I had the opportunity to attend the Abila Users and Developers Conference (AUDC) last week in Austin. During the roadmap session on future enhancements to their netFORUM product, Abila outlined that they would be enhancing the user interface for staff, as well as focusing on a better user experience for customers. This is all good news. […]
Focus on User Experience Demonstrates Maturity of Industry Read More »
I attended the Aptify Users Conference in Chicago last week. I always enjoy the users conferences because I get a chance to hear what the company is rolling out in the coming year, and I also get a chance to hear the experiences of the users themselves. Aptify is rolling out version 5.0 of their
“Screen noise” is a real thing. You might be able to fix it. One of the most common complaints I hear from my clients about their AMS is something along the lines of “There are all these fields on the screen we never use. They just get in the way and are annoying.” This is
“Screen noise” is a real thing. You might be able to fix it. Read More »
Encourage engagement with prizes! One of the biggest challenges any organization faces when implementing a new system is user adoption. It’s difficult to get users to engage and make significant changes in their behavior, and user adoption is probably the single most important key to success with a new system. So to address that issue, one
A poor launch can set the stage for YEARS It is not uncommon for me to get a call from a prospective client and hear something like: “We launched a new AMS last year, but it was a rushed implementation. We never really got things right from the start and now everyone is unhappy.” Too often,
UI Matters! Almost since I began consulting over 20 years, I’ve noted how important the user interface (UI) of a system is, in terms of user adoption and ease-of-use. On the staff side, the UI matters because the more “pleasant” a user interface is, the more likely staff is to actually use the system. (I define
I’ve written elsewhere about the value of data integrity reports. But one of the most common complaints I hear from my clients is that the actual list of reports within their AMS is so unwieldy, they wind up creating new reports (or queries) because they don’t really know what reports they have or what they do.
This marks the fourth consecutive year that Ive conducted my unscientific one question survey of associations, asking them for the one database issue they’re wrestling with right now. As with previous years, some of the answers confirm what Ive been learning with my clients, and some of the results surprised me. Executive Summary The five
For the past three years, I’ve conducted a non-scientific survey of association executives, asking them what immediate concerns they have surrounding the management of their database. This year, nearly 150 association executives responded. In years past, standout issues have included integration with multiple systems (including the website), data integrity, and system selection. While those issues
For seven years I have conducted a one-question, non-scientific survey of association executives, asking them “What data management/database issue are you being challenged with right now?” This year I received over 150 responses from association executives representing all types and sizes of associations. As I always do, I’ve taken these responses and categorized them into