With those technologies comes data – data from our cell phones, social media sites, climate control systems, electronic transaction records, digital photos and videos, among many other sources. There’s so much data, in fact, that 90 percent of the data in the world today has been created in the last two years.

Associations now have a large amount of complex information available to them, too. Where and how do you gather data about your organization’s members? It is solely from their visits to your association website? What about their behavior in relation to your emails? Or your e-newsletters, conference apps, membership directories? Do you offer continuing education too? Yep, that’s another place to mine for data.

But if your association is going to properly use, manage and maximize the data from these sources – and to take advantage of the opportunities the digital revolution offers — it is going to require your marketing and IT departments to become trusted partners. Neither will be successful without the other – and neither will your association.

Here’s three reasons why:

  1. Members want a seamless user experience. They want to be able to read the details of what’s planned for your annual meeting on their mobile phone, register for it on their desktop and use their tablet to navigate around the conference floor. They expect your digital products to know their preferences and expectations. None of this can be achieved without your marketing department joining forces with your IT department.
  2. Technology has also changed the way members interact with associations – in person, on mobile apps, social media and on the website. You should be able to quickly gather important details about your relationship with your members: When they last attended the annual meeting, when they last called for help with a problem, the subject of the last email they opened from you and what stories or addresses caught their eyes and prompted their clicks. Drill down a bit, and you should be able to find even more useful details. As your IT resources process this information, your personalization efforts with your members become more on-target. Every interaction with them provides you with more insight into how to tend to their needs.
  3. When your marketing and IT departments work together on shared objectives from the start, it can cut down on conflict and delays later. Traditionally, an IT department might be told about the new system or tool the association needs, go off to create or find it on their own, and then come back to the table to be told it isn’t quite right. When marketing and IT work together during the process, systems can be tested and refined along the way. The path way to advancement and digital success is suddenly much smoother!

If you’re ready to create a more collaborative relationship between your marketing and IT teams, .orgSource can help. Take a look at how much we believe in the power of digital transformation, then drop us a line at info@orgsource.com

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