Blog: Wes’s thoughts, articles, and insights

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My most recent posts

Why bother with a consultant when I have AI?

By Wes Trochlil | October 14, 2026

Why bother with a consultant when I have AI? As AI becomes increasingly powerful, the value of using an AMS selection consultant (and many other types of consultants!) starts to come into question. After all, with very well-constructed prompts and responses, an association could develop a very solid needs analysis and RFP that could be used to […]

Guardrails can be helpful!

By Wes Trochlil | October 7, 2026

Guardrails can be helpful! When selecting a new AMS, I find my clients are often very tempted by custom software or “platform” systems (e.g., built on Salesforce or MS Dynamics) because these systems are infinitely configurable. After all, if I can make the system do anything I want, that’s a good thing, right? Well, maybe. In […]

“If you knew this information, what might you do differently?”

By Wes Trochlil | September 30, 2026

“If you knew this information, what might you do differently?” I had a conversation with a client recently about developing KPIs, reports, and queries from their forthcoming data warehouse. My client said: “We have a ton of requests for KPIs and reports. How do we determine which to focus on first?” My response: “When someone requests a dashboard […]

Showing is not teaching

By Wes Trochlil | September 23, 2026

Showing is not teaching In my experience, when new staff members are taught how to use their AMS (or LMS, CMS, FMS, etc.) they aren’t really taught how to use the system, they are shown how to use it. So what’s the difference? In a nutshell, showing only covers the “how” and “what.” But teaching […]

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 […]

Older Posts

New Article Posted – The Cycle of Doom vs. the Cycle of Virtue

May 19, 2016

It is said that if an organization is not growing, it is dying. In other words, there is no such […]

Things change during a project

May 2, 2016

When I work with my clients on implementing a new software system, one of the first things I tell them […]

Effective vs. efficient

April 29, 2016

Often my clients will tell me they want to be more efficient with how they manage data. And that’s important. […]

Sometimes it's really NOT the software that is the problem

April 27, 2016

I once met with a potential client who was seeking a new database. In a conversation with the executive director, she […]

The fallacy of "sunk cost"

April 22, 2016

As we all know, a sunk cost is a cost that has already been incurred and cannot be recovered. A […]

Do you have a test database?

April 21, 2016

A test database is a more-or-less exact copy of your live/production database environment. I often refer to this as a “sandbox” because the […]

Interactions, not just transactions

April 20, 2016

Working with a client last week on their selection of a new AMS, I was again reminded of how important […]

New Article Posted – It's time to get rid of the membership grace period

April 18, 2016

I started my career as a membership assistant at a trade association. We had 500 organizational members, and dues renewals […]

Significant changes at Personify

April 5, 2016

I had the opportunity to meet recently with Marc Bernstein and Andre Pavovlic from Personify. Marc is Vice President & […]

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