Best Practices

By Tracy Utterback | February 3, 2022

Salesforce is constantly releasing new features and updates to their platform. The Spring '22 Release is no different, with a ton of new features to...

By Carol Hamilton | December 8, 2021

Most people think of strategic planning as a marathon 8- or 10-hour or 2-day retreat. You process lots of information, discuss, debate and...

By Alan Luo | October 14, 2021

Comparing data between systems is necessary for businesses that are looking to migrate, adjust or back up data. The issue, however, is that data...

By Komal Chauhan | September 30, 2021

In Salesforce Pardot - a very popular marketing automation tool among associations - personalization is an out-of-the-box feature. Pardot uses...

By Manav Kher | September 16, 2021

Most organizations today deploy a “best-of-breed” infrastructure, meaning that they use the best software that solves a specific business problem...

By Sanket Khare | July 22, 2021

As an Association or nonprofit, you likely rely heavily upon your members paying by Visa, MasterCard, AMEX, and Discover for membership dues,...

By Janel Carpenter | July 12, 2021

The technology ecosystem has grown significantly since I started my career. There are stunning examples of what we can do with data and the right...

By Noel Shatananda | April 1, 2021

You are live, have gone through the go live challenges, and have worked on the other phases whereby the implementation project can be closed. What...

By Meghan Durbin | March 30, 2021

When I joined fusionSpan almost a year ago, I joined the IT consulting world, which was different from the association world where I had been for the...

By Noel Shatananda | March 18, 2021

Your organization has put countless hours of work and research into your new AMS, and now it is time to introduce it to members and stakeholders.

By Noel Shatananda | March 4, 2021

The end of Your AMS Journey is in sight - you have undergone testing and training, and are now ready to prep for launch. In fact, preparing for go...

By Amine Zerrouki | March 2, 2021

Beginning February 1, 2022, Salesforce will require customers to enable Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA) in order to access Salesforce products. In...

By Catherine Matthews | February 23, 2021

Valentine's Day was last week, and at the invitation of my friends here at fusionSpan, I'm popping in to share a few thoughts about my one true love...

By Noel Shatananda | February 18, 2021

Your organization has been hard at work throughout the implementation and data conversion phases of the project. The team has made great progress,...

By Noel Shatananda | February 5, 2021

Data conversion, or data migration, is the task of bringing over relevant data from your legacy system to your new CRM. This is one of the most...

By Noel Shatananda | January 21, 2021

Well, it's time to begin! In Your AMS Journey, Implementation is the execution phase of the whole endeavor. In Step 6 you defined the scope of your...

By Noel Shatananda | December 10, 2020

With the discovery stage complete, you and your staff let out a sigh of relief. The team is happy the implementation is moving along, and members are...

By Noel Shatananda | November 25, 2020

By this stage of Your AMS Journey, you have made all the crucial decisions regarding choosing a new product and implementation partner. With your...

By Noel Shatananda | October 29, 2020

As implementers, we often get asked this question is some shape or form during the AMS Journey. For those following this series in order, we have...

By Manav Kher | October 22, 2020

In today’s age of digital transformation, leveraging data efficiently and effectively is imperative for associations looking to deliver consistent...

By Noel Shatananda | October 16, 2020

As an organization that specializes in AMS support and implementation, we typically step in after the selection of an Association Management System...

By Noel Shatananda | October 1, 2020

Welcome to Your AMS Journey: Selection to Adoption, a blog series presented by fusionSpan. Throughout our work providing consulting, implementation,...

By Justin Burniske | September 24, 2020

In our latest...

By Arden Winner | September 3, 2020

As associations continue to adjust to a socially distanced world, virtual events have become less of a convenience and more of a necessity. It is...

By Stephanie Lovett | August 6, 2020

While the general concept of project management is undoubtedly utilized by associations for key initiatives like events and membership management,...

By Manav Kher | June 26, 2020

Your staff just went through an intensive User Acceptance Testing (UAT) process, and the shiny new website looks and performs as expected. You give...

By Susan Baumbach | June 4, 2020

Last month I celebrated my one-year anniversary at fusionSpan as a Digital Strategy Business Analyst, which resulted in a plethora of celebratory...

By Meghan Durbin | May 28, 2020

As organizations continue to work remotely, most of us are beginning to realize that teleworking is not a short term fad. In fact, the COVID-19...

By Manav Kher | May 13, 2020

As many organizations scramble to make remote work as normal and productive as possible, there is a large focus on the implementation of new tools...

By Pardieu Kapepula | April 30, 2020

The current pandemic has fundamentally transformed the workplace. Remote work is no longer a luxury but for many a basic necessity. For some...

By Noah King | April 16, 2020

You log into your LinkedIn page and see it. Another staff-wide meeting that has been screenshotted and shared. Another team happy hour posted into...

By Susan Baumbach | April 2, 2020

In many marketing systems that fusionSpan audits, there are a number of outdated lists, old email drafts, and unorganized email content. Some of this...

By Rebecca Breeden | March 27, 2020

I’m gonna go out on a limb here and guess that everyone else in the known universe has an inbox burgeoning with COVID-19 email messages ranging...

By Rebecca Breeden | March 19, 2020

Many of you may be grappling with how to keep teams productive, accountable, and engaged as we all adjust to the new normal of fully remote work.

By Adam Hinkel | February 20, 2020

It goes without saying that every clothing company would love for their website to be the first result when a user enters "t-shirts" into their...

By Rebecca Breeden | October 3, 2019

It’s inevitable. In every implementation of a new AMS solution, we eventually come to the question of what information needs to be collected for...

By Justin Burniske | September 13, 2018

Technology tools overwhelm the workplace, but no one discusses how to actually use the tools. Here's 12 Dos and Don’ts of email and calendar...

By Christopher Mudd | August 9, 2018

If you’re reading this, you are somewhat familiar with Salesforce and maybe even its groups construct. Essentially, a group is a group of users...

By Justin Burniske | May 17, 2018

As with any good booth, we had giveaways! And not those pens that leak in your bag. We looked to, “grow new partnerships” with clients and...

By Rebecca Achurch | November 8, 2017

Your work communication style typically refers to the way you communicate. For example, are you a more direct or indirect communicator?

By Justin Burniske | October 12, 2017

Too often new technology is introduced to an organization at great cost without addressing the strategic purpose or plan for the tool. This results...

By Justin Burniske | May 2, 2017

“OMG – what is that smell?” Nothing seems to bring a company to its knees like a terrible smell in the office refrigerator. Within...

By Justin Burniske | March 7, 2017

You know what’s no fun? Chores. They are what you might call a, “necessary evil.” One of the hardest transitions in life is when you first...

By Justin Burniske | September 29, 2016

With many millennials having challenges finding the right work opportunities, associations are uniquely positioned to support them by offering...

By Justin Burniske | November 5, 2015

At this point everyone will agree that software systems have permeated all areas of business. From HR to Marketing to Accounting to Customer...

By Justin Burniske | July 23, 2015

API: Application Programming Interface. A vague phrase that offers little insight if you’re not a computer science major, yet if you’ve...