As the owner of an AMC that embraced technology early on, I have witnessed changes to technology firsthand. Having a website and sending eblasts has gone from being “on the fringes” for those bold enough, to being a necessary part of everyday work. Without a website, an organization might as well not exist.
Despite all the advances, the technology is not perfect. There are glitches, and some of them are very difficult to resolve.
Boards often have an idealized and distorted view of what management can and cannot do. Management can operate the systems correctly, post items in a timely way, call tech support for the website platform, keep sites updated – all things we can control.
There are things that management can’t keep from happening or fix. Boards have no way of knowing what we can and cannot deal with effectively on our own. So it is understandable that they may grow impatient.
Most associations use an AMS for their database, eblasts and members-only sites. Sometimes these platforms go down completely. We can’t fix that any more than we can restore electricity when the power goes out.
Most of the things that go wrong are not that black and white. They are in the gray zone. Something will work perfectly for most people, but not everyone.
Why? Consider the variables.
Is the person viewing the message or site on a phone, tablet, desktop?
Is it the latest upgrade or perhaps four upgrades back?
Then there are the browsers. Is it Chrome, Safari or Edge? Which version are they using? An older version might not work right.
Or the problem might be the person’s settings on their device. Maybe they checked the box that blocks photos. Or perhaps they have the display magnified and things are not showing up as they should. Maybe their employer has installed firewalls designed to block bulk emails.
Maybe it is a problem with the AMS. Even they may not be able to fix the problem quickly.
I have come to understand the complexity of problems of this type. We try to deal with each issue as it comes along and troubleshoot each discrepancy. The fewer the number of people who are experiencing a problem, the harder it will be to find the root cause of the problem.
Sometimes we get comfortable and confident, and then out of the blue we have an issue. Board members sometimes assume that if one person has a problem, everyone else will too. It is very demoralizing to management team members to be pressured to “fix it” immediately – as if we could.
I encourage everyone to accept that with so many variables, we need to keep our good humor, rather than look for someone to blame.
Management will do their best to get each issue resolved, but it is not easy. We must accept that technology is wonderful, but it is not perfect.
