What does CSAE use Wicket for?
What integrations do they use?
The Canadian Society of Association Executives (CSAE) is committed to enhancing the careers of association and not-for-profit professionals.
Delivering the knowledge, resources and environment to help association professionals grow, CSAE is laser-focused on giving its members exactly what they need.
“For us, what’s critical is delivering on our mission. We’re here to connect people and create an environment that helps associations do the work they need to do on behalf of the Canadian population,” explains Danielle Lamothe, Vice President, Learning and Innovation.
As the ‘association of associations,’ CSAE has to lead by example, offering compelling educational and networking programs while also conducting research, providing information and resources, and pursuing other innovative methods to help members learn and excel.
Before Wicket
Finding themselves struggling with outdated technology, CSAE knew it was time to re-evaluate some of the more significant components of their member’s experience: their website and membership management system. The central dilemma that spurred CSAE into action was its content management system. With a capable team who wanted the flexibility to manage their own website, the lack of self-service on their website just wasn’t serving their needs any longer.
“Our content management options were minimal, and we had to pay every time we wanted to update something on our site,” Lamothe describes.
They customized their AMS a lot, which left them with a lot of workarounds that didn’t meet their needs or expectations. Inevitably, their previous solution had become too cumbersome to meet their requirements efficiently.
Finding the right solution
CSAE started the process of updating their tech stack by thoroughly mapping out their requirements with a consultant who helped them identify 150 priorities for their new membership management and website solution.
Knowing what they needed also allowed CSAE to easily identify the kinds of solutions that fell outside of their requirements. The built-in modules in large AMS solutions had posed challenges and the modules hadn’t lived up to the features and intuitive user experience that best-in-class software could offer. They already had an established set of best-in-class tools, including Higher Logic, Pheedloop, and Moodle that they loved and wanted to keep using.
What impact has Wicket made?
Website updates were time-consuming and costly because they had to be outsourced
Before WicketCSAE are empowered to make website updates themselves using their favourite, intuitive tools
After WicketA better way
After comparing their options, CSAE found their way to Wicket. Needing a very flexible and intuitive solution that they could manage themselves without the help of developers, Wicket was the perfect fit. Because Wicket integrates seamlessly with other software, CSAE could use the tools they love while still maintaining a member database as their single source of truth.
Since switching to Wicket, CSAE is already enjoying flexibility. On the day Wicket and their new website launched, they realized they needed to organize a virtual event to respond to the quickly developing COVID-19 crisis to help keep their members informed. Deciding on Thursday that the event needed to happen, they were able to set up the event marketing, registration, and a repository for questions all before successfully hosting the event the following Tuesday. Empowering their staff to achieve this level of greatness was what CSAE was hoping for when assessing potential solutions.
Q: What advice would you give another association who is currently looking for a new member management solution?
“We worked with a consultant to help us identify all our business requirements. We really knew our priorities, so we could drive the conversation with potential vendors. It really gave us the confidence in the decision we made and helped us evaluate one solution over another.”