The push to do more with data leads many organizations to re-examine their key systems. The approximate cost to select and implement a new AMS can vary greatly depending on AMS type, system needed, integrations needed, licenses, 3rd party vendor to support integrations, not to mention a potential consultant to guide selection and implementation. It’s a sizable financial investment. It’s also an association’s largest change management project/disruptor. Budget accordingly by thinking outside earmarked funds. Below we share “costs” to include when budgeting for your AMS.
- Time: Don’t lowball the cost of your time in your budget. Selection to implementation can take 15-19 months. You’ll go through selection, contracts, and inevitable lag time, before actual implementation begins. Implementation itself can average 8-10 months (this depends on a variety of factors). If you’re kicking off in Q1, don’t expect to wrap this up by Q2, Q3, or even Q4.
- People: Spread responsibilities (but not ownership). No one department should be overtaxed. As we noted above, the project will take over a year, don’t burn out staff. Staff time needed for selection and implementation cycles—time high periods needed for AMS work with low cycles in other internal work. Consider how staff are impacted on a personal level outside of work as well (e.g., maternity leave, retirements, spouse’s job loss). If there is a lot of change going on with staff consider how it might impact timing. A tool’s success depends on staff’s support, time, and availability.
- Bandwidth: Look at calendars and examine what else is going on in the organization. Are there other big transformative projects taking place or on the horizon? Is an annual meeting around the corner? Be honest. There’s no “perfect time” but there is a better time and better timetable. Don’t make your AMS implementation and adoption compete for your staff’s attention with everything else going on in your organization, budget for it.
- Change fatigue: Read the room. Has your organization been in a state of perpetual change and disruption? Too much change at one time can lead to decreased productivity, low morale, increased absenteeism, and resistance to change. Communicate and involve staff so they don’t feel like the change is happening to them, but with them.
- Marketing: You must sell it internally. The key to adoption is planning and training. Long before anyone receives credentials, develop a comprehensive strategy to sell staff on why they want to use it, how it benefits their daily work, and address their concerns. Include initial training to introduce staff to the tool and maintenance training to keep them using it. Don’t neglect to market externally to customers, especially if the platform has been a pain point and the new system improves user experience.
- Unknown costs: Allow for evaluation and consideration along the way. If your organization has very specific requirements built into a heavily customized AMS there may not be one perfect solution. Instead you may need to identify other systems to address your requirements.
- Data cleanup: Invest in data clean up to ensure your AMS investment actually works for you. While there are different approaches to timing data cleanup, make sure your organization budgets accordingly. Prioritize early data cleanup within the current systems to address inconsistencies and gaps, standardize terminology across the organization, and maintain data security.
Your organization may have conducted a technology assessment and be ready to move forward with its digital transformation initiatives. You may have estimated the new AMS’ cost in terms of dollars. But have you factored in all your organizational costs? Any digital transformation journey takes financial backing and a significant amount of time, effort, and resources. Before you finish budgeting for your AMS, itemize other “hidden costs” so you won’t experience “sticker shock” later.