MemberSuite

Pros

A competitive advantage MemberSuite has over other providers is the flexibility of its API and ability to integrate with other systems and its ability to customize fields and data import/exports to manage data. This makes the system scalable and allows for a more customized fit to meet business processes of the organization, while staying on a core product.

Cons

MemberSuite knows it cannot be a one-size fits all or one-stop-shop for what dedicated systems provide, which is why integrations are important; however, there is basic functionality in the finance and marketing modules that if given a little more love could be decent baseline modules without the additional brute-force staff time it takes to make them operate efficiently.

Pros

The reporting tools are the best I've ever used: it's incredibly easy to filter and tune reports towards exactly what you need for any given data set. Customizing your database's back end towards your needs is really easy and makes the system incredibly versatile. Users have reported a much better experience with membersuite than our old database, particularly in terms of online purchasing and event registration.

Cons

The lack of a spreadsheet import can be a hindrance. Also, there's no way to copy merchandise or most other objects in the system, which would be really helpful when creating a lot of inventory.

Pros

Their sales pitch is good. There are a lot of ways to customize the software and, for the right association with a very complex organization is can be customized to be a great tool.

Cons

This expensive software is sold as a "one stop shop" solution, but many of the features do not work well or are no longer supported. For instance, we were told that the built in CRM was great and just like Salesforce or dynamics with an outlook plugin. But there is no pipeline, no way to track communications with members, and the plugin for outlook is no longer supported/

Several things we were told would be rolling out with new versions have not happened and it has been over a year. I was interviewed about a new UX several times in late 2016 and early 2017, but there has been no change to the tool.

At the 2016 conference, new analytics features were announced and a lot of hype was made. But when these were released, they were for an additional cost, which would almost double the annual software cost.

Our implementation was terrible and we are still finding things that do not work or were set up incorrectly. Despite walking through billing runs and discussing renewal emails, this was never set up and took more than 5 hours of customer support and paid training to get set up because it is so convoluted.

Lastly, members complain because it is not intuitive or easy for them to use.

Pros

The software is easy to use. The training went well and we are able to self manage our entire database and customer relationships with a very small staff. The reporting package is good and getting better and there is a new layer of reporting software that provides even more granular information.

Cons

We came on the system at a time of significant growth at Membersuite and they were challenged to keep up with us and all the other new clients. Their culture has improved from a developer driven mentality to a customer facing mentality and that change, while welcome, has taken 24 months.

Pros

It is intuitive to use. There are links and instructions all over the software to help you navigate and get the informaiton you need. Additonally, any information your organization puts in the AMS can be pulled out in reports. This was not the case in our previous software.

Cons

There are reports included with the AMS and they are very helpful but they don't inlcude exaclty the information we'd like to see. We have been able to create reports to pull the information the way we want. However, I believe MemberSuite is working to make these reports more customizable.