FAIRFIELD – The Fairfield Area Chamber of Commerce has announced that it will roll out a new app and website to allow its members to easily communicate with each other and streamline tedious tasks.

The chamber has selected GrowthZone to provide its membership management software. Fairfield Area Chamber of Commerce Executive Director Mendy McAdams said patrons will see this change reflected in the chamber’s business directory on its website in the near future.

McAdams said this new software solves a number of problems for chamber members and chamber staff. For instance, when an entity joins the chamber, it used to receive a single log-in, which created problems when the person affiliated with that log-in left the organization.

“We could be invoicing that person, and they don’t even work there anymore,” McAdams said. “Now, a large organization could put one person in charge, and assign another person to get the invoices, or to just post to the job board.”

The new software will allow chamber members to pay online, which they currently cannot do. The new site will have other features, too, like a “member’s only section.”

“You can decide, ‘I want to offer something to just chamber members,’ or you can load it so that it goes out to everybody,” McAdams said. “There will be a calendar for members only, because there are things we do that are available only to members such as Lunch and Learns or grant opportunities.”

McAdams said chamber members have requested more Lunch and Learns, so those will transition from occurring once a month to once a week. They will be held at the chamber’s office every Wednesday, and be limited to eight people.

The chamber has been partnering with Indian Hills Community College to produce a series called “Coffee Break,” which are held at 9 a.m. once a month. The next one in the series is Wednesday, Dec. 6 and will be about “Business Insurance 101.” These meetings are held online.

McAdams said that processing checks and invoices takes up a lot of staff time, so she’s looking forward to the new software greatly reducing that burden.

“When we get a check, we have to touch it four times,” she said. “When it comes in, we have to log the check, put it into Quikbooks, put it on a deposit slip and take it to the bank. It’s just me and Danielle [Briggs] here, so we need to touch things once and move on.”

Another event that takes a lot of staff time is planning the annual awards banquet. McAdams said 350 attend the event, and the chamber makes name tags for each person. Until now, the chamber used to email each person. Now with the click of a button, GrowthZone will send those emails, and if any names are missing from an organization, the software will ask that organization to supply the missing names. GrowthZone will also send invoices automatically, and send reminders.

“This will save us so much staff time,” McAdams said.

Chamber members will receive an email to set up their new account and assign roles. The chamber will also be hosting a series of Lunch and Learns where members can come in and go through the signup process together. Staff will be onsite to help with any issues that may arise. One-on-one meetings are also available to members.

To become a chamber member or for questions about open sponsorships, contact the Fairfield Area Chamber of Commerce at 641-472-2111 or email Chamber@FairfieldIowa.com.

Call Andy Hallman at 641-575-0135 or email him at andy.hallman@southeastiowaunion.com