How important are software upgrades to your association software?

According to a study by Lehman Associates, on average, associations upgrade or replace their AMS about every 5 years.

Considering it is now 2010, let’s consider the state of several technologies in 2005:

• Twitter didn’t exist  (it was launched in 2006)
• The iPhone didn’t exist (it was introduced in 2007)
• Facebook was one year old – and was mainly on college campuses
• The most common processor chip in your computer would have a Pentium III chip
• The average hard-drive was 80 gigabytes
• Laptop PC sales just barely surpassed desktop sales

So, how’s that circa 2005 AMS working with 2010 technology (not to mention 2011, 2012, etc.)? I doubt your members are as far behind the times on their technology and have upgraded. Why haven’t you?

The reality is that technology is changing at an ever faster pace. The regression from early adopter to Luddite is now a matter of months.

It’s also no longer the job of the IT department to make sure that your association technology is up to date. The membership director is thinking about web programs to bring in new members, the learning department is trying to develop new products that will generate more revenue, your publications group is moving from printed magazines to online content and then you have your events group that is pushing the boundaries of online registrations and location based marketing from the trade show floor.

That’s why we believe it is imperative to keep your association management software up to date. As the core membership system that not only manages who your members are and what they bought, it serves as the connection point for multiple technologies including e-Learning, social networking and more.

We recently had the opportunity to speak with Mike Guerrieri at the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA) and here’s what he had to say about upgrading your AMS.

So with all this said, what’s Avectra’s policy for upgrades?   We WANT you to be upgraded and that’s why we do it for free.

• netFORUM Team & Pro clients – we have 3 product updates each year that all clients get automatically, free of charge.
• netFORUM Enterprise clients – we have a major release each year and a team dedicated to upgrading all our hosted clients so everyone is running no later than 2 versions back. (We even document this process on our wiki)

After all, it’s one of the biggest benefits of using web based membership software.

If your membership database and association software is out-of-date, it’s time to take a look at your investment and see what you need to do be current.

And if you aren’t using Avectra’s association management software, talk to us about how you can see the benefits of always having current technology.