It’s October; and for many, their minds naturally turn to what scares them. Darkness is a fear for some, while others find spiders to be creepy; but I’m here to tell the most horrible, terrible tales of all- that’s right, those involving… data!

Haunting Twins

With apologies to Henry Wadsworth Longfellow:

“Listen, my children, and you shall hear

Of the data horrors, oh, so near,”

Like young twin girls with disheveled hair in tattered, faded dresses who appear from nowhere, duplicate data can make even the most experienced association executives have nightmares. Data duplication contributes to incorrect membership counts, and a lack of reliable information can lead to poor decision-making.

Ghost in the Machine

With apologies to Ray Parker, Jr.:

“If there’s something strange

In your AMS

Who you gonna call?

IntelliData!”

An unseen ghost makes a glass slide across a table or a book fall from a shelf, but employees or interns can cause team members to shudder when they mistakenly rearrange or accidentally delete data or tables. Without an appropriate backup solution in place, it may take a professional to restore mysteriously missing or deleted tables or data. So… who you gonna call? IntelliData!

I See Dead People

“I see dead people.” Well, young Cole, that’s because the association’s membership records you’re looking at haven’t gone through a data cleanup since 1999. These inaccurate records can lead to insensitive communications or mailings that surviving spouses or children have to uncomfortably address. Hint: you don’t need a child psychologist to help you with this problem.

Witches’ Brew

With apologies to William Shakespeare:

“Double double data trouble

Fire burn and cauldron bubble”

Green-faced witches with warts may bend over boiling pots on open fires stirring their concoctions, but real terror should strike the hearts of all true association professionals when they witness colleagues operating in data silos. Whether it’s membership, events, or continuing education, when departments keep their own data separate from a central system, information can quickly become outdated. Additionally, the association does not get a comprehensive and accurate view of the engagement of its members and attendees.

It’s alive! (Or is it?)

Frankenstein was the experiment of a scientist using various body parts from others. “It’s alive!” was the excited cry of its creator. Without proper integrations, association systems like an AMS, LMS, email marketing platforms, financial management systems, and online communities can become their own Frankenstein in the way data is assimilated. The use of a data lake or data warehouse can be an effective way to pull together data for meaningful insights and to make informed decisions.

Do the Data Mash.

The strange and the spectacular with data should end on high note, so…

With apologies to Bobby “Boris” Pickett:

“I was working in the lab late one night
When my eyes beheld a spectacular sight
For my data from tables began to rise
And suddenly to my surprise

It did the Data Mash
(The Data Mash)
It was a reporting smash
(It did the Mash)
Got displayed on a dash
(board- It did the Mash)
It did the Data Mash”

Hopefully, you’re also doing the Data Mash with us. I think by this time you know what to do if you need additional support with data migration, data cleanup, data warehouses, data analytics, visualizations, or reporting-

Who you gonna call? IntelliData!