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

Be careful with phased implementations

April 30, 2015

A phased implementation is one where, at go-live, only certain critical functionality is available to staff and customers. For example, […]

Whether you know or it or not, you already have a data governance policy in place

April 29, 2015

In August at the ASAE Annual Meeting, I’ll be presenting a session on Data Governance along with Deb Hangar, ASAE’s […]

Do you have a "sandbox" environment?

April 24, 2015

When we were kids, the sandbox was the place you could play, and build things, and knock them down and […]

"The board never knows how hard we work."

April 23, 2015

When I work with my clients on their data management issues (especially when choosing a new AMS), I’ll ask them […]

It's the member's "story"

April 21, 2015

When I work with clients on their data management systems, one of the most common requests I get is that […]

Don't miss this important educational event

April 20, 2015

For senior leaders of learning (associations that market and sell continuing education and professional development), you won’t want to miss […]

Profound data analytics may be in the most mundane places

April 17, 2015

At Personifest earlier this week I got to hear Rick Smolan speak on the Human Face of Big Data. Among […]

Some additional thoughts on Personifest

April 16, 2015

Personifest wrapped up yesterday, and while I wasn’t able to attend all three days, I did get to see the […]

Don’t forget about the people

April 14, 2015

In my speeches, my writing, and my work with clients, I often talk about the three key elements of people, […]

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