|
For most membership organizations, future success or even survival will depend on their ability to leverage technology in order to enhance, extend and personalize their members' experiences. The reality today is that new competitors vying for association "customers" are popping up everywhere, enabled through the use of technology. Furthermore, the market for new members is increasingly comprised of a generation of individuals and companies who view technology and online tools as essential in conducting their business.
SmithBucklin offers unmatched technology resources and integrated
e-business solutions that help client organizations:
- Create new member/chapter products and services
- Generate new revenue sources
- Improve customer service
- Capture, package and manage intellectual capital
- Streamline operations
- Enhance marketing and communications
- Become easier "to do business with"
- Support strategic initiatives
Our strength is that we are able to combine intimate working knowledge of associations, substantial investments in technology infrastructure, tools, applications, and methodologies, and a talented in-house staff of technology specialists to deliver focused, meaningful and cost-effective solutions.
Whether you need simple and fast - yet effective - Web solutions or a robust, integrated technology platform, our Information Technology Services team offers a comprehensive suite of products and services to support our client organizations' current and evolving technology requirements, including:
Association Management System
Integrated E-Business Solutions
Web Services
Onsite Technology Solutions
We invite you to contact Walt Tracy and his team in order to learn how SmithBucklin is helping client organizations with their Web and technology needs.
Association Management System - The "Foundation" Approach
SmithBucklin provides client organizations with a solid technology foundation using the iMIS® Association Management System. The system is a true end-to-end solution and supports a complete set of functions including:
- Membership data management
- Activity tracking
- Committees management
- Dues management
- Customer relationship management
- Accounts receivable
- Meetings management
- Chapter management
- General ledger interface
- Credit card processing
- Order entry/inventory control
- Certification processing
- Custom reporting
Our award-winning iMIS® solutions draw upon a unique combination of leading-edge information technology with efficient back-office systems and easy-to-use Web interfaces. Since 1999, SmithBucklin has maintained a strategic partnership with Advanced Solutions International (www.advsol.com), the developers of iMIS® software. Our company has invested more than $1.5 million in our own iMIS® systems. Our experience implementing these solutions for more than 200 organizations has given us the knowledge, skills and proven processes to successfully implement, manage, support and power the technology needs of our client organizations.
Integrated E-Business Solutions
Many associations have evolved toward using two or more databases to meet divergent business needs. Sometimes the membership database contains operational information such as registration data and member statistics, while a separate Web site database houses marketing and member benefits information such as conference information and communications pieces. As an organization grows, these databases naturally progress in different directions, leading to costlier systems that do not communicate with each other.
SmithBucklin avoids this problem by building integrated Web solutions upon the iMIS® foundation. Through this approach, SmithBucklin clients operate with end-to-end, enterprise-wide database systems. Through SmithBucklin's foundation and single database approach, client organizations make it easier for their members to do business with them. Using the Internet as the primary delivery mechanism for information and member benefits, SmithBucklin clients also leverage iMIS® Web capabilities to allow member self-service functionality, personalized content and seamless integration with back-office tools used by association staff.
The iMIS® e-Series modules provide simple, easy-to-use, integrated tools that operate through the organization's Web site. With a complete e-Series solution in addition to the iMIS® back-office solution, associations and their members can reap the following capabilities and benefits:
- Member self service, including retrieving passwords, verifying and updating contact, credentials and billing information
- Online searchable membership directory
- Real-time online credit card processing
- Ability of non-technical staff to publish information on the web
- Full e-commerce capabilities allowing members to purchase products, conference registrations and services with an easy-to-use shopping cart interface
- Community building allowing document sharing, forums and news; ideal for committees, special interest groups, and other communities of interest
- Different security levels enabling non-members to browse and select products and events, or apply and pay for new membership in the association
All information submitted through the e-Series flows into and updates the association's database in real time. Therefore, association staffs often reap as much benefit from e-Series as Web site visitors, saving enormous amounts of time otherwise spent on transferring information to and from the Web database and back-office database.
Web Services
Site Design - SmithBucklin has developed dozens of second- and third-generation site redesigns just in the past two years. We understand that a visually pleasing and highly functional site is important to keep visitors engaged and convert them into active members.
Our design experience is unique in that we understand and demonstrate that a well-designed Web site does not end with the launch of a new look and feel. We build Web sites that are visually pleasing the day they launch, while being able to accommodate the growing communities, programs, and communications needs of a dynamic association.
Site Development - SmithBucklin Web Services includes a wealth of internal experts who understand the intricacies of managing associations, organizations and their events on the Internet. We have built a unique set of Internet products and services that cater specifically to the needs of the association, conference, trade show and allied industries. Our expertise building database-driven, interactive Web sites enables associations to reengineer their business operations for greater efficiency, increasing return on investment and enhancing member value.
Site Hosting - SmithBucklin's network draws on the strengths of Microsoft® Windows 2000® to provide clients with industry-leading technologies. Internet hosting services are provided for static page hosting, as well as interactive content, dynamic database access and e-commerce packages. As a managed Web services provider, SmithBucklin utilizes the latest software and hardware to provide an optimum hosting environment.
Hosting service features include:
- 24/7 customer/technical support
- Site statistics/online traffic reporting
- 24/7 server availability
- Server availability reporting via Web or email
- FTP access
- Facilities management
- 24/7 server/network monitoring
- Nightly backup and disaster recovery
- Secure server hosting through 128-bit encryption
- Shared servers for HTML documents, database applications, email applications and other interactive elements
- Co-located server hosting option
Web-In-A-Box - SmithBucklin's Web-In-A-Box (WIAB) offers client organizations a simple, quick, cost-effective solution for creating a robust Web site, providing a suite of the most critical online tools necessary for a meaningful, valuable Web presence. WIAB combines a dozen powerful tools to help streamline and simplify Web site management.
Associations can use WIAB as a single, turnkey solution, or use it as a foundation tool for integration within a larger Web site. Each particular tool within the WIAB includes WYSIWYG (i.e. "what-you-see-is-what-you-get") administrative functionality, allowing most information updates to be handled by staff members without technical coding expertise.
Some of the features and functionality of WIAB include:
- Nine standard design templates and a custom-built look-and-feel option, including unique "design-on-the-fly" feature
- Dynamic drop-down menus, rollover bars, and "breadcrumbs" for easy navigation
- Dynamic Member Center featuring member self-service functions and real-time directories
- Community-building applications and tools
- Affiliate manager application allowing chapter and related organizations their own easy-to-update Web sites and pages on the sponsor association's Web site
- Polls and surveys
- News feeds
- Content updating tools
Please contact us to learn how our full-service management capabilities can benefit your organization.
|
