Tuesday, July 22, 2008

ChMS - Member Connect

If you haven't already, you MUST read the summary of what we are looking for. This is critical to understand my comments. The vendors being reviewed work hard to provide a good product to serve the church, and they should be commended for that. Our needs are very specific, and just because a product isn't right for us does not mean that it isn't perfect for your church. By the same token, just because we didn't like a product does not mean it doesn't meet needs or provide genuine value to its clients. The blurb and "target market" are taken from the capterra list I referenced in my first post. Finally, my thoughts are my own and not an official position of my employer. Thank you.

Concordia Technology Solutions - MemberConnect
MemberConnect takes the portion of church management that benefits members and puts it online — making information available to church members, and allowing ministry leaders to effectively and easily manage their ministry communications.
Target Market: Medium - Large
Quick Summary - Oddly compelling. Not sure if the two products work together, needs more research.
http://www.ctsmemberconnect.net/default.asp

Level 2 Analysis:

How big? -
How many customers? -
How long in business? -
Are they profitable? -
Technical Details -

Volunteer Management -
Web Integration -
Attendance -
Assimilation -

Level 2 Summary - Shepherd’s Staff, the CMS side of the equation, is a desktop database, not a client server RDBMS. Not sure what technology it’s using, but we need an enterprise level robust solution, and this does not appear to be it. The MemberConnect side of things looks fairly intriguing, but is hampered by the CMS side. No further research necessary at this time.

2 comments:

Brad said...

Hi - I came across your blog. I happen to work for Concordia Technology Solutions, makers of and Shepherd's Staff. If you are looking for enterprise solution then Shepherd's Staff is not likely it. If you are looking to manage communications for a a group or or an organization with lots of groups then you might want to check out MemberConnect.

CTS is the technology division of Concordia Publishing House, so we have been around a long time. If you want to get a no obligation tour of MemberConnect give us a call at 800-325-2399.

Take care,

Brad

goggindj said...

Hi Brad forwarded your blog address to me as I am the MemberConnect representative for California. I will be happy to conduct a MemberConnect walk through for you if you are looking for an easy to use way to increase communication between leaders and members of the church.

CTS is the technology division of Concordia Publishing House which has been in existence since 1869. You don't have that kind of history unless you are willing to change with the times and technology. We are always looking for ways to make work for leaders and members in the church easier and take less time.

I look forward to hearing from you to walk you through a MemberConnect demo if you are interested.

Serving Him,
Donna Goggin-CTS representative
800-325-2399
donna.goggin@cts.cph.org