Comparing Membership/Ecommerce Systems

The following is a comparison of a selection of membership / ecommerce systems conducted for a client in May 2004.   Products considered in the review include Gomembers (www.gomembers.com [1]), IMIS (Advanced Micro Solutions) - http://www.advsol.com [2], Triangle Research Inc: Red Hat Interchange, Kintera (http://www.kintera.com [3]), Cvent (http://www.cvent.com/ [4]), Memberclicks (http://www.memberclicks.com/ [5]), Accrisoft (http://www.accrisoft.com/ [6]), Acteva (http://www.acteva.com/ [7]), TIMSS (http://www.tmaresources.com/ [8]). 

Very interested to know if this is useful to anyone, and how to make such reviews more useful.

Methodology

 Leland Design facilitated a requirements gathering process together with [CLIENT] staff, comprising of two workshop meetings and information gathering in-between, documented in the attached requirements document.  Leland Design then highlighted the significant system criteria identified in this report, and separated these into common functional areas in which many software vendors focus their products. 

 [CLIENT] forwarded a list of potential software vendors to review, as well as work done so far in reviewing them.  Leland Design combined this list with research in the field of middle-tier and enterprise level solutions that provide the basic functionalities of membership and ecommerce.  The software included Application Service Providers as well as locally installed products.

 Leland Design conducted a first round elimination.  This entailed reviewing the vendors published literature and independent product reviews, along with key discussions in the nonprofit field as to the value of the product.   Products that did not raise significant concerns as to its suitability for [CLIENT]’s needs were then move to the second level of analysis.  At this point, Leland Design contacted each of the vendors and conducted 30-60 minute conversations with sales and technical staff to outline [CLIENT]’s core needs, and determine which three products most closely align to them.   The three remaining products were analyzed more closely against each core need [CLIENT] generated in the planning process.

 Leland Design recommends that all of the products eliminated of first review would not be appropriate choices for [CLIENT].  Second Tier products likely have the capacity to provide the functionality required, but not in the best combination of features, price and sustainability/support requirements.  First Tier products Leland Design found to be the most appropriate for [CLIENT] to consider. 

 Please remember that these are recommendations based on Leland Design’s interpretation of [CLIENT]’s needs.  The final step in this methodology is for [CLIENT] to spend significant time working with sales staff to demo the product and test the features required.  This phase is critical to making the final cut, and can in some cases eliminate all top choices. 

 Application Service Providers vs Locally Hosted Systems

 Application Service Providers (typically known as ASPs) are systems that are built, hosted and maintained by the vendor, on the vendor’s infrastructure.  Customers typically either “rent� their own personal instance of the software, paying monthly fees for the rights to use it, or (less commonly) purchase a license for the system outright.  Because these systems are remotely hosted, the interface for using the system is through the internet using a web browser.  Simple examples of Application Service Providers include Yahoo!Mail (email, calendaring and chat groups for instance), etapestry (simple online donor database system).

 Locally Hosted Systems are either pre-built software or custom built software that is implemented and maintained on the client’s own infrastructure.  Most often, customers purchase a license outright for the software, then opt to pay ongoing fees for vendor support services.  The interface for this system could be the internet browser, or another non-internet interface built directly into the system.  Examples include standard Raisers Edge, ACT, Exceed, many Microsoft Access and FileMaker Pro installations. 

There are several advantages to ASP systems.  First is typically the total cost of ownership.  ASPs are managed completely offsite, significantly reducing the IT infrastructure required to host the system in house.  The level of functionality that [CLIENT] is seeking would require a significant outlay of resources for a database server, database server software, web server software, backups and network redundancy, and highly trained IT staff or consultants to maintain this on an ongoing basis. 

 Second is interactivity.  ASP systems are built to be used across the web, and thus most systems inherently have much stronger emphasis on providing all database audiences (clients, customers, members, staff, etc) direct access to the relevant information.  Many locally installed products were developed initially without considering web interactivity, and this functionality was layered on top of the existing application, which can create complicated user interfaces and more costly maintenance over the long haul.

 Third is security.  The most common reason data is compromised in organizations is not due to hacking or other forms of vandalism/theft, it is due to weak backup systems.  Established ASP systems, by virtue of the number of clients they serve, typically provide state-of-the-art data protection, including backup systems, off site backup storage, virus protection, network redundancy and RAID arrays, firewalls, and multiple servers to call on when one fails.  For most nonprofits, the level of security provided in-house is far weaker than that provided by ASP vendors.

 Two drawbacks to ASP systems is the “ownership� of data and system flexibility.  In nearly all ASP systems, the data you store is protected by privacy polices, and is yours to keep and download & archive in house as needed.  It is wise to review the vendor’s privacy policies, and discuss a plan for archiving data if this is a concern for you.  ASP systems are inherently less flexible that many locally installed systems.  This is because the same ASP product is most often shared with many clients, and as such a change to the product for one client would mean a change for all clients.  As a result, customization options are often limited.

 Products Considered for Review

• Gomembers (www.gomembers.com [9])
• IMIS (Advanced Micro Solutions) - http://www.advsol.com [10]
• Triangle Research Inc: Red Hat Interchange
• Kintera (http://www.kintera.com [11])
• Cvent (http://www.cvent.com/ [12])
• Memberclicks (http://www.memberclicks.com/ [13])
• Accrisoft (http://www.accrisoft.com/ [14])
• Acteva (http://www.acteva.com/ [15])
• TIMSS (http://www.tmaresources.com/ [16])

 Products Eliminated on first review (website and product specifications review)

• Accrisoft: Focus is web content management, its events and ecommerce capacity is limited and requires significant customization
• Memberclicks:  Focus is on smaller organizations, its feature set across the board is too light and constricting, especially in the ecommerce area.
• Cvent:  Terrific Event Registration and ecommunications vehicle, very light sales and membership functionality, little ability to customize. 
• Acteva: Another great event registration and ecommunications software without the other requirements.

 Second Tier Choices (required a conversation with the vendor, more detailed look at literature):

• Triangle Research:  Terrific ecommerce functionality and ability to customize.  No Membership or Event management functionality, this would require custom building and would be quite expensive.  Does use some of the same software as [CLIENT] (softcart) which would reduce the import costs but my sense is that this would be little savings in light of the customization required.  Its also built on open source which is appealing because of its flexibility, again the cost and maintenance headaches will be great on an ongoing basis.
• TIMSS:  The alternative to IMIS - enterprise level membership system for large organizations.  Quite expensive, and has an emphasis on internal management (accounting, human resources) as well as ebusiness, and reduced emphasis on events.  Again this is a very expensive option, if this level of software becomes appealing then revisit both IMIS and TIMSS in this class.

 Remaining in Comparison: First Tier Choices

 Kintera:  Highly integrated product.  Strong connection between constituent interactions, such as membership profiles and sales profiles.  Weakest piece is the eCommerce, key piece missing is the multiple ordering options such as PO orders, or customers writing checks rather than using ecommerce.  I see a need to develop some process work arounds regarding order methods and invoicing if Kintera is chosen.  Strong ability to offer member discounts.  Easy to select the module you need, and move into others later.  Lots of room to grow into more advanced event management, member management, fundraising.  Long running well established product.

GoMembers:  The commerce functionality is more advanced than Kintera in the areas [CLIENT] requires, such as custom invoicing, drop ship, subscriptions.  GoMembers has a Q line of products and a lower Track level, making it appealing as there is a possibility that the lower end product with some compromises would be useful for [CLIENT] and save a lot of cost.  Kintera has one product line with numerous modules, so in many cases [CLIENT] is getting too much functionality in membership and events, but not enough in commerce.  Gomembers has a much more robust reporting module, allows custom reporting using access or Crystal Reports on all the information available in the database.  This will allow for custom reports and changing needs for the long term.  Also GoMembers has more ability to custom existing forms in the database, as there is an object library that an administrator can use to choose from 1000 different fields/types to customize forms.  GoMembers is similarly priced to Kintera with the features required. 

 iMiS:  It’s more enterprise level than either GoMembers or Kintera.  The problem is that it is even more robust in the member, donor and event areas, but the same functionality as Kintera for the critical ecommerce pieces.  There is the option to customize with iMiS, but you need to use iMiS resellers to do this.  Layering on the internet access is required for each module, none of them have internet built in.  This makes this product much more costly for remotely hosted applications.