What is association management software (AMS)?
Association management software: Everything your association needs to know about an AMS
Association management software (AMS) is an all-in-one software package, which provides professional and trade associations with the necessary features to run their organization. AMS is an acronym that may refer to association management software or association management system.
Association management software (AMS) can be invaluable for organizational leaders, helping you empower your entire organization.
With AMS software, medium to large associations can streamline organizational processes like member renewals, analytics reporting, revenue tracking, and more. Association management software helps manage your membership pipeline, throughout the entire member journey.
Here’s why enterprise associations choose association management software:
Automate labor-intensive manual tasks
Ensure consistent member communication
Enhance member database with user-friendly reports & dashboards
Boost member engagement with an online community platform
Optimize sales and marketing efforts
Streamline event organization
Build effective boards and leadership committees
A 360° view of member engagement
And more
With Nimble AMS, you’ll get these key association management software features and more.
Enterprise associations choose Nimble AMS to optimize operations and provide superior member support. Nimble AMS empowers medium to large organizations to build lasting member relationships by creating a personalized experience.
With Nimble AMS exclusive tools, offered at no additional cost, you can create customized member resources to increase member engagement and member retention. Leverage templates and other professional association resources to optimize your member management processes and member outreach. Working with our association management software consultants will help you leverage the necessary tools to scale your organization and boost your ROI.
What comes with association management software?
Association management software offers a variety of features and functionality. Enterprise-level associations should look for the very best in their AMS software. Consider an AMS built on customer relationship management (CRM) software to address your organizational needs.
Look for these must-have features:
Membership database
Dues and subscription management
User-friendly reports and dashboards
Online community platform
Committee organization
Conference and event planning
Modern e-commerce
Continuing education integration options
Financial features
Web-based member portal
Mobile-first
Membership database
Dues and subscription management
Dues are the lifeblood of an association. Association management software assists with the critical task of dues billing and collection, empowering staff through automation. Most AMS systems accommodate a variety of types of billing including annual, anniversary, sliding scale, and pro-rating dues depending on when the member joins. AMS systems can also streamline the management and billing of subscriptions for newsletters, journals, and more.
User-friendly reports and dashboards
Become a data-driven association with powerful analytics and user-friendly reports and dashboards. Leverage an AMS to visualize key business metrics and spot trends with pre-built reports and personalized dashboards.
Online community platform
Look for association management software that provides a built-in online member community to drive engagement.
Boost member connection and retention with personalized digest feeds, networking opportunities, and unique member groups.
Conference and event planning
Manage your upcoming event from start to finish, ensuring registration, payment collection, and event organization is streamlined. Your AMS should help you sell sponsorships and exhibitions, as well as manage attendee data.
Modern e-commerce
Diversify your organization’s revenue streams with a modern AMS that offers e-commerce solutions. Look for an AMS that helps you boost revenue with abandoned cart reminders and cross-sell opportunities. Make constituent payments easier with options like Apple Pay, One Payment, and Express Payment options.
Committee organization
Association committees are key to proper governance. AMS systems enable staff to track committee and sub-committee members and boost committee communication by recording meeting minutes.
Continuing education integration options
Choosing an innovative AMS ensures you’ll have many integration options with advanced learning management software (LMS). Advance your learning program with an LMS integration that makes it easy for members to enroll in courses and tracks continuing education credits and certification progress in an online member profile.
Financial features
Association management software operates as a sub-ledger to handle the billing, invoicing, and receipting of all transactions involving constituents. Look for an AMS that integrates with your bookkeeping tool to streamline your accounting processes.
Web-based member portal
Associations need to support members 24/7. With an AMS member portal, constituents can customize their member experience by updating their profile, paying dues, registering for conferences, purchasing products, viewing certification status, and more.
Mobile-first
Look for an AMS that is mobile responsive, ensuring your data is easily accessible across web-enabled devices. With a mobile-first AMS, both staff and members can connect whenever and wherever they want.
Trends in association management software
Staying up to date on industry news is essential to establishing your enterprise association’s credibility and expertise. Staying ahead of the curve as new technologies and methodologies develop will ensure your organization offers a superior member experience and meets its goals.
The following association management software trends point to innovative developments in the future:
Continuous innovation
Artificial intelligence
Predictive analytics
Cloud-based software
Data security
CRM-based AMS
Continuous innovation
Artificial intelligence
Advanced AMS systems offer artificial intelligence (AI) to make your association smarter. Use AI to deliver member predictions and recommendations, driving a superior member experience across your organization.
Predictive analytics
Leverage predictive analytics in association management software to anticipate member behavior and guide staff actions. For example, your organization can use predictive analytics to uncover any at-risk members and act before they lapse.
Cloud-based software
Being in the cloud means that the association management system and its data are hosted online, versus a local server. Cloud-based software offers increased functionality, allowing vendors to release software quicker and easier. It also allows all software users to be on the latest version and take advantage of all of the latest features. Another perk of cloud-based software is the lower cost of ownership because vendors are responsible for updates, security, and performance monitoring.
Data security
By choosing an AMS hosted in the cloud, you can rest assured that your member data is backed up on a rotating schedule, so you never lose records. An innovative AMS will prioritize best-in-class security practices and compliance and offer live status details on service. Look for an AMS provider that complies with data privacy laws (GDPR, CCPA, and PIPEDA) and offers an in-house security and compliance team.
CRM-based AMS
Every association needs to process association-specific transactions like dues, event registrations, committees, and more. With an AMS built on customer relationship management (CRM) software, you have features like lead and contact management, reports and analytics, process automation, and artificial intelligence. Leveraging these features in your AMS will help you achieve your goals, improve your member experience and become a data-driven organization.
How to research association management software
When determining the best option for your enterprise association, you’ll want to carefully compare AMS vendors. Consider your unique organizational needs and key criteria to find the association management software that best fits your requirements. Investigate AMS reviews to compare software capabilities.
Whether you need more flexibility or scalability, customization or specific features, keep a few points in mind:
Costs
Requirements
Comprehensive offerings
Membership Management
Online Community
Event and Exhibit Management
Process Automation
E-Commerce
Financial Management
Analytics and Personalized Dashboards
Artificial Intelligence & Predictive Analytics
Continuous Innovation
Open Platform
Costs
Research the AMS operating costs over time. To get a holistic picture of the long-term investment value consider support fees, hardware costs, and customization expenses.
Requirements
Work with your board to assess your organizational goals and determine your priorities and requirements to measure AMS options against your needs.
Comprehensive offerings
Be aware of hidden system costs and choose a system that offers a comprehensive estimate of all required work. Search for an AMS vendor that provides an association resource center to guide your research process.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is an association management system?
An association management system (AMS) is software associations use to manage member engagement and provide resources to grow new and existing member relationships. In today’s data-driven world, many associations have turned to AMS to act as a framework for membership growth and retention.
What is association management software?
What can association management software do?
What does AMS stand for?
What can an AMS do?
What is an AMS built on Salesforce?
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