Your members need the peace of mind of an AMS that will keep their information safe. Without a secure platform, your member’s information is vulnerable, if it becomes compromised, so will your reputation. The trust that’s been built between you and your members will be lost, and that trust will be difficult to re-establish.
As the holder of a wide-range of important and sensitive information for your members, you are responsible for its security. When you are choosing an AMS this is a consideration you have to take very seriously. You need to conduct your due diligence on the solution you are looking at, and you need to ensure that it is able to protect your members’ data. Your AMS provider also has a responsibility to protect private data, but, when you are in the process of choosing an AMS, there are some things you can look for to mitigate the risk of a potentially devastating data breach. You need to be certain that the solution you choose is able to protect private data and prevent security breaches. Here are some important things you need your AMS to do in order to protect your members.
1. Protect Passwords: A good starting point to keeping information secure is to keep it protected by a strong password. While it is up to your members to create a strong password, it is helpful if you are able to guide them to create one that is as secure as possible - so that you don’t just have a series of members logging in with “password” or “123456”. Your AMS should let you set specific parameters to tell your members if they need to revise their password, and to change passwords ahead of a specific deadline. Having a strong password that frequently changes makes it much harder for an account to be hacked or compromised. Your system should also be able to know when it’s not in use. Having the ability to set inactivity parameters that will log out any member who has not been active for a given amount of time is an effective way of ensuring only your members are accessing their information.
2. Ensure Authentication & Authorization for Important Actions: The AMS you choose should allow you to securely authorize payments your members make to you through safe and appropriate channels. You should look for a solution that allows 2-factor authentication from your members when they make payments. This will not just give your members confidence when they make payments to you, but it will also give you the confidence of knowing your AMS uses the most accepted method of preventing payment cyber crime.
3. Confirm Receipt of Payments: When your members make a payment to your association, you’ll want your AMS to deliver a customized confirmation that it’s been received. This will make your members feel secure that their payment has been received. This creates a paper trail of the payment which is good for your members and your association.
4. Have a clear Privacy Policy: The AMS you choose should have a clear, coherent, and easily accessible privacy policy which outlines the way they intend to protect your associations sensitive data. If an AMS provider isn’t willing to lay out how they want to protect your members, are they giving it enough thought?
5. Be Able to Guarantee Reliability: A provider may be able to promise the world when it comes to their product. Guarantees of storage capacity, speed, backup, and more are easy to make, they’re not always easy to verify. A provider should be able to confirm what approach they take to data storage, and how that approach protects your data. You also want to consider what contingency plan a provider has in case of any unexpected loss of information. How and where your association's data is backed up is a big consideration. Find out how and when your data will be backed up, and also how often.
6. Ensure a Smooth Transfer of Data: When you take on a new AMS, you need to be sure that your data is going to be transferred effectively and securely. When you are transitioning between your old AMS to your new one, you will want to be sure that your information is being handled securely. A transition period is one of the highest risk times for sensitive information. You should be sure to discuss in detail the method of data transfer that your provider will be using.
A secure AMS means you have a secure membership. If your members aren’t able to trust that their information will be safe with you, they won’t be staying around for long. When you choose an AMS one of the most important considerations should be its security. Make sure you take every step you can to ensure you’re protecting your member’s information, and in doing so, protecting your association.
Guild ensures that your association is kept safe and secure with our highly supported AMS. Contact us today to learn about how Guild can protect your member’s data.