This is an excerpt from a interview with 4 YMCA CEOs who agreed to speak with us about technology challenges and making progress at their organizations. Additional question and answers can be viewed in the full webcast.

Recently, Daxko’s own Tom Massey, sat down with 4 YMCA CEOs to discuss leadership, technology, and YMCA best practices with:

  • Billy George of the YMCA of South Hampton Roads
  • Danny McConnell of The Family YMCA of Greater Augusta
  • Paul McEntire of the YMCA of the Greater Houston Area
  • Baron Herdelin-Doherty of the YMCA of San Diego County

This interview provides insight into the workings of successful YMCAs. When asked about outdated processes, our interviewees were quick to point out ways they were being held back.

Billy George was the first to respond stating that before they moved to Daxko Operations in 2003, "we were archaic." He went on to say, "When we went to Daxko there was a significant financial [and] an immediate impact just in the power of the technology." George also mentioned the power of the data they were able to get out of their new operations system was "night and day for us."

Paul McEntire of the Houston YMCA mentioned a problem they experienced on their old operations system was "we either lacked data or lacked confidence in the data that we were pulling" and we were making too many decisions based primarily on instinct and intuition. "I believe instinct and intuition is a key part of decision making but I don't think either side ought to dominate...I believe data ought to strongly inform decision making."

Baron Herdelin-Doherty mirrored McEntire's sentiments: We thought we were really good in many areas but we realized "only about 3 people in the organization could find the answers to questions like: How many members do we have? How many membership units do we have?...How many members scanned in today at a particular branch? [These are] simple questions with answers that should be quickly found." Herdelin-Doherty's Y ultimately made a switch to Daxko Operations so they could have the confidence of knowing they were telling an accurate story.

Danny McConnell explained that members have some basic expectations from an association's website:

  1. Get good, clear information about our programs and services
  2. Be able to register quickly

McConnell went on to say that you can't deliver great services to your YMCA members without great operational software and "you've got to have software that is easy to train people in and is easy to use." The days were people would stand in line for 10 minutes to register for soccer have "come and gone. I think that is one good example of how Daxko has helped us deliver on our promise each day."To hear our CEOs answer more questions about making progress at their YMCAs, you can view the full webcast.

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