Is your association considering a move to a customer relationship management (CRM) platform as the basis for your association management software (AMS)? Many associations choose a CRM platform and an AMS to track member interactions, streamline membership processes and payments, gain insights on membership trends, and enhance the member experience.
Salesforce is the leader in CRM and service, making Salesforce CRM an ideal platform for a modern AMS. Discover why associations everywhere are choosing Salesforce CRM to prioritize their members, streamline staff processes, and exceed their organizational goals. Continue reading to learn more.
What is Salesforce CRM?
Salesforce CRM was launched as software as a service (SaaS) in 1999. Salesforce quickly became the leader in CRM, taking the technology world by storm. For more than 25 years, Salesforce has improved upon its best-in-class CRM platform offering more value to its customers.
Enterprise level associations can benefit greatly from leveraging Salesforce CRM. Because of Salesforce’s scalability, flexibility, and configurability, the CRM can meet the demands of large associations.
When Salesforce CRM is the platform for your organization’s AMS, you’ll be prepared to offer the following innovative features:
- Continuous product updates to offer the latest innovation
- Reports and dashboards to provide data insights
- Artificial Intelligence and predictive analytics to make your organization more proactive
- Collaboration tools like Slack and Chatter to help your teams communicate
- Process automation to streamline manual processes and reduce workload
- Security and reliability to strengthen member data and reduce risk
- API and integration to grow your software ecosystem and meet your association’s needs
- Training and learning options to upskill your staff and ensure a return on your investment
- A connected member experience to increase opportunities for learning, inspiration, and fun
What is the difference between an AMS and a CRM?
A customer relationship management (CRM) platform like Salesforce is a data-driven tool associations can use to streamline customer relationships. Organizations leverage CRM software to track customer interactions, manage prospective relationships, and gain data insights.
Association management software (AMS) helps organizations manage all aspects of their membership, including recruitment, engagement, and retention. Your organization can also use an AMS to set up, manage, and run events, conferences, and webinars. An AMS manages your data and reports, optimizes sales and marketing efforts, and streamlines member payments and e-commerce initiatives.
Why should your association choose an AMS built on Salesforce?
Many associations choose Salesforce-based AMS systems to combine the power of the AMS and CRM platforms. A Salesforce-based AMS helps your association fill in the gaps within the CRM platform to offer comprehensive member management. This solution can also be more cost-effective, saving your association time and money from extensive customization and configuration to create a solution that fits your needs.
When you choose Nimble AMS, built on the Salesforce CRM platform, you’ll get the best of the AMS and CRM platforms. Leveraging Nimble AMS can transform you into a data-driven organization, help you exceed your strategic goals, and improve the member experience.
With the winning combination of Nimble AMS and Salesforce, your organization can also decrease manual maintenance, ensuring you always see the benefits of continuous upgrades, offering the most innovative technology from both platforms for your staff and members.
The top 3 benefits of adopting a Salesforce CRM-based AMS
What are the benefits of investing in a Salesforce-based AMS for your association? Here are the top three:
1. Ecosystem and extensibility
From email marketing to volunteer management, the Salesforce AppExchange offers various applications for associations to advance their mission. Your association can also consider leveraging Sales Cloud, Salesforce Einstein, Marketing Cloud, Tableau Analytics, and Service Cloud to expand your organization’s reach and enhance the member experience.
2. Innovation
Forbes magazine voted Salesforce the most innovative company in the world (ahead of Tesla, Apple, and Google). Last fiscal year, Salesforce spent $5.1 billion on research and development. Salesforce customers are already leveraging this investment with AI and data innovations.
3. Financial stability
Building, delivering, and supporting enterprise software is incredibly expensive. Innovation requires a high level of focused, continuous investment in research and development. Salesforce has existed for over 25 years, and the organization has invested billions of dollars in the latest innovation ensuring the software offers powerful reporting and integration options.
The 3 keys to choosing the right Salesforce CRM-based AMS
Not all Salesforce-based AMS are created equally. When it comes to selecting the best option for your association, there are three vital aspects to consider:
1. Continuous software upgrades
When selecting the best Salesforce-based AMS for your organization, look to see if every AMS customer is on the same version. Nearly every association professional has seen the adverse effects of being left behind with outdated software.
Salesforce is automatically upgraded three times a year, and every Salesforce customer is on the same version. Your AMS should do the same. Another advantage of continuous software upgrades is how it empowers your AMS provider to focus on supporting only one version, allowing them more capacity to innovate.
2. Person Accounts architecture
Verify your Salesforce-based AMS uses Person Accounts. Salesforce Person Accounts are built to support professional and trade associations, leading Fortune 500 companies, and non-profits. Person Accounts support the complicated membership structure of associations, including both individual and organizational members. With Person Accounts, your organization can document transactions for individuals and organizations, meeting your unique reporting needs.
Salesforce is currently investing in Person Accounts, ensuring your organization will always access the latest technology to support your members.
3. User-friendly reporting
All organizations need powerful data tools to predict member behavior and prevent churn. With a Salesforce-based AMS, your association can become data-centric by leveraging powerful analytics to drive your mission and meet your goals.
How a Salesforce CRM-based AMS offers integration and configuration
Connecting your software ecosystem, including your CRM, AMS, career center, learning management system, and event technology will ensure your association offers a superior staff and member experience. Here’s how Salesforce CRM stands out from the competition:
- Salesforce AppExchange
With the Salesforce AppExchange, your association will have access to more than 7,000 apps to empower your staff and improve the member experience. Using the Salesforce AppExchange will help you find apps, components, bolt solutions, lightning data, flow solutions, and more to accelerate your organization’s digital transformation. - API integration
Salesforce offers multiple application program interfaces (APIs) that your staff developers can use to integrate Salesforce CRM with your AMS and other systems. - Salesforce Trailhead
To help your staff upskill and learn the latest technology systems, you can use Salesforce Trailhead. Trailhead is a free Salesforce online learning environment offering guided learning paths through key Salesforce features, using interactive online tutorials.
What are the future trends in Salesforce CRM?
When it comes to leveraging Salesforce CRM-based AMS platforms, you can trust your organization will have access to the latest innovations. AI and machine learning generate a lot of buzz in the news, capturing the attention of fortune 500 companies and associations.
So, what’s the future of AI? In latest Salesforce State of IT report, 86% of IT leaders expect generative AI to quickly play a big role in their organizations. 67% of the leaders said they are prioritizing AI for their organizations in the next 18 months.
Salesforce reports the American public is relatively divided on using generative AI, with 45% of the surveyed group reporting they use AI. Of the surveyed group, Generation Z is the most likely to leverage AI, with 70% of Gen Z using the technology, and 52% trusting it to help them make informed decisions.
Where does your association land in the trending conversation about AI? Are you currently leveraging AI to engage more members? Maybe you have a defined policy about AI. Or maybe you’re in the process of deciding how you want to use AI to streamline staff processes. Wherever you’re at with AI, choosing a Salesforce CRM-based AMS can help offer the latest innovations at your organization.
