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

Getting buy-in from other users

January 28, 2015

One of the biggest challenges associations face when implementing a new association management system is staff buy-in. How do you get […]

(Even) more transparency from an AMS vendor

January 26, 2015

I’ve written several times about transparency among the AMS vendors, and I received another great example last week from MemberSuite’s […]

Job opening: Data Records Manager

January 14, 2015

A client of mine, National PTA in Alexandria, VA, has created a new position within the organization called “Data Records […]

Data managers vs. data consumers

January 12, 2015

As I work with my clients it becomes clear that there are two “classes” of users when it comes to […]

Start with just ONE idea for database cleaning

January 8, 2015

Are you overwhelmed by the idea of cleaning up your database? Rather than trying to fix it all, focus on […]

More transparency from an AMS vendor

January 7, 2015

I’ve written in the past about the need for more AMS vendors to be transparent about how things are going […]

Lots going on in the AMS world

January 6, 2015

There have been two significant announcements in the AMS world in the past several weeks. First, Timberlake Software was acquired […]

New Article Posted – Importing Data Isn't Always as Simple as it Seems

November 24, 2014

One of the most common requests I hear from my clients is that they want to be able to easily […]

Attending iBEF

November 19, 2014

I recently had the opportunity to attend iBEF, the iMIS Business Excellence Forum. iBEF is hosted by ASI, the makers […]

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