Your systems need to talk to each other. Or do they?

Connect everything, or don't. Here's how to decide.

If someone on your team is regularly exporting lists, cleaning spreadsheets, and manually uploading data into your CRM, your systems aren't working together as well as they could. This article helps you find where the friction is and work out which integrations are worth tackling first.

This article will walk you through what integration is, the processes that tend to benefit from integration, and how to identify the integrations that will add value to your organisation.

What does integration mean in plain English?

An integration is simply the connection between two (or more) systems so they can automatically pass information between them.

That’s easier to understand with examples, so here are three for you:

Member updates: A member changes their contact details on your Umbraco website and it syncs with their record in your Dynamics 365 CRM
Donation: Someone makes a donation to your charity and the information flows to your finance system and email platform
Event booking: A member signs up to a training event and their CPD hours are updated in your CRM

This “invisible work” prevents staff from manually pushing data from A to B to keep your systems up to date. It simply happens automatically. 24/7.

So, when you next think, “Why hasn’t this updated yet?” you’ve probably spotted potential for an integration to make your process more efficient.

What are the benefits of system integration for membership organisations?

Operational benefits are the most common reason organisations choose to integrate. They want to reduce repetitive tasks that sap time from administration teams. They want to gain control of their data and feel confident it’s accurate.

There’s also an easy-to-overlook data quality argument. Every time information is copied manually from one system to another, there’s an opportunity for error. A transposed digit. A misspelt name. A record that doesn’t quite match. Integration removes that risk entirely. The data moves automatically, untouched by human hand, and arrives correctly.

Membership organisations also appreciate how integration can enhance the member experience by smoothing common processes. It eliminates calls asking: “Did my payment go through?” or “Why can’t I access my benefits?” Members who can self-serve feel both confident and empowered. Confident that your organisation holds accurate information about them. Empowered to access, review and update it whenever they need to. Tell me once, in one place, and have that feed through to every interaction. That’s the standard members increasingly expect.

There’s a further benefit worth highlighting: integration builds trust and your reputation. Members will enjoy interacting with you and recommend your organisation to their peers. You’ll become known as the organisation to join in your sector. And staff will feel more motivated and valued as their roles become more fulfilling, which can even affect how you attract new team members. However you look at it, integration offers real value to your organisation.

Which systems can you integrate?

Almost any two systems can be integrated, but that doesn’t mean you should go ahead and do it. Many organisations end up with data silos, systems that hold overlapping or contradictory information because they’ve never been connected. As your digital infrastructure evolves and you look to streamline processes and enhance your member or donor experience, enabling key systems to communicate with each other becomes increasingly important.

Here’s a list of systems and platforms you probably use. They can all be integrated:

CRM (e.g. Microsoft Dynamics 365, BlueCRM)
Website and CMS (e.g. Umbraco, WordPress)
Email marketing (e.g. ClickDimensions, Mailchimp)
Event platforms (e.g. Eventbrite, Zoom, in-house tools)
Payment gateways (e.g. GoCardless, Stripe, SagePay)
Finance systems (e.g. Xero, Business Central, Sage)
Member portals (custom or out of the box)
Learning and CPD tools
LMS (Learning Management Systems) (e.g. Moodle)
Payment processing specialists (e.g. Movimo for Direct Debit and Bacs support)
Support desk or enquiry systems

What should you integrate first?

Don’t worry, you don’t need to integrate everything at once. Actually, it can be better for your team to embrace the changes in stages.

Spend time looking for your friction points, because they’re your starting point. You don’t need to be technical to do this; simply consider those “admin problems” that are frustrating your team or members.

For example:

- Staff having to manually enter the same data in multiple places

- Reports that never quite match up

- Finance teams chasing incomplete payment records

- Members receiving outdated or conflicting messages

- Event attendees needing to re-enter their details

These scenarios are signs that integration would improve internal or external processes. Look for processes that take too long or systems that hold overlapping data. Monitor why members are calling you and whether it requires manual data entry.

Once you start looking, you’ll find your integration priorities. Review them carefully and start with those that will deliver the most value to your organisation by reducing workload, improving accuracy, and enhancing experience.

How to prioritise: 4 questions worth asking

Once you've identified your friction points, the next step is working out which one to tackle first. Not every integration delivers equal value, and some depend on others being in place before they'll work properly.

These 4 questions will help you decide where to start.

How many people does this affect? A friction point that costs five members of staff an hour each week is a stronger candidate than one that affects a single person occasionally. The wider the impact, the stronger the case for fixing it first.
How often does it happen? A daily frustration compounds quickly. A monthly one is easier to absorb. Frequency matters as much as severity when you're weighing up where your time and budget will go furthest.
What's the cost of leaving it? Think beyond staff time. Are members calling in because of it? Are renewals at risk? Is your data becoming less reliable as a result? If the cost of inaction is growing, that friction point moves up the list.
Does it depend on anything else being connected first? Some integrations unlock others. Connecting your CRM to your website, for example, often needs to happen before email personalisation or member portal updates will work properly. If a friction point sits at the foundation of several others, it's usually the right place to begin.

Example: before and after integration

Imagine you work for a membership body that runs regular events, offers CPD hours and manages renewals. Let’s look at how common processes would work before and after integration.

Before integration

EVENTS
You book your events via Eventbrite. Your team exports an attendance list to Excel and then manually uploads it to Dynamics 365. Meanwhile, you send communication emails through Mailchimp, but the list never quite aligns with Dynamics 365, so a few attendees call you to understand what’s going on.

CPD
Your members are required to log a minimum number of CPD hours each year to maintain their membership. With hundreds of members at different stages of their CPD year, your team manually updates records in Dynamics 365 as activities are completed. When renewal time comes around, members query their totals and your team spends time cross-checking records that should already be correct.

MEMBERSHIP RENEWALS
You process membership renewals using the CRM, but your website is slow to update, meaning you regularly receive calls from confused members.

After integration

EVENTS
Now your event bookings sync directly with Dynamics 365. No need to export that Excel spreadsheet and manually input data. The system automatically records attendance for each member record, enabling Mailchimp to create accurate communication lists based on CRM fields. Everyone knows what’s going on, so you don’t have to handle calls from confused members.

CPD
When a member completes an accredited activity through your LMS or online portal, their CPD hours update automatically in Dynamics 365. Members can log in and see an accurate running total at any point during their membership year. At renewal, the record is already there. No queries, no cross-checking, no manual updates.

MEMBERSHIP RENEWALS
Member renewal management is easier for everyone, too. When a member pays, the CRM, website, and member portal update in real time. And there’s no problem for your finance department as they receive all the information they need to process the payment promptly.

Your integration opportunity awaits

The friction points are usually obvious once you start looking. A process that takes longer than it should, a report that never quite matches, a member who had to call twice. Pick one, fix it, and build from there. If you'd like a hand working out where to start, get in touch.

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