FEBRUARY 2016 • Vol. 22 No. 2
New York Society of Cosmetic Chemists
www.nyscc.org
New Systems + New Focus = New SCC …by Rachel Grabenhofer
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an you recall life before the Internet? It’s hard to. Heck, some of you may have never not known the Internet. (To give you “kids” an idea, in the old days, we used things called “fax machines” to send “instant messages.”) As the Internet went mainstream (and got faster), users were transported to a digital place where they became the center of their own reality. That sure changed the way we all research, communicate, attend college, order dinner, etc.—and it’s still changing. As consumers, we can now get what we want, when and how we want it; and this has set a precedent for what’s possible. As such, established businesses were forced to evolve from offering traditional products and services, to anticipating consumer needs and even reinventing (customizing) to meet them. And in the meantime, new industries emerged from this consumer-centered dynamic. E-commerce is one great example. It was within this setting of system upgrades and consumer expectations where our very own Society of Cosmetic Chemists (SCC) found itself held back—not unlike other organizations. It needed a plan to adapt, not just for industry, but for the members it serves. That’s where we began our discussion with David Smith, executive director of the SCC, about several big changes. “The organization I walked into had a strong membership, but was stagnant from a systems vantage point,” said Smith. “We were using highly antiquated systems to try to accomplish business. By using old systems, we had all these offline processes that were holding us back.”
Registration Upgrade As many of you know, even as recently as last year, attendees would register for the SCC Annual Meeting on a printed form, which was re-keyed into the database, then physically charged out by someone else. “Right out of the gate, I realized we were stuck in the early 1990s—that was the last time our membership database had been updated,” said Smith.
After gathering proposals, the SCC settled on a new system and initiated its implementation this August. “Now, the [registration] process is as easy as ordering from Amazon.com. You input a credit card and are formally registered—and all of our internal systems connect. That was a much-needed change,” he said. (Continued on page 2)
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February 18th • The Bethwood, Totowa, NJ