Data management is very often tedious work. It's important, but it's tedious, and can also be time-consuming. And any time staff spends on managing data is time they are not spending on higher value activities like interacting directly with members, creating new programs and benefits, and so on.

So here are three ways to make data management less tedious and time-consuming:

1. Automate every task you can. Whether it's uploading data from other sources, sending out post-event communications, or onboarding new members, find ways to automate those processes so it doesn't require as much manual labor.
2. Change your processes to make them less labor intensive. This might include automation but may also include combining or eliminating steps in a process, or pushing more of the work to the member/customer.
3. Stop doing that! Most of the clients I've worked with over the past 25 years have been collecting data they never actually use, either out of inertia ("we used that data years ago but not anymore") or because it's really just "interesting" data that doesn't change how the association behaves. Stop collecting and managing data. you're not actually using!

Remember: The less time you put into the manual work of managing data, the more time your staff has to focus on higher value activities!