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In today’s fast-paced digital landscape, associations and member organizations are under pressure to find approaches that are more agile and more efficient. Many haven’t explored or fully adopted low-code solutions yet, but it’s past time they should. Low-code solutions have many benefits, like making it easier for organizations to streamline work, cutting down on the amount of technical debt, and helping associations grow sustainably, scaling up operations the right way.
In this post, you’ll learn:
- The benefits of low-code AMS
- The truth about some common misconceptions
- How a low-code AMS can change the way your association works
Benefits of Low-Code AMS Solutions
Let’s get started by evaluating the benefits a low-code AMS solution can create for your association.
1. Rapid Deployment
Association management systems are complex and far-reaching, handling numerous aspects of an association’s data and workflows. As a result, configuring and deploying these systems have typically been extremely resource-intensive, expensive processes. Then, after a traditional AMS is deployed, making changes is equally challenging. Associations end up needing significant developer support as new or changed functionality must be hard-coded into the system.
In contrast, a low-code AMS can be deployed quickly and modified without significant technical debt. Associations need the ability to adjust features quickly and add new capabilities with minimal coding, and low-code AMS enables exactly these types of capabilities. The result is faster time to deployment and quicker implementation of updates and changes.
Low-code software also enables associations to work in phases, starting with a minimum viable product (MVP) and then expanding in phases. This approach allows for a more workable and less imposing implementation process, and more cost-effective and efficient than traditional software that must be developed and integrated with extensive code.
2. Improvements to Technical Debt
Next we need to talk about technical debt, a term that covers the complexity and cost of future work based on an organization’s current technical configuration. Associations tend to have significant technical debt because their existing systems are cobbled together using legacy technology, outdated systems, complex custom-coded software, and so on. The cost of making nearly any change is deemed too high, not because that change should cost so much, but because it will cost so much thanks to the tangled web of problems and inefficiencies already in place.
Low-code solutions lower technical debt in a couple of ways. First, they avoid adding to technical debt because they themselves aren’t all that technical to integrate. Second, they replace some of the functions and tools contributing to the current level of technical debt. By plugging in a pre-built low-code function, associations can essentially throw out the legacy tool or extensive code that previously provided that function.
Custom-coded solutions tend to be more difficult to keep up to date, and they face the constant risk of obsolescence. Member expectations change as the technology available in broader business changes. Custom code can lock an association into its current way of operating, leaving it unable to respond with agility when the market demands.
3. Lower Barriers to Building and Customizing
Low-code AMS removes some of the gatekeeping or barriers that tend to exist in software and system development. In traditional workflows, silos build up between development teams (and/or vendors) and the rest of the organization. Non-technical personnel (say, from business development or constituent services) may know what the association’s needs are, but there’s a gap between them and technical development personnel.
In contrast, non-technical personnel are more able to participate in building and customizing a low-code solution. Greater inclusion during development and deployment leads to more effective final results where all relevant perspectives can weigh in and collaborate.
Why does this matter? Because organizations that involve non-technical stakeholders in the development process can make sure that the solutions they create really meet the needs of their members. This collaborative approach invites innovative, outside the box ideas that likely wouldn’t have surfaced in a traditional development environment.
4. Greater Flexibility Through Open APIs
Low-code AMS solutions also provide greater flexibility thanks to open APIs. This enhanced API integration provides a simpler, more flexible architecture where associations and organizations can more easily connect all their systems and third-party services.
Open APIs mean that software providers can create pre-built connectors that help associations and organizations link tools and systems, sharing data across platforms. Minimal coding is required to link these APIs, making it easier for organizations to make changes without the need to call in outside developers for complex coding.
Open APIs also help associations flex and pivot as new tools and solutions become available. The technology landscape is always evolving, and next year’s “best solution out there” may not exist today. Positioning your association to pivot quickly in a fast-paced, constantly changing world helps you maintain your agility and responsiveness.
One last comment on greater flexibility: technology isn’t the only thing that changes over time. The size, scope, and emphases of your association can and do change. Regulatory requirements may change as well. For both of these areas, a flexible low-code AMS allows you to continue modifying your tech stack as your needs (both internal and external) change.
5. Improved Scalability for Future Growth and Readiness
A low-code AMS is inherently scalable because it’s tailor-made for change. In fact, this scalability may be the most compelling reason for an association to choose low-code.
Here’s an example. Say your association wants to launch a new certification program, one that for whatever reason cannot be a carbon copy workflow from an existing program. With a hard-coded AMS, you simply cannot add a new type of program without significant developer effort and expense, and doing so may continue building that technical debt.
But with a low-code AMS, adding a new certification program would be as simple as working from a pre-built module to add the features and workflow steps needed for the new program. Most associations can do this in-house without significant expense or timelines going to development.
Low-code platforms are also built with scale in mind because they have to work just as well for the platform’s largest customers as for their smallest. If your association is on a growth trajectory, choosing a low-code platform gives you the headroom to grow, handling more data and traffic without a loss in performance. A custom solution might not.
Debunking Myths Surrounding Traditional and Low-Code AMS Solutions
A number of myths surround the idea of switching to a low-code AMS. It’s time to put these myths to rest.
Myth 1: Traditional AMS Gives Immediate Business Process Improvement
Providers who sell traditional AMS software will often tout business process improvement as if it’s automatic and immediate. Truth be told, any high-quality AMS will help improve processes — eventually. The real questions are how quickly and how much.
The majority of legacy AMS options are built with one or two industry types in mind. If your association fits that “ideal user” profile, then the benefits are likely to be significant. But these aren’t one-size-fits-all solutions, and too often they force user organizations to conform their processes to the software, rather than the other way around. To use such solutions with existing processes requires complex, costly customization (which again carries both an opportunity cost and technical debt).
It’s a little like wearing a glove made for someone else, or (to stretch the analogy) one made for some alien species: it may work to a degree, but it just doesn’t feel like a good fit.
Low-code software, on the other hand, is built with flexibility and adaptability in view. Organizations can configure the solution they need without adding tons of complexity or custom code. Organizations can build their platform around their processes, rather than the other way around.
Myth 2: Over 90% Out-of-the-Box (OOTB) Functionality
Another myth frequently suggested by those selling traditional AMS solutions is that those solutions really are almost plug-and-play: you may hear claims that over 90% of functionality is ready to go as soon as the system gets installed. The theory behind this is that most associations share broadly the same exact business requirements.
In our experience, this isn’t a sound claim: there are differences, often significant ones, that just don’t look the same for every association. And that brings us back to the central problem with the legacy approach: these solutions are rigid and hard-coded, so making changes is often prohibitively complex. Associations that need adjustments end up incurring significant development time and cost, and the “simple out-of-the-box solution” starts looking a lot less simple.
Low-code here again is simply more flexible. It’s far easier to adapt existing functions and add new ones that fit your association’s specific needs, not a software maker’s interpretation of what everyone’s generic need looks like.
Myth 3: Scalability of the Platform Equals Scalability of the Application
This myth is about low-code solutions specifically: it’s true that every quality low-code platform is already inherently scalable. But that doesn’t mean every application built on that platform is instantly, inherently scalable.
Choosing the right provider is key here, and so are the decisions an association makes during initial configuration and setup. An application — even one built on a low-code platform — must be built with scalability in view so that associations can easily accommodate growth and change down the road.
