For years I've done webinars to show prospects and clients together how to get the most out of the different features of the software.  At first, this was fine because the feature set was small groups and then membership.  As we added features, I added webinars (virtual classes) for contributions, check-in, volunteers & events, and setup & help.  For about a year I've had a feeling that we could do better.  With input from clients and staff, we just changed our learning process to three stages:  Get Acquainted, Get Going, and Get Trained.

Last week I wrote about the reasons personal support matters to us.  I mentioned that it helps us with research and allows us to live out the Golden Rule to "do unto others as you would want them to do to you". This week's blog details how we've lived these principles out the past few months. Bullet points by area of tweaks and upgrades the past several months.  Almost all because of client needs and ideas.

Today's church management software is expected to be easy for the user to figure out and use. Unfortunately, too many churches are still using systems that don't fit this criteria. In both cases the preferred method of support is video, FAQ, or paying for a support contract. Here are three reasons we are convinced personal support matters and should be a priority rather than a last resort.

 In the previous blog, we talked about what the successful use of church software  looks like.  But, once you've defined success, how do you measure it?  

Peter Drucker, the business management sage, taught us that you can't improve what you can't measure. This simply means that if you want to make something better, you must define what better looks like and then develop a way to measure it.  So, what does effectiveness look like in using a church management system? Here are some of the factors.

This was my 18th new year as the co-founder of a company working on new software.  As I was contemplating 2016 and anticipating 2017 this week, I thought about the lifecycle of software and, much like life, how it goes through several stages.  

I don't know if the end of the year is necessarily the greatest time to think about security of your church management system, but we are always thinking about it.  A few months ago, we released a security/access upgrade to our password system.  This video will explain for you the different levels of access to the software and specifically the difference and reasoning for:

The past several weeks our pastors have emphasized end of year giving.  20% of the annual giving for our church every year comes in December.  As I reflect on end of year giving, here are four different scenarios that might be helpful to consider in planning your end of year giving campaign.  I think you'll realize, like I did, that online giving is not just important, but essential.   

Churchteams pricing is done differently than most Church Management Systems. We think it is the most customer-centric which aligns with our #1 value - great service.  It is based simply on the number of people in the database.  It doesn't matter if a person is an adult or child, active or inactive, or a member or not.  Nor does it matter if you use one feature or all of them.  However, here are 7 subtleties in this approach you should be aware of.

Of all the usage / design ideas we've had through the years, the idea of using a push out email to get a response from volunteers may be the most significant.  Along with the Groupfinder feature, the email reminders to leaders established Churchteams as the innovator and leader in small group software for churches in the first eight years of this century.

When first created, software was a product that either came with your computer or you purchased and downloaded.  The Internet changed this.  The "cloud" is now the host for all your programs and files.  Your computer, tablet and phone just need to be able to access these "web-based" applications.   In other words your software became a service, not a product.  But, we've been slow to grasp the significance of this change.