Blog: Wes’s thoughts, articles, and insights

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My most recent posts

Data management is improvisation

By Wes Trochlil | September 16, 2026

Data management is improvisation I was listening to a podcast recently featuring TV writer Rob Long. During the podcast he said (I’m paraphrasing) that, in order to be successful, one needs to learn to improvise, because nothing in life ever goes as planned. One of my favorite sayings is, “If you want to make God […]

Who own the AMS company is like the weather…

By Wes Trochlil | September 9, 2026

Who own the AMS company is like the weather… When I work with clients to find a new AMS, one of the most common questions I get is: “Is the software company owned by private equity or is it privately owned?” While I think this is a legitimate question to ask and have answered, it […]

“As good or better than me.”

By Wes Trochlil | September 2, 2026

“As good or better than me.” I was recently speaking with a software developer working on AI and we were discussing using natural language querying in an AMS. I told him, “The biggest challenge you face is that the first time the AI is wrong, staff will never use it again.” He agreed but then added: “The […]

Documentation is insurance

By Wes Trochlil | August 26, 2026

Documentation is insurance In a conversation with a client about their data management needs, the client pointed out that if they lost one or two key staff members, so much institutional knowledge would go with them that the association would have real difficulty managing their AMS. I recommended that they should document all of their key processes so […]

It all comes down to fundamentals

By Wes Trochlil | August 12, 2026

It all comes down to fundamentals I’m preparing for a webinar that I’m presenting in a couple of weeks, on using data to improve marketing and communications. This is a presentation (in one form or another) that I’ve made for nearly 20 years, and it includes an excellent case study of one association that dramatically improved their […]

Older Posts

CRM Continues to Disappoint…and here's why

February 5, 2008

"CRM Continues to Disappoint" says the headline of this article on SearchCRM.com. In a nutshell, the companies that were surveyed […]

When is "Good Enough" Good Enough?

January 29, 2008

My friend and colleague Rob Pitzer at the Smithsonian Institution asked me a great question: "How do you deal with the […]

Great New Book Published by ASAE

January 24, 2008

Just received my copy of the book Membership Essentials from ASAE. The book is a collection of writings by association […]

Hot IT Trends for 2008 – The BI Buzz

January 22, 2008

SearchCIO-midmarket.com has a list of five hot IT trends for 2008, and surprise, surprise, business intelligence is on the list. […]

The rule of 100 and 1000

January 17, 2008

One of the steps during the database implementation process is data conversion. Part of the data conversion process is identifying which […]

Why you can't eliminate dupes

January 15, 2008

I’ll frequently hear from my clients and other database managers, “Our members keep creating duplicate records of themselves, rather than […]

About This Blog

January 11, 2008

This weblog is focused on the association management system (AMS) software market. The objective of this blog is to provide […]

Establishing a Users Group

January 11, 2008

Anyone who has heard me speak about database management systems knows that I’m a big fan of users groups. One […]

NTEN's CRM Satisfaction Survey is Released

January 7, 2008

I recently received a copy of NTEN’s CRM Satisfaction survey (you can get your own copy here). Here are my […]

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