Happy holidays to everyone over the coming weeks. I’m taking a break over the holidays to spend time with my family. I’ll be back online in the new year!

In the December issue of Database Trends and Applications (sorry, not online yet), DBTA outlines the “15 Top Information Management Trends for 2009.” Two of the trends caught my eye, as I believe they will apply especially to the association market.

Trend number 6: Greater Push for Business Intelligence and Performance Management - I’m seeing a lot more interest in this from associations, which is reflected in the number of speaking engagements I’ve had (and have) on the topic. (See here for a listing.) As the economy continues to stumble along, taking advantage of the data you already have on your members and customers becomes increasingly important. What are you and your organization doing to leverage that?

Trend number 13: The rise of Data “Visualization” - This is related to business intelligence, in that it is a way of visually seeing all of the data you have and noticing what trends “pop out.” As with BI above, chances are good you’re sitting on a goldmine of data about your members and customers, and it’s up to you to determine how to put that to its best use.

In these tough times, the smart associations are going to improve their success by expanding markets within that segment of their membership and customer base that they already know about. They’ll do this through smarter marketing and more effective communication, by using the data they already have in a much more intelligent manner.

Here’s another really good article on business intelligence in the association market, from ASAE’s magazine, Associations Now.

I know it’s good, because I’m quoted extensively!

A while back I gave kudos to Avectra for creating the first wiki in the AMS space. Now I’ve recently learned that Avectra is on Twitter.

Now, the full extent of my twitter experience is once subscribing to the “tweets” of a friend who was visiting Cuba, and Twitter was the only way to communicate out of the country. Other than what I’ve read about it, I don’t do Twitter. So I have no idea whether there is any value at all being on Twitter.

But I still have to give Avectra kudos for giving it a shot. Twitter is one of the many “Web 2.0″ and “social media” tools that you’ve been hearing a lot about. And Avectra knows that associations are interested in these tools (like wikis) so they’re putting their money where their mouth is by jumping into these technologies and using them. So kudos to them.

Hat tip: David Gammel

The 2009 ASAE Technology Conference is less than six weeks away! Have you registered yet? 

Having recently received the program and reviewed it in detail, I can say this is one of the most impressive tech conferences put together by ASAE. And not just because I’m on the docket to speak on January 28th.

The rest of the agenda is very impressive, from keynoters like Jeff Howe to the pre-conference sessions like the technology town hall meeting (which is always interesting).

And of course, all the technology vendors are there, showing their wares.

More info here.

In the past several months there have been two changes at the CEO level for major AMS vendors.

The first occurred at Affiniscape, where CEO Brian Cooper left Affiniscape to become CEO of A Glimmer of Hope, a nonprofit in the Austin area. Adam Weedman, Affiniscape founder and former CEO, has reassumed the role of CEO at Affiniscape.

The second change occurred at ARC Solutions. Andrew Ryan, who founded the company, has left, and has been replaced by Don Turner. After taking on venture capital last year, Ryan had some disagreements with the board that led to his departure. Turner has extensive experience with tech start-ups and technology-intensive organizations.

Changes at the CEO level at AMS vendors are exceedingly rare, because most AMS companies are privately held. So two changes within a couple of months is pretty unusual. I don’t know what these changes portend for either company, but they are noteworthy.

Full disclosure: EDM is an independent third-party consulting firm. This means we have no financial relationship with any of the vendors mentioned in this blog. We provide unbiased opinions on what we see.

Or so says a recent study by the Society for Information Management. They asked CIOS to list the skills they value most among entry-level and mid-level hires. Ethics and morals topped the list, while technical skills like application development and project management barely made number 10.

In a way, this doesn’t surprise me. While it may be cliche, the advice I always give my clients is to hire for attitude and train for skill. And let’s face it, morals and ethics are part of a person’s attitude and not something you can train for.

While you probably don’t want to hire someone with NO technical skills for a tech job, you may be surprised to learn that a large number of “tech” directors that I know originally had no technical background (i.e., no formal IT training). They simply “fell into” the IT job at some point, and have been self-taught since.

Why have they been successful? Because they had the right attitude, and were able to train themselves for the skills. Funny how that works.