Associations are a Mission. Are you able to focus on yours?

Worrying is Unproductive

Because working for an Association is a matter of heart, you may find yourself wearing many hats in order to keep salaries in check and operating expenses low. And while some of these responsibilities may fit well with your skills and day-to-day priorities, you also know there are some that don’t.

One of the areas that challenge many associations is Information Technology (IT). While your IT infrastructure may not be huge or complex, you may still find yourself worrying about uptime, data security, disaster planning, compliance, or even day-to-day tasks like software patches or updates, computer repairs or replacements, and network performance. Not only can this make you unproductive, but, if you experience IT issues, your staff can become unproductive, and your membership may experience a loss of services.

Ask yourself: Is it in your Association’s best interest to self-manage IT?

For YMCA Canada, Toronto-based Managed IT Services provider XBASE works like a virtual in-house IT department, with expertise in everything from cloud services to software development. According to YMCA’s Rustam Adigamov, staying on top of the latest technology is becoming more and more important to him, and he trusts XBASE to help him stay current with the technology the Association needs to operate. By partnering with XBASE for over 10 years, YMCA Canada gets rapid response to user and technical issues, while receiving “critical advice for system improvements.”

Supplementing your IT Staff

As associations grow, the task of managing IT can sometimes expand beyond the capacity of existing IT staff. Wilkin Hsein, of the Supply Chain Management Association of Canada, knows the story. With over 7500 members, SCMA™ is the primary source of professional development and accreditation in the supply chain management industry in Canada. Wilkin supports over a dozen staff members, provides online access to courses and learning content for the entire membership, and helps prepare the association for its annual national conference. In 2012, SCMA decided it could serve its members more effectively by turning to XBASE to provide fully Managed IT Services. Since then, they’ve added services like a virtual office solution and Voice Over IP (VOIP) phone systems and support.

As Wilkin says, “Outsourcing IT support to XBASE allows me to focus on value-added tasks and not worry about system up-time and performance.” By letting XBASE provide everything from 24/7 user support to data backup and recovery – all for one fixed, monthly fee, Wilkin is able to think and act more strategically about the direction of the SCMA and how to deliver even more value to its members.

Boost your Association’s Productivity

Download the guide “5 Big Ways Managed IT Services Can Boost Your Association’s Productivity” or call XBASE in Toronto at 647-697-7710.