What Is An AMS? Association Management Systems

Do you currently have several platforms that you need to use frequently, all requiring a different login? Do these take up valuable time to open and log into each morning? An AMS, or Association Management System, may be just what you need to make the lives of you and your team so much easier.

This article explains what an AMS is and how it may be beneficial for your organisation and its members. For personalised advice, contact our team at Membership Management today.

What Is An AMS?

AMS stands for Association Management System. This is an online platform that enables you the ability to manage your organisation yourselves, making it easier than ever to run it  smoothly across all areas of your organisation. An AMS can be tailored specifically to your organisation and its unique needs so it has everything you need and nothing you don’t. Your AMS may include membership management, association management software, event organisation tools, reporting tools, member only secure areas, billing and more.

What Is AMS Software?

An Association Management System contains many parts, one of the most integral being its software. AMS software is what helps your AMS to run and operate efficiently. Essentially, an AMS combines many functionalities and packages them into one succinct system. You can think of the software as the behind-the-scenes work, ensuring that your team and your members see a seamless final product (the AMS itself).

Association Management Software manages the association’s operating needs, data, communication, billing and other tasks. This is especially helpful for membership databases as it allows you to simplify and streamline your memberships, giving your members a valuable engagement experience.

What Can An AMS Do?

What your AMS can do specifically for you depends on your needs and how your organisation is set up. Ultimately, an AMS aims to streamline your daily operations and help your team and members navigate your organisation.

An AMS may help you to:

• Attract members— Through websites that demonstrate your strengths and value to members, digital marketing (Google Ads, Facebook Marketing, etc.), SEO, email marketing, and content marketing.

• Manage members— With easy-to-use integrated signups and onboarding, automated workflow, a membership-focused customer relationship management (CRM) system, and the ability to set restricted content and grant privileges and more.

• Add value for members— By creating and nurturing relationships, having them know you hear what they have to say, giving them valuable services and resources, making your association easy to become an active member of, and giving your members more choices.

• Manage events— Allows for flexible ticketing for event attendees, the use of scheduling tools, and flexible payment options.

What Are The Benefits Of AMS Software?

AMS benefits for you and your organisation

Organisations of all types and sizes can benefit from AMS software. This may be saving valuable staff members time, increasing value for members, and allowing you to see everything happening with one glance. Benefits may include:

• Generating extra revenue— Integrated tools make it easier to take payments, while customisable payment models, flexible donation options, and events that are built for your members help you to effectively grow your revenue.

• Saving time— Using several platforms and systems to complete tasks takes additional time that could be better spent elsewhere. An AMS combines these into one platform to save valuable time, creating leverage and utilising the power of automation.

• Increasing data security— Every AMS is tailored to meet specific data safety measures, such as payment card industry compliance, data encryption, firewall protection, and more.

• Providing analytics— Being able to view your membership base as a whole gives you a bird’s eye view of your association so you can adjust strategies as needed.

These benefits are essential for membership management in today’s digital age. Membership organisations and associations need to be able to manage memberships 24/7, including when staff are offline or otherwise unavailable. 

An AMS helps you to service your membership at all times, allowing prospective members to sign up at a time that’s convenient for them. This also means that your current members can renew their memberships, register for events, and purchase products online outside of standard working hours.

Benefits For Your Members

Members are the people who give your organisation its heart and soul, so making sure they’re happy is one of the best things you can do for them— and for you. 

Offering them an easily navigable experience that they can’t find elsewhere will encourage them to stay with your organisation and become even more connected, increasing the chance of their recommending you to others.

For members, they may find that your AMS software helps them to:

• Enjoy a personalised experience— Manual systems typically don’t allow members to control or edit what’s important to them, such as their preferred name, membership type, or membership profile, organisation profiles,  through their own dashboard, whereas an AMS can.

• Connect with others— Online connection is just as vital as connecting in person. An AMS allows you to improve your communication capabilities to keep your members connected.

• Navigate your organisation easily and conveniently— Logging into just one system is much easier for all of us, including your members.

• Options to promote your business, through online directories, events, and special offers.

• Gain access to a range of easily searchable resources from surveys, whitepapers, helpful tips and guides, special pricing for events, products and more.
   

What Features Should You Look For In AMS Software?

Organisations of all types should look for AMS software that includes:

• Ongoing, Australian local service and support
• Easy to use tools that are all interconnected
• A focus on solutions that enables your organisation to improve through upgrading
• Security
• A membership database that services all aspects of your organisation (one source of the truth)
• Flexible membership management and billing systems
• Member dashboards
• Fully customisable Website front end
• Resource Centres
• Email Marketing
• Event management
• E-commerce (shopping carts)
• Online directories
• SaaS (Software as a Service platform) - which means it is ever growing, improving and evolving

Looking For An AMS For Your Organisation?

If convenience, ease of use long term improvements are as important to you as it is to your members, Membership Management AMS may be just what you’ve been searching for. Our all-in-one AMS offers you the advantage of having everything you need in one database, requiring only one log in to manage it all. 

In addition to being simple to navigate, we provide customised plans that include the features you need so you can run your organisation more efficiently than ever. If you’re looking for increased productivity and profitability in one package, contact us at Membership Management today.

LEARN MORE CONTACT US ON 07 07 5636 3700