Navigating Cost-Effective Digital Transformation in Membership Organisations

By Michael Frantzis

With the current focus on cost of living and inflation it’s no surprise that delivering value to members is front of mind amongst senior leaders in membership organisations. This is at the same time as costs have to be managed carefully within organisations themselves – digital transformation and other projects have to deliver without breaking the bank. A safe approach, as ever, is to consider your next moves through the lens of your members and two key things they will be caring about are quality of digital experience and skills. For the former creating quality digital experiences will ensure they com back, for the latter, making sure you training offering is high quality and accessible means users will feel they are getting something truly valuable out of their membership. Curio has worked with many organisations in this space and here are our 3 key points for getting it right within reasonable budgets:

Carry our user experience research

Many of us are familiar with the some of the outputs of UX research, namely personas, user journey maps and other deliverables. However, what is often less understood is how using methods like prototyping in conjunction with established research techniques can help organisations understand and meet the needs of prospective and current students. Remote testing tools enable teams to build ftest environments which can be rolled out across international territories. Using this technique you can explore how brand assets, functionality and content messaging contribute to the perceived value of your product, find the right sweet spot for your product and test innovative approaches on a small scale.

Follow it up with iterative development

Rather than assume the risk of big-ticket procurements, use the techniques outlined above in combination with iterative development. Test and develop your approach and implementations as you go. This enables you to consider cheaper options which might be more effective and in line with your brand and technology stack. For example, the LMS experience could be improved considerably by investing in a new template and updated pedagogical approach instead of changing systems. For example, navigating the web estate could be helped considerably by revamping a search function or refreshing the homepage with clearer signposting and a more streamlined design.

Embrace creating high quality blended and asynchronous learning experiences

Many membership organisations have invested in high performing learning management systems. Others will have done a good job of moving what was previously classroom-based training and moving quickly into an online environment using for example, video conferencing tools. However, just doing these two fails to take into account the opportunities that come from using the best in curriculum planning and learning design. With the right expertise organisation can cost-effectively create high quality learning opportunities which can be consumed anywhere, scale effectively and enhance reputation. It’s even better when you can bind it all together with a capability framework which members understand how it can help them build their career.