FAQs

AdvantageCS will host your system in the cloud and provide services such as system and performance monitoring, disaster recovery testing, disk space management, database administration tasks, and a menu of other services. Alternatively, you can deploy and manage your own cloud installation or install the system for on-premise use on your servers.

Not at all. Advantage manages books and products, memberships, events and conferences, and offers powerful eCommerce, campaign and promotion capability, plus teleservices and integrations with dozens of other systems.

Not at all. Advantage clients include small publishers and membership associations, too. They choose Advantage because they have more sophisticated needs in areas such as marketing, flexible pricing models, packages, analysis, or integrations that cannot be met with more basic systems. See list of clients here.

Absolutely. More importantly, Advantage manages bundles of digital with print, allocating the costs between the products as you wish, and keeping the two components in synch as time passes and the subscription is renewed.

The comprehensive and unique set of marketing capabilities in Advantage is summarized here.

Yes, it's both. CRM, though, means different things to different people. In Europe, for example, it can refer to a membership management system for a membership association. CRM can also refer to a sales lead tracking tool. Advantage integrates with both Salesforce and Microsoft Dynamics. And CRM can also refer to customer service capabilities, which Advantage offers in abundance.

Yes. AdvantageCS works with our clients in ensuring compliance with the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) that has been enacted by the European Union and the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) that has been enacted by the state of California. The GDPR regulation covers the protection of personal data for EU citizens and how it is to be handled by Data Controllers. The CCPA law covers the proper handling of consumer data for California residents in relation to marketing and security. We’ve worked with many of our clients to leverage the Advantage platform to ensure their compliance with these regulations, as well as ensuring that AdvantageCS services are provided in full compliance. Click here for more information.

Yes. We maintain Payment Application Data Security Standard (PA-DSS) certification which involves an in-depth independent audit inspecting the software for any vulnerabilities, the integration of data security design, and reviews of our internal policies and procedures related to the handling of sensitive data. This certification supports our clients in their own Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS) compliance efforts.  More information here.

Managed Services can include any or all of the following: management of the Advantage application processing and reporting, user administration, management of Advantage updates and upgrades, Web services administration, interfaces and uploads management, application configuration management and 3rd party software monitoring and updates.

Never. All work is done by AdvantageCS staff. Our project managers are professionals, certified by the Project Management Institute.

AdvantageCS releases new updates each month. Clients can choose their own update frequency, from monthly up to once every year or two. We have worked to make Advantage easily upgradable. When it comes time to download the latest updates, the base software installed at a client site is brought forward to the latest Advantage release through an automated upgrade program.

Here is the current list. Yes, we provide whatever assistance you need for any custom integrations.

Advantage is priced by the number of concurrent user sessions (minimum of 6, no maximum), as well as the optional modules you might require. Another factor is what level of managed services you require. We can give you an estimated cost if you answer a few basic questions about the size of the business that will run on Advantage and your specific requirements. Contact us for more information.

We will be happy to schedule an overview software presentation with you. Generally, an initial presentation is an hour, and if you are interested in learning more about Advantage, we can do a more in-depth demonstration, often on-site.  Fill out the contact form to request a demonstration.

AdvantageCS celebrated its 40th anniversary in July 2020.

Here are ten ways to tell if Advantage is right for you.