Keeping up with your members' needs is the most important function of your organization. With countless membership records to deal with for everything ranging from new member registration to new member accolades, you should always be seeking to find better ways to manage your records. Here is how you can start enhancing your membership record management capabilities right now:
Prepare to manage your records while on the go
Sometimes, you may need to go on the road to support your members in an endeavor. This means loading your vehicle up with every single membership record that is relevant for what you are doing. Even if you are only supporting one or two members, this paperwork can fill up your entire car. Instead of trying to compile and pile up such a hefty load of paperwork all at once, prepare yourself beforehand by bringing digital records with you instead.
Create ways to find the necessary member information more quickly
Sifting through paperwork to find a single member record is time consuming – and not always successful. You can find member records more quickly by indexing everything by not only member name, but also by date and category. This task is made much easier when you are using digital member records instead of paper ones.
Invest in solutions to protect member information
Your members' privacy matters. Having paperwork with volumes of information about your members creates a huge potential for a possible breach in member privacy. Paper records can only be secured with something as simple as a lock, but you can do better than this. Digital files can be protected not only at the physical access point, but they can also be encrypted so that only those authorized to access them are able to.
How to access the tools you need to better manage your membership records
Chances are that you have anywhere from a few years to over a century's worth of membership records on paper already. Fortunately, you can convert all of your membership records to digital file format without a great deal of trouble. All you need to do is take the following three steps:
1. Have your records converted
The key to converting a large volume of paper records to digital files is to not handle the process on your own. Instead, hire a trained professional who knows how to seamlessly convert any number of documents in a secure fashion.
2. Make your digital records more manageable
An unorganized set of digital records is almost as difficult to manage as an organized set of paper records. You do not have to file your digital documents one by one in order to organize them. Instead, invest in document management software. This will allow you to quickly organize your member records. Some document management software solutions also provide you with access to cloud storage, so that you can access your membership records while on the go.
3. Prepare to convert future records
Although you are phasing paper out to make managing your members' records, this doesn't mean that you should act as if paper, microfilm and other physical storage mediums no longer exist. Some members and affiliates will want to provide paper records; you should be capable of accepting these. For this, you will need a high-quality scanner and scanning software. Together, these will convert paper to digital files and extract the information therein for integration into your database.
Managing your membership records does not have to be overwhelming
Enhance your ability to manage your members' records by investing in and implementing the right technological tools for the job.