A strong AMS seasonal strategy is the difference between an association that maximizes its technology investment and one that watches it slowly go to seed. Before you can plant anything, you need to know your season. An association implementing a brand-new AMS is in a very different season than an organization that launched their AMS two years ago and is quietly reverting to spreadsheets. One is spring, full of potential and prep work. The other might be mid-summer, when habits have slackened allowing weeds that need pulling to creep back in before they take over. Developing a clear association AMS management seasonal strategy is the first step toward ensuring your technology investment delivers lasting value.
To Create an AMS Seasonal Strategy: Know Your Season
Every association leader should ask two questions annually: Are we planting, tending, or harvesting? Do our resources match that reality?
It is important for associations to know what season the AMS is in. Equally, it’s crucial to create a budget and include resources to match the season. Sometimes, associations budget for maintenance season when they’re in planting season. Instead of investing in training, they assume after Go-Live that their garden (read: AMS or other implemented tool) will run itself. Likewise, maintenance season requires a different focus. Invest in enhancements and add business processes to the AMS to keep the AMS a viable part of the organization, rather than some of the Go-Live investments in training and team building.
Maintain Efforts In Every AMS Season
I oftentimes see associations ramp up their staff in the “Spring” when “planting” their new AMS implementation. They are very intentional with the new AMS: frequently watering the new sprouts, watching as new best practices and standard operating processes develop. Some fruit starts to appear, and tangible benefits are realized.
Unfortunately, sometimes we see associations pull back as “the Summer” arrives. They assume the implementation has taken root and begin to pull back resources. They forget to tend what they’ve planted. They’re watering less frequently and aren’t looking to grow it further. The only time the lawn is addressed is when it is time to mow! This can result in patches of the AMS drying up: users abandoning the software for spreadsheets or data spiraling out of control like a lawn that it overgrown. Even after your AMS has taken root it still requires TLC to keep it going. Without a defined seasonal AMS strategy, even the most promising implementations risk falling into neglect as the excitement of Go-Live fades.
Keep Calm and Garden On
I have seen too many associations think their garden was dying, when in reality it was overgrown! Instead of looking to replace the AMS, what was really needed was an investment in weeding out, cutting back, and just tending to it. Recently I did an assessment for an organization with only a single power user supporting the AMS. They decided the AMS no longer reflected their business processes, so they were ready to start a massive investment in a new one. However, if they had only tended to the garden, and kept up their investment in the AMS they could have avoided the need for a new implementation and the massive time and financial investment that comes with it.
In this era of Cloud based AMS systems, vendors are always upgrading their software. It is up to the individual associations to capitalize on these improvements and turn them on. Think of it as a form of plant cutting, where you take a part of a plant and let it grow somewhere else.
Use an Assessment to Guide Your Seasonal AMS Strategy
The good news: knowing your season is fixable. A technology assessment is the foundation of any successful association AMS management seasonal strategy — giving your team the clarity and confidence to tend your system through every stage of growth. It gives you the unbiased, outside perspective you need to not only stop guessing and start planning with confidence, but also give you instructions on how to tend to your garden for maximum crop yield!