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We are stoked to be here right now! Maybe I should back up a bit – Cloud Generation was born from decades of experience across tech and associations. Our team is small, mighty, and close-knit. We shouldn’t brag but we will for a moment: we know our stuff, and we love this space. We also know it’s filled with smart friends and partners who we’ve relied on at past gigs and projects. We’ve gathered those great minds again for ideas on leveraging new technology to work even better for associations.
How? That’s a great follow-up question, glad you asked. As a close-knit group of overachievers, we really like puzzles. But the puzzle has to have a missing a piece or two – that’s what gets us super jazzed. A missing piece means an opportunity to dig deep into what can fill that spot and finish the job. It means we’re on the lookout for an ideal solution to a specific problem.
The elusive ultimate solution
Some modern tech tools are revolutionary – I’m thinking large-scale across any industry – management systems, marketing automation, community (can’t miss that one!). Others fly under the radar but still serve an integral purpose – a killer integration or better way to analyze large swaths of data.
We are neither of these, which is a great thing. While seemingly oxymoronic, we aim to be both expansive and granular. We’re building solutions to help every corner of your association thrive, in simpler ways and at a fraction of the cost. It sounds bombastic because it kind of is – that’s part of the fun.
To certifications and beyond
We mentioned our smart friends earlier – they’ve been integral to our growth and planning towards bringing these solutions to market. Rather than assume which puzzle pieces were missing without opening the box first, they’ve helped us sort through the pile.
So, what are we building here? Another excellent question, you’re on a roll!
What we’re starting with:
- Learning and education – we’ll help you streamline and manage your program from start to finish, with three standalone applications (ie puzzle pieces) for better achievements tracking (think certifications, certificates, badges), marketing campaigns and workflows, and content delivery. Use one, two, or all three applications – they work even better together.
What we’re planning for:
- Additional pieces include improving other functional areas in marketing, events, member management and retention, and beyond. The key is you can add any of these to improve your systems without breaking the bank (or your existing stack!)
Puzzle metaphors aside, let’s dig into some tenets of what will make these new applications really tick.
Buy it, use it, come back to it later
Any association should be able to improve a program or process without reconfiguring its entire tech stack, right? The key is staying flexible and adaptable, so the focus always remains on the success of that program. Even if it’s a very specific goal – increasing members in your certification renewal pipeline, for example – that also can be highly effective for non-dues revenue or decreased churn. It should be easy and efficient to streamline this. Currently, it’s not.
We’ll help you quickly set up a solution (we’re talking buy, integrate and go here!) that consolidates this certification program into one place for easy member participation, tracking, and completion. Once it’s in motion, the benefits compound: staff efficiency, cleaner data, a smoother process for members, better results. If budgets or priorities change, it should be equally quick and easy to pause or cancel.
Who has time for blank slates?
No matter how much we talk up easy setups, there is still uncertainty and a fear of breaking things. Especially when we consider the intricacies of say, an automated marketing campaign or workflow. What if something breaks, or it doesn’t work?
We hear you – time to template!
If you’re armed with a series of templated emails, messages and workflows already built out and ready for inboxes, then time savings are exponential. The campaign is running well, which leaves you and your team more time for testing, tweaking, and adding more campaigns.
Stay in your lane
What’s often interpreted as negative, combative, or even lazy, we see the old adage, “stay in your lane” as a great strength in keeping focused and productive on the task (or program) at hand. Looking for an LMS to support a large-scale e-learning program? Great, you should definitely invest in an LMS. Is your education department (or credentialing team, or volunteer program…you get it) looking to host continuing education courses online in an easy format for both managing and delivering, that integrates with your existing core systems? That’s where a simple application for learning delivery is key. That’s where we drop another delightful puzzle piece right into your lap.
Keep it simple
Simple solves a lot – for us, it includes affordable, flexible, and easy to use. It doesn’t mean small-scale or trapped in the minutiae. Often the most effective solutions are straightforward, still detail-oriented where it counts, and scalable.
We’ll be releasing our first set of solutions in the coming months and want to continue expanding our field of smart friends who can help associations with some truly cool tools. Stay tuned, and join us for the ride.
