Leading Through Change: How ALA Is Embracing Technology with Confidence

Eryn Carter, ALA’s Executive Director, shares her plans for the Association’s evolving tech development.

By Eryn Carter, CAE

October 2025

In today’s rapidly evolving landscape, ALA faces a dual challenge: staying relevant in an increasingly digital-first world while preserving the core values that define our community. At ALA, we’re having constructive conversations about how we can best navigate this tension with thoughtful change management — especially when it comes to technology.

Tech adoption isn’t just about upgrading systems or launching new platforms. It’s about guiding people — members, staff, volunteers, business partners — through transitions that affect how they work, connect and grow. For associations, where relationships and shared purpose are central, this human-centered approach to change is essential.

Change Management Starts with People

When ALA began thinking about updating its 20+ year-old association management system (AMS), we realized that success depended less on the technology itself and more on how we went about introducing and implementing it. Despite its limitations, some staff had grown accustomed to a legacy system. Change management became our guiding framework.

At the beginning of the process, we wanted to identify and understand who would be impacted, what support they would need and how we could make this transition feel empowering rather than disruptive. This helped us select the service provider for our new AMS that best fits our needs, ensuring that conversations with system developers were inclusive, transparent and responsive to the diverse needs of our stakeholders.

ALA serves members across generations, geographies and tech comfort levels. A one-size-fits-all approach would not work. Instead, we emphasized the ‘why’ behind the change, providing clear communication about the implementation and setting the expectation that everyone’s input and patience would be crucial to our success.

Collaboration Builds Buy-In

Assigning the right project lead and involving stakeholders early and often has proven to be an effective strategy. Whether we introduce a new event registration platform or adopt a new project management tool, we invite feedback from those who will use the technology daily and rely on it to be flexible and responsive to changing needs.

We emphasized the ‘why’ behind the change, providing clear communication about the implementation and setting the expectation that everyone’s input and patience would be crucial to our success.

This collaborative approach does more than improve the final product — it builds trust. Staff feel heard, empowered and valued. When people feel ownership over a change, they’re more likely to embrace it.

The testing phase of new tech implementation is invaluable. It allows us to test functionality, gather insights and refine systems before full-scale launches. It can sometimes be a slower process, but it’s one that respects the complexity of our community and signals to everyone that we are proceeding with caution, not glossing over potential minefields.

I believe it is essential not to assume the team or certain people will be resistant to change. Each person processes information at a different pace and their priorities may be different at any given time. We might discover that the biggest champion for a tech change is someone who you may have thought would be the least enthusiastic about it. For example, after narrowing down our choices for a new AMS platform, a veteran member of staff who was a superuser of the current AMS was a strong proponent of us going with something new because they believed that having a new platform would force us to not only work but also think differently. They’re a respected voice in the organization and helped to encourage others to buy in.

Training and Support

Many of us have been in demo presentations where the presenter makes using the tool seem so simple and easy. But even the most intuitive tech tools and the most tech-savvy individuals require support. At ALA, we’re committed to investing in training resources tailored to different learning styles — live demos, video tutorials, written guides and peer-to-peer support. Creating space for questions, feedback and even frustration acknowledges the emotional side of change, which is key to building long-term confidence.

Aligning Technology with Mission

At ALA, we don’t just adopt technology for its own sake. Every decision aligns with mission and member value. Our approach to tech is rooted in our commitment to advancing the legal management profession, supporting our members’ success and providing our professional staff with the infrastructure they need to do their best work for our members and partners.

Creating space for questions, feedback and even frustration acknowledges the emotional side of change, which is key to building long-term confidence.

Looking Ahead

The 2025 Association Benchmarking Report published by Naylor reveals that AI and tech adoption are on the rise in professional associations. Use of artificial intelligence tools jumped significantly in 2025, marking a shift toward more data-informed, efficient marketing and engagement strategies. 

Technology will continue to evolve, and so will member expectations. For ALA, the challenge isn’t just keeping up — it’s leading with intention. With a strong foundation in change management, we can effectively embrace innovation while maintaining a focus on what makes our community unique.

We are committed to maintaining that balance. And as we look to the future, we’re excited to continue learning, adapting and growing — together.