When it comes to association management software (AMS), you have multiple options. Today, many membership-based organizations are choosing an AMS built on an enterprise customer relationship management (CRM) platform.
This approach provides the AMS functionality associations need to manage their membership without having to build their own CRM technology. Yet, they still have access to CRM features and benefits.
Why is CRM functionality so important to associations? It allows you to know your members better, track interactions with them, and gain useful business intelligence on membership trends. These types of insights into your membership can help you make smarter decisions and better tailor your member services.
That’s why our team built Nimble AMS on the Salesforce CRM platform. With the winning combination of Salesforce and Nimble AMS, your association is guaranteed Fortune 500-class CRM functionality and every member management feature you can organization could need. Choosing Nimble AMS, built on Salesforce, will transform you into a data-driven organization, helping you exceed your strategic goals, and improve the member experience.
Unique features of Salesforce AMS
So, why choose Salesforce AMS? There are many benefits of Salesforce AMS platforms. Here are some things that make Nimble AMS and Salesforce a unique combination for associations:
1. A connected member experience
The Salesforce platform serves as the foundation for a modern AMS that puts members at the heart of an association’s activities. Salesforce fully commits to a connected customer experience through its Customer 360, which centralizes customer data across different Salesforce platform services and external systems, like your AMS. You can view all information about a member for a more connected and unified experience across all channels and departments.
It’s important to note that Customer 360 uses Person Accounts when building profiles, which Salesforce recommends. This model treats business and individual accounts as equals.
Why is this important? For professional associations, your members are primarily individuals. You likely also have membership levels for associate members for businesses, including your suppliers, vendors and other partners. While many trade association memberships include organizations, your interactions will be with individuals. You will need to facilitate operations between organizations and individuals.
Nimble AMS embraces the Person Accounts data model, allowing our team to easily change the solution to fit your membership structure. We use Person Accounts because it’s designed for associations and can scale to meet the needs of complex member-based organizations. With the combination of Nimble AMS and Person Accounts, you’ll be able to support a connected member experience and fully leverage your association data.
2. Version consistency and pain-free upgrades
If you use Facebook, Google, or Twitter, you’re likely unaware of the version you’re using. However, it is likely the most recent release, because everyone is on the same version. It’s automatically updated.
Unlike old-school software, which often forces customers to wait for big, costly upgrades, Salesforce provides a continuous stream of upgrades and innovation so you’re always getting the latest technology, without the extra time, costs or hassle. Because Salesforce is cloud-based, you receive these upgrades quickly and painlessly.
Nimble AMS is the only Salesforce-based AMS where all customers are on the same AMS version. Our team offers continuous upgrades, providing three seamless software updates a year, to ensure your association is always on the latest version.
Typical AMS upgrades can be expensive, with fees so high that some associations stop implementing upgrades altogether and try to get by with outdated software. However, Nimble AMS includes upgrades in our service, meaning no additional costs for technology updates.
3. World-class security and reliability
Associations collect and store personal and sensitive information about their members and employees. Whether you collect contact information or billing methods, keeping your data safe is essential for building and maintaining trust with your partners and members. Security breaches can damage your organization’s reputation. When you use services and tools with high-security features, you assure your members that you are dedicated to keeping them and their information safe.
Salesforce offers world-class data security and significant uptime to help ensure your data is safe and your system can scale smoothly as your association grows. When you use Salesforce, you can experience advanced protection through its various features, including:
- Multi-factor authentication
- Custom domains
- Encryption
- Login IP ranges
- Access restrictions
- Data recovery
Nimble AMS, built on Salesforce, implements the best practices in data security, offering an in-house Security and Compliance team staffed by experts that run a strong information and risk management program to meet data privacy regulations and expectations. Because Nimble AMS and Salesforce value transparency, your association can always access insights on your security and performance functionality.
Routinely leverage these security resources to help you build trust with your members, showing them you’ve invested in software that best protects their data. Regardless of your industry, you can meet your organization’s compliance requirements with Nimble AMS and Salesforce.
4. The latest technology
When choosing an AMS platform, accessing the latest technology is essential. Technical advancements can help your organization improve its efficiency by automating tasks and predicting outcomes. Additionally, you can boost your organization’s competitiveness by investing in new technology. When you offer more specified services and increased efficiency, your organization will be more attractive to various partners.
Nimble AMS leverages Salesforce to deliver the latest technology — such as process automation and artificial intelligence (AI) — to make organizations smarter, more effective and more efficient.
For example, Nimble AMS leverages the Salesforce Einstein AI technology to help associations make stronger decisions by predicting and delivering member needs and wants. Nimble AMS customers use Salesforce Prediction Builder, which allows you to establish point-and-click AI.
Einstein can make predictions and provide guidance, equipping your staff with tools you need to act. For example, it can compile a call-down list of high-value members who are least likely to renew.
Nimble AMS also uses Salesforce Flows to help you save valuable staff time with automated processes, all through clicks-not-code. Automation can help boost process efficiency for submitting approval requests or creating and updating emails, records and tasks. All it takes are a few simple clicks in the Flow Builder tool.
Training and support differences
When integrating Salesforce into your AMS, your employees will need time to learn all the new features they have. They might have to navigate new interfaces or unfamiliar functions as they experience how your AMS works with Salesforce. Figuring out a new system and configuration can be challenging for employees as they try to carry out regular operations.
Salesforce offers Trailhead, a training system that helps teach users about different features and functions. This type of tool is greatly helpful when implementing a Salesforce upgrade — it uses various techniques and modules to walk employees through changes, so they can best understand how to work with it.
As a Salesforce partner, Nimble AMS works closely with Salesforce to develop compatible tools and features to optimize daily operations. Because of this, Nimble AMS developed myTrailhead, which allows your company to create and deploy customized Salesforce AMS training programs. Nimble AMS myTrailhead can help you learn about features unique to Nimble AMS, so you can better use its functions and updates alongside Salesforce.
How your organization size and scale impact AMS
Your association will want a platform that can scale to your needs. An AMS will help support organizational growth, ensuring you can continually use your data as you expand and gain more members. A scalable solution requires less adjustment in the transition to increased services and functionality. Nimble AMS scales to your organizational requirements, allowing you to leverage the software solutions your association needs, when you need them.
When to choose a Salesforce-based AMS
Choosing a Salesforce-based AMS, like Nimble AMS, gives you the advantage of working with developers who created a seamless solution that functions within Salesforce’s platform. A Salesforce-based AMS experience helps you better fill gaps within the CRM platform for a more comprehensive, specified service. This solution can also be more cost-effective, saving your association time and money from extensive customization and configuration to create a solution that fits your needs.
Nimble AMS is a Salesforce-based solution that helps you continue to offer complicated membership-related services and operations alongside the useful CRM system. With this option, you can decrease manual maintenance because Nimble AMS will upgrade alongside Salesforce, ensuring your two solutions are always compatible and that you have the most recent technology available.
Are you ready to implement Salesforce with Nimble AMS?
There are countless reasons why Nimble AMS and Salesforce are the perfect combination for associations. For more detailed information about the Salesforce platform, read The Associations’ Guide to All Things Salesforce. You’ll also gain insight into three questions to ask when selecting Salesforce-based association technology. For more information, download our whitepaper to discover five Salesforce clouds associations use.
