the time required to focus, then complete and pass the exam. It certainly did help that the study materials provided by Salesforce and online tutorials were so easy to use. The preparation was smooth, and learning was enjoyable.

Rewind 12 months and I was training in a very different product and environment. I was implementing another CRM product that is sold as solely a membership management solution, but at this time I was an end-user administrator.

Most of all project failures stem from poor planning of the entire project. This means that the concept was not well-researched, and the planning was insufficient. Its implementation failed to realise the full potential of the initial promise.

Many tools have been developed to facilitate good project management. I now use tools like Confluence and JIRA for documentation, workflow and to keep things running smoothly on time and on budget. We collaborate with clients to write user stories and acceptance criteria to create an overall system design that meets all their needs.

This was very different to my own end-user experience 12 months earlier. I was left with confusion because of a lack of transparency in the process and a feeling of being very much on my own.

Now, I know I said I am self-motivated, but it is difficult when you are trying to learn something new and come up with a workable design for a membership process at the same time. When, as an end user, you are on your own to decipher, plan and build your own EDM templates and web content without guidance, your motivation starts to wane.

The problem I found with the whole implementation, and that of similar narrow solutions from other vendors, was the one size fits all approach. When modification or customisation is needed, they do not allocate the required time or resources. Since they have only allowed for a cookie-cutter approach they find it difficult to scale up. The limitations of the platform mean they can’t go to the Salesforce AppExchange to look for a 3rd party solution that will integrate into their own solution to meet a client’s requirement that they cannot meet.

This is in stark contrast to the Salesforce platform and our implementation process at DataColada. Our recent projects with membership organisations have seen them move away from restrictive and archaic legacy systems designed with one function in mind, to a scalable and highly configurable solution, tailored to their needs.

We work with our clients to provide a strong understanding of Salesforce to allow them to collaborate with us in developing and implementing a core CRM without leaving them to fend for themselves. It is important to engage with in-house subject matter experts to provide training to develop their own Salesforce administration skills and a clear pathway to self-sufficiency and the confidence to further customise the system.

We also ensure that our clients have the knowledge to understand and manage their association members, which saves them time and money.

This enables them to take control of how data is stored and managed, then implement strategies to improve the member experience without being unduly constrained by their CRM product. By maintaining a development pipeline, we can continuously deploy changes from development to testing to production environments and deliver a truly collaborative solution to the client, whilst giving them the tools to continue this development process.

Unfortunately, this was not the experience I had in the past when implementing another CRM. No amount of self-motivation can make up for good processes and solution design.

About the DataColada Membership Accelerator on Salesforce

DataColada’s software solutions are specifically designed to automate the complex membership processes in organisations large or small.

At DataColada we have developed our Membership Accelerator, a collection of tools that enables membership organisations to quickly get started with managing the life cycle of their members. It is built natively on Salesforce and offers an easy process for signing up new members and managing existing members.

For more information on the package, watch demonstration videos, walk through a guided demonstration or complete the form to register your interest, go to: Membership Accelerator – DataColada