Blog: Wes’s thoughts, articles, and insights

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My most recent posts

Improvement is never linear

By Wes Trochlil | June 10, 2026

Improvement is never linear One of the many lessons one learns over a lifetime is that improvement, regardless of what you’re trying to improve, is never linear. That is, you’ll always have days where you’re better, and days where you don’t improve, or maybe even fall back. And so it is with data management. Even if you […]

Don’t forget to take a “before” picture!

By Wes Trochlil | June 3, 2026

Don’t forget to take a “before” picture! Whenever I start on a big home clean up or renovation project, I like to take a “before” picture, so that I can see the progress that was made when the project is complete. (Ironically, even though I’m the son of an award-winning amateur photographer, I often forget […]

Are you being penny wise and pound foolish?

By Wes Trochlil | May 27, 2026

Are you being penny wise and pound foolish? Two quick customer service stories to illustrate a point: First story: I’ve used the same email provider for more than 20 years. But for technical reasons, recently I needed to switch providers, so I canceled my service with them a few weeks in advance of my renewal. […]

AMS Products are getting better – and what that means for you

By Wes Trochlil | May 20, 2026

AMS Products are getting better – and what that means for you I’ve been working in and with AMS products for 36 years (27 years of consulting, nine years as an association staffer). And I can say with great confidence that the systems available today are much better than they were 36 years ago! (Shocking, I know.) But […]

Using AI beyond content generation

By Wes Trochlil | May 13, 2026

Using AI beyond content generation Recent surveys by ASAE and others suggest nearly 90% of associations are using AI for some type of content generation (e.g., creating blog posts, newsletter articles, “canned” responses to inquiries, etc.). That is great, but when it comes to data management, there are so many more opportunities for leveraging AI. Here are some ideas […]

Older Posts

New articles posted

September 26, 2016

I’ve posted two new articles on my site: Fewer demos are better than more. Find out why here! What can […]

If you have to choose…

August 29, 2016

Choose customer functionality over staff functionality. Because our websites (customer-facing) and databases (staff-facing) are now intertwined and completely integrated, we may […]

Whether it's your fault or not…

August 23, 2016

Always start the conversation by asking “How can I help you with this?” This can be for anything in life, but I […]

What are the most common benefits from implementing a new AMS?

August 8, 2016

On occasion when working with a client during the selection of a new AMS, my client will say something like […]

Retail sets the expectations of your members and customers

August 5, 2016

In my capacity as a consultant to associations, one of the things I do is pay attention to how retail […]

Some things you'll just have to do yourself (i.e., you can't expect your vendor to do it)

August 3, 2016

One of the more common complaints I hear from my clients is that the vendor doesn’t provide enough information about certain […]

Are your vendors backing up your data?

July 27, 2016

One of my favorite aphorisms in data management is “There are those who backup, and those who will.” Once you’ve […]

Which of these resources is most important?

July 25, 2016

I spoke at AAMSE’s annual conference last week, and prior to my session, I got to see Jeffrey Hausfeld of the […]

New Article Posted – 80% is Good Enough

July 20, 2016

In order to be successful with your AMS selection, there are two key points to keep in mind:  No system can […]

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