The Member-First Upgrade: Moving Your Association to Xperience by Kentico

Why Associations are Upgrading 

I've intentionally chosen a variety of associations to feature, from training anesthetists and guiding architects to supporting independent schools and advocating for insurance agents; to showcase the common digital problems and solutions that associations share when it comes to reaching members. Though they have different objectives, each of these associations reached a point where their website could no longer serve members or their mission the way they needed it to. 

For some, the deciding factor to upgrade was the end-of-support deadline or the rising costs of keeping up with separate AI and automation tools. For others, their marketing team worked with too many disconnected tools, one for each channel, that slowed-down workflows. Medical colleges, bar associations, and member-based charities, no matter the industry, they all run into the same pressures. 

Here's what comes up the most when we look at the goals in upgrade stories for associations: 

• Keep member data on a secure platform
• Get more done with the same team
• Make it easy for members to find what they need on the site
• Reuse content across web, email, and other channels

Let's break down the path each association took to create a future-proof digital foundation that could engage and better support their members and their mission. 

Keeping Member Data Secure and Supported

Associations look after a lot of sensitive information: member records, payment details, continuing-education history, and more. The platform needs to have strong permissions both behind the scenes and public-facing; permissions need to be set narrowly, so a chapter volunteer can edit an event page without seeing member data, for example. 

In addition to permissions, associations can’t afford any kind of lapse in security. They need to meet GDPR and other regional regulations in order to operate. Regardless of how your organization choose to host Xperience by Kentico; it’s built with a secure foundation and evergreen updates. Reported security issues are fixed within seven business days, and the platform updates monthly.  

Two associations that made the move: 

• Australian and New Zealand College of Anaesthetists (ANZCA), working with Luminary, went from Kentico 12 straight to Xperience by Kentico SaaS, achieving their goal of adopting a platform that stays current on its own to improve security and reduce downtime. The project was named a June 2025 Site of the Month.
• Australian Institute of Architects, partnering with DDSN Interactive, replaced the end-of-support platform behind its Acumen Practice Notes site ahead of a contract deadline. A six-person team delivered the 1,200-page site in five weeks, and it now meets AA accessibility standards. Read the full Australian Institute of Architects story.

Getting More Done With the Same Team

Large enterprise marketing departments have the resources to focus more of their team on increasing publishing schedules for content when it's time to scale. But sometimes, associations with smaller budgets and limited capacity can't. That's part of the reasons why so many teams end up with a complete patchwork of outside tools for drafting, translation, AI, and SEO. Each tool promises to make content workflows more efficient for a smaller team, but as we all know, keeping up with a mix of tools becomes a task itself. 

Upgrading to Xperience by Kentico gives associations tools like built-in marketing automation and AIRA (Kentico’s native AI) to help improve content workflows and tasks like translations. The benefit of all of these tools is that they are already located inside Xperience by Kentico, so they don't require separate updates, licensing, or logins. This means marketers can draft and refine copy, translate pages in bulk, write alt text, tag images, and answer questions about how customer journeys are performing with assistance built into the platform. 

The AIRA Agentic Marketing Suite expands these capabilities; adding a Content Strategist that checks pages against your brand voice, a Customer Journey Optimization Specialist that finds where members drop off, an SEO & GEO Specialist for search and AI discovery, and a Campaign Manager that builds briefs and reports on results. Agents run on role-based permissions, and by default a person approves changes.  

Here’s what associations have experienced after upgrading to improve content and operations: 

• National Association of Independent Schools (NAIS), working with ByteMinds, streamlined its marketing automation and content workflows so campaigns run from one place with less manual effort.
• Retail Industry Leaders Association (RILA), working with BlueModus, upgraded from Kentico 12 and brought six sub-brands onto one platform. The old site relied on more than 50 widgets; the new content model gives editors a simpler, better-governed set to work with, and Salesforce integration handles member management and event registration.
• American Public Health Association (APHA), partnering with BlueModus, moved from Sitecore to Xperience by Kentico SaaS. Editors now share reusable templates across APHA's sites and use Page Builder for complex page layouts, while an iMIS integration handles member sign-in and gated content. The project was an April 2025 Site of the Month.

Building the Site Around Members 

There's more pressure placed on associations, because members expect their association to really know them: career stage, certifications, events attended, when the renewal is due. But when every personalization rule has to be built by hand, members can fall through the cracks if it's not a task your team is able to prioritize. A member who joined last week sees the same homepage as one who has renewed for twenty years, leaving them feeling disconnected from your mission. 

Xperience by Kentico ships with native personalization rules, AI-assisted segmentation, and customer journeys that shows how people move from a first visit to joining, renewing, or registering. Put that together with member data and a lapsed member can land on a renewal path, while someone newer sees onboarding resources. 

• Florida Association of Insurance Agents (FAIA), working with BizStream, upgraded from an on-premise Kentico 13 installation to Xperience by Kentico in the cloud. The new site leads with membership and makes events and resources easier to find, with a live-filtering library powered by Azure Search and Nimble AMS single sign-on for class and event registration. It was one of Kentico's April 2026 Sites of the Month.

Reaching Members on More Channels 

Your website is still important, but members don't only meet your association there. They open the weekly newsletter, check the conference app, log into the member portal, and check out your microsite for the annual meeting. When a platform is built primarily for the website, you risk missing members who engage on other channels. 

Xperience by Kentico is multichannel from the start. Websites, microsites, and email run on one platform, and hybrid headless delivery through a modern GraphQL API lets the same content feed apps, portals, and other channels too. The Content hub keeps it all in one place: write an event listing, advocacy alert, or member benefit once, and reuse it `everywhere it belongs. Update the registration deadline once and it changes in the email, on the event page, and in the app. 

Email gets a lift as well. With built-in email marketing on the same platform as your web content, teams stop rebuilding newsletters from scratch, and AIRA can suggest copy right inside the Email Builder. 

• AAA Northampton, with help from Citro Digital, upgraded from an aging platform that made email campaigns slow to build. With native email marketing, contact groups, and reusable components, the team sent 550,000 emails in its first three months.

Give Members a Platform That Gives Back 

Every association in this post serves a different mission, but they shared a goal: spend less time working around the website and more time serving members. Once the platform stopped getting in the way, their teams could publish faster, stay in touch with members across more channels, and make it easier for them to find the events, resources, and benefits they keep coming back for. 

Support for Kentico Xperience 13 ends December 31, 2026. Association calendars are already full of renewal campaigns, conferences, and board meetings, so starting the conversation about upgrading early puts you ahead. 

To explore more about how a unified platform with built-in AI can give a small team more room for member work, download our ebook, Simplify Your Life.