Wes’s Wednesday Wisdom

Be careful about getting tangled “We had done a lot to tangle ourselves up.” – Bridget Walsh, Chief Operating Officer at Emergency Nurses Association In a discussion at AMS Fest this week, this is how Bridget Walsh characterized what their AMS of 17+ years looked like as they worked to move from their legacy system to a […]

Discipline. Always discipline. I’ve been producing a newsletter in some form for over 25 years now. I’ve found that certain topics are evergreen; they come up all the time and I feel compelled to write about them again and again. One of those topics is discipline. A quick search of my blog posts shows I’ve

Simpler is better Recently, a client of mine was discussing how they manage membership reinstatements. For example, if a member doesn’t renew within the grace period, is dropped from membership, and then rejoins in less than a year from dropping, are they called a new member, a renewed member, or a reinstatement? After several minutes

Baby Steps A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step. You have to walk before you run. Baby steps. Just do it. How do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time. (My personal favorite.) My clients often lament how overwhelming it can be to think about cleaning up their data.

Sometimes what you’re using IS the best option I love technology and I’m inherently lazy, so I love it when technology can do the work for me. But sometimes, there is no technology to do the task at hand, or the technology is too expensive or “too big” for the job. For example, I was

Do they hate the system? When an association asks me for help finding a new AMS, I always ask if there’s any chance the association would be interested in keeping their current system (perhaps upgrading it to the latest version). Fixing what you have is almost always less expensive and less disruptive than implementing a

Artificial Intelligence is the next revolution in data management I’ve been in the data management business for over 35 years now (and even longer if you count my days in 4-H!). And over those years I’ve seen many examples of what was supposed to be “the next revolution in data management.” In my opinion, there have

There’s always gonna be something I’ve been consulting for 26 years now and I’m still sometimes surprised to learn that no matter how much due diligence you do, you’ll still miss things. Case in point: Working with a client recently on a system conversion, we discovered that the new system placed Puerto Rico, Guam, and

Eyes wide open and affirmative decision-making When I work with my clients on any type of project, whether it’s selection of a new system or improving data management within the organization, I always emphasize one thing: When we make decisions, we want to make them with eyes wide open. What I mean is this: Any

Honoring an industry legend I’m taking a break from my usual data management tips to acknowledge the passing of an industry legend. Last week, Loretta DeLuca, CEO of DelCor, passed away. For those of you who didn’t know Loretta, she was the CEO of DelCor, an IT consulting firm, that has served the association market for