SmithBucklin provides full-service management to 20 technology associations including professional societies such as the Society for Information Management and independent user groups of industry leaders such as SAP, Oracle, IBM, Microsoft, Hewlett-Packard, Nortel Networks and Computer Associates. Collectively, our full-service technology client organizations – more... represent over $75 million in total annual budgets and well over 75,000 members. SmithBucklin also provides function-/project-specific services to an additional 11 technology organizations. See a complete list of our technology client organizations.
The information technology industry moves at a dizzying pace of change, vulnerable to dramatic and endless shifts in market conditions, the competitive landscape and emerging/declining technologies and products. These market forces have significant impact on membership organizations and the vendors that support them. As such, technology user groups, professional societies and industry consortia face significant challenges, including:
Dramatic increases in formidable competitors vying for a share of member/attendee time, dollars and commitment, resulting in declining or flat membership and conference attendance
Pressure to create unique new value for members and stakeholders
Unsettled mission and strategic direction
Proliferation of regional, local and special interest groups creating competition rather than synergy
Increased dependence on high-risk event revenue
Severe cost-containment pressures
A changing customer-value paradigm - from focusing on a set of discrete events, products or programs to a continuous, interconnected set of experiences
Limited volunteer availability
Fragile vendor-user community relationship
Uncertainty about the future At SmithBucklin, we believe in order to compete and grow, a technology association today must:
Improve its ability to create and deliver new and unique member and stakeholder value
Acquire strategic leadership, innovation, speed and change management as core organizational competencies
Invest in strategic marketing and branding
Pursue and develop alliances with vendor partners, allied organizations, and regional, local and special interest groups in order to enhance competitiveness, product development, or time-to-market
Commit to ongoing visioning and strategic planning
Adopt a governance culture and structure that emphasizes speed, strategic thinking, accountability and flexibility
Adopt new, more flexible financial management frameworks, continuously adjusting, investing and shedding based on strategic direction
For user groups, enrich the primary vendor-user value proposition via options including user enhancements and advocacy To meet the complex challenges and opportunities noted above, a technology association must complement its own strengths by aligning itself with a management services partner capable of delivering and implementing solutions. SmithBucklin's knowledge, experience and resources for the success, sustained competitiveness and long-term growth of technology user groups, societies and consortia cannot be matched by any other association management company, consulting organization, conference/tradeshow company, communications agency, or publishing company. We have been developing our technology industry practice since 1973 when IBM's GUIDE user group became our first technology client organization. Since that time, we have been honing and delivering a comprehensive, integrated set of specialized services designed and packaged to meet the unique and sophisticated business, technology, marketing, and operational requirements of our technology industry client organizations.
The professionals in our technology industry practice work hard to stay ahead of the issues, trends, challenges and actions impacting our client organizations. In fact, each year SmithBucklin hosts a Technology Leadership Forum that brings together our volunteer client leaders to discuss current and emerging issues, and more importantly, solutions, leading practices and lessons learned.
Some areas in which SmithBucklin offers expertise and resources particularly relevant and important to technology organizations include:
Strategic marketing and branding
Chapter, local/regional user group and special interest group (SIG) management
User group enhancement systems, processes and advocacy
Web design, development, hosting and online management
Integrated e-business solutions
Automated conference planning tools
Primary and affiliated vendor relations
International, national and regional education management and content development
Online learning platform and tools
Capturing, packaging and managing intellectual capital
Conference onsite technology solutions
Tradeshow management
Exhibit, sponsorships and advertising sales Please contact us to learn more about our Technology Industry Practice, and how it might serve your organization. – less – More from ZoomInfo »
