Application Service Providers: A Better Way to Do Software?

Why rent when you can buy? That's the sort of question people ask when it comes to houses and cars, but what about community-management software?

Internet-based software can strengthen interactivity with your communities and many community-management system vendors are available through Application Service Providers ( ASP). ASPs offer community management solutions modeled on the principle of software as a service, and they're hosted and maintained by a vendor who sells clients their own private instance of software -- available online. Clients and their constituents can then use an Internet connection and Web browser to access the system and interact with one another.

Community-management systems offer nonprofits sets of tools for both broadening and deepening interactions among their constituencies. These systems can help you build an environment for community engagement and collaboration that is always available, and can work in conjunction with face-to-face events and interactions.

Many ASPs package suites of tools tailored specifically to nonprofits. Membership organizations, associations, practice management groups, learning communities (including schools and training organizations), and advocacy organizations are all common target markets for these packages.

Community management systems can include a broad array of functionality. Most systems, at their core, have a system for profiling participants integrated with an asynchronous communications tool. (An asynchronous tool lets you talk and collaborate over a period of time, rather than in real-time mode as you would be in during a conference call or Web chat.) Additional tools include those particularly relevant for project management (shared calendars/ticklers, task lists, shared document workspaces and document versioning, gantt charts, and progress reports), practice management (detailed user profiling, community participation and leadership roles, surveys, small and large group interactions), membership/association management (dues, new- and renewal-application processing, event registration, and e-commerce), distance learning (video lectures, real-time presentations, chat, document collaboration, shared browsing, registration and scheduling), and electronic advocacy (legislators profiles and fax/e-mail lobbying).

As with any new implementation, you should evaluate a system's information management processes, requirements, and capacity to manage information. This helps not only to identify critical needs, but provides a basis for making a well-informed system selection.

The following is a list of vendors that offer online community management tools. This is not an exhaustive list, but represents a snapshot of what's available.

Low-Cost ASP Options

Moodle:

This is primarily an e-learning tool with a strong emphasis on community interaction. Features include: course creation, enrollment, forums, live chat, workspaces, document repository, quizzes, peer review, and student journals.

Moodle is a great fit for nonprofits that hold regular courses or periodic trainings. This system is freely available, built using Open Source tools, and is not offered as a hosted solution. That means your organization should be prepared to install, configure, and maintain Moodle.

OfficeZilla:

Comparable to Intranets.com (reviewed below), this software is available as a hosted solution. Customization options are limited, so it's suitable for smaller communities, or as prototype to test the concept. OfficeZilla costs nothing, but there are strict limitations on file space per account.

CommunityZero:

This ASP's strength is in its emphasis of community over intranet. A hosted solution, CommunityZero lets you start small and scale upwards according to your needs -- though it won't scale to the size and scope of enterprise-system levels. This approach allows for a more phased entry into a larger system, if necessary. (See below for more expensive systems that support larger organizations.)

ASPs with Mid-Range Pricing

Intranets.com:

A leading Web-based ASP that's targeted at small- to medium-sized businesses, Intranets.com is available as a hosted solution. It offers typical business intranet tools, including: document sharing, calendaring, basic project management, discussions, light data management, announcements, and constituent group management.

The system focuses more on prospects and lead development and less on the learning and content-sharing aspects. While this system provides a strong standard project collaboration tool, its e-learning and e-commerce tools are weak and its interface is reminiscent of a corporate intranet.

Intranets.com comes in many pricing levels and is scalable for growing communities. The cost increases as you add more members (it runs $4,000 per month for 1000 members). Bear in mind that the software is much more affordable for organizations with a small constituency or for specific small group project management.

Memberclicks:

This software's basic member collaboration tools are limited to a very simple listserv, basic message board, rosters, and one-to-one e-mailing. Once the system is set up, it's very easy to configure.

Memberclicks lacks document or group collaboration spaces. Instead, its focus rests on membership recruitment, basic event registration, outreach, and basic intra-member communications.

There are several inexpensive pricing levels based on the number of members in the system and the amount of membership e-commerce applications that are used. Smaller organizations that primarily want basic constituent interactivity and a way to manage memberships and payments may find this system appealing. An alternative to Memberclicks is CitySoft.

Groove:

Groove is highly configurable, scalable, and is unique because it's available as a local installation on your desktop or as a Web-hosted solution. Regardless of which option you select, Groove requires each user to download a client application to join the community, and this application only works on PC systems. Its strongest feature is the collaborative project management and document sharing and its weakest is its usability.

High-End Systems

Isoph:

An enterprise-level learning and collaboration tool, Isoph is a great mix of typical e-learning tools, such as BlackBoard, that focus on educational institutions and standard intranet suites, like intranets.com.

This software isn't designed for project management, or groups working toward a predefined goal, rather Isoph’s aim is to integrate learning into practice and focuses on "idea generation" with a highly integrated/advanced e-communications tools. It still has a course focus, but emphasizes development and sharing of curriculum.

In a typical scenario, a group would run online trainings or courses and expand these to include collaboration tools like e-communication or document sharing. When the specific course ends, its materials would live on in the particular group and interactions among members could continue.

Kintera:

Kintera’s collaboration tools are highly structured towards developing and encouraging fundraising among groups. In fact, Kintera's strength is in its membership and fund management. With unique groupware functionality for a membership ASP, the software contains tools for groups to collaborate online and share data with a feature called, "Friends Asking Friends." This feature seems most appropriate for associations that might share home office fundraising data with its affiliates and help encourage affiliates to collaborate online to mine this information for leads and donations.

Comparable alternatives to Kintera include: GetActive, GoMembers, and iMIS from Advanced Micro Solutions.

Convea:

The target of this ASP is to help build communities within a business, and it's configured to work like common business tools such as Microsoft Outlook. Convea’s a strong business groupware tool stresses efficiency and project management over relationships, as well as networking and team building. There's no hosted service option.

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