Polaris ... the transition in Austria is entering the home stretch

Rotary Austria: Dear Christian, you and your team have been working on Polaris for several months now. What is your impression?

Christian Mayer: Our impression is still very positive. Of course, it took some time until we understood the entire process and we are still learning new options and functions. Polaris offers us a perfect basic structure to meet the needs of the future.

RA: What would be such requirements for the future?

CM: On the one hand, this affects access to the system via smartphone, which gives administrators the opportunity to access the administration from anywhere to make changes, and on the other hand, our entire communication behavior is becoming more and more digital.

RA: Doesn't that also pose risks?

CM: Of course, as is often the case, it's a balancing act. Older, long-standing members have different expectations and needs than younger members who are in the middle of their professional lives. Rotary also wants to present itself as an innovative organization and this of course also includes the administration and IT organization and, above all, communication.

RA: What is changing in terms of communication?

CM: In the future, those responsible for the club will have more flexible options for providing information about club life. In the current system, communication is limited to the so-called weekly report, whose structure is predefined. In Polaris, a wide variety of content can be part of information in the form of a newsletter, to give just one example.

POLARIS SIMPLIFIES CLUB WORK AND IMPROVES COMMUNICATION AND COLLABORATION

RA: That sounds pretty promising. Where is the “but”?

CM (laughs): But flexibility also means more personal responsibility. As a creator, I have to think more about visibility, content, audience, etc. Administrators will be editors in the future and will contribute a significant factor to good club information, communication and organization.

RA: Does this mean that administrators should be IT specialists in the future?

CM: No, not at all - I wouldn't put it that dramatically. Of course, good IT knowledge is helpful when it comes to more complex tasks. But everyone should be able to handle normal day-to-day club business after training and a certain amount of self-study. And if there are any questions, the CICOs and DICOs are happy to help. In principle, however, every new board member should make sure that they have sufficient IT skills in their ranks when making appointments.

RA: Do we have to do without something in the new system?

CM: If you consider certain information or habits to be standard, then you could use the word “renunciation”. Personally, I see it as a change or adaptation to new, slightly different standards and at the same time an opportunity to reflect on oneself and decide whether “some things” are really important. Specifically, it involves sending the weekly report by email including a PDF attachment and the attendance statistics therein. There is no longer a PDF report in Polaris and the participant overviews and attendance statistics are no longer accessible to all members - only to the board.

RA: Will all the data available in the current system actually be adopted?

CM: Yes, taken over and partly restructured. We have been testing data migration for a long time and are also seeing some inconsistencies in the existing databases. But we are very confident that we can achieve a very good data transfer. Subsequent recordings should not be necessary or only be necessary to a very small extent.

RA: Ok, all of this requires a certain amount of change and adjustment - especially for our secretaries - but there are certainly also many advantages, new functions that we will benefit from in the future?

CM: Absolutely. These were also our reasons why we chose Polaris. Especially at events, there are a lot of simplifications in terms of registration with additional questions, reminder functions and recording replacement attendance is also much easier in the Polaris community. A guest is simply recorded as a participant at the event and automatically receives his or her replacement presence without having to have this recorded in their own club. But the list of benefits is even longer...

RA: Now it won't take that long until the changeover. How do the training courses go?

CM: Basically very good. Of course, the time frame available is a little limiting and you simply can't learn new software in three hours. After the training it’s “practice, practice, practice”. But we are confident that the launch will be successful. We will offer targeted support for any questions that arise so that help can be provided quickly.

RA: Then we wish you and your team all the best for the next few weeks and, above all, a successful transition.

CM: Thank you very much and at this point I would also like to say a big thank you to all the trainers - every single one of them is highly motivated and supports the clubs in this change.

THANKS TO THE ENTIRE TEAM!