Driving Innovation While Battling Persistent Challenges

Erika Strohm Harper, the current Director of Digital Transformation at Alliant Association Management, is responsible for leading company-wide efforts to help streamline and modernize community operational processes. Founded in 2005, Alliant has become a trusted partner to associations throughout Southwest Florida, focusing not only on being a management company but also on being a dedicated partner in building strong, well-managed communities through tailored, customized solutions and collaboration. However, while this commitment to innovation and finding creative ways to enhance operations has positively impacted the communities they service in various ways, it became evidently clear that Annual Meetings and Elections were still a pain point for many of Alliant's communities. Many regularly experience low participation among owners and consistently struggle to achieve a quorum, often resulting in reconvened meetings or, in some cases, Annual Meetings not being held altogether.

Stepping Away From Paper Chaos and Stone Age Solutions

In previous years, Annual Meetings and Elections had traditionally been held in person and heavily paper-based and required the Alliant team to conduct time-consuming, manual tasks such as individually reviewing and marking each ballot and supervising residents while they tabulated ballots - very inefficient processes that often resulted in having to redo ballot counts due to human error.

For those few Associations that opted into electronic voting, it was still a significant undertaking for Alliant. The process required substantial upfront work for their IT team, who weren't familiar with applicable statutes and voting requirements, adding another layer of complexity and potential risk that could jeopardize the compliance and integrity of the election results.

Aware of the shortcomings of these processes and the potential negative impact that consistently struggling to achieve quorum could have on how these communities operate, Erika knew they needed a solution that would make participation easier and more accessible for owners while reducing the administrative burden on their team. And after exploring their options, she came across GetQuorum.

Saying Hello to Stress-free Governance Through Collaboration

The decision to adopt GetQuorum was something Erika had wanted to do for over five years; however, it was limited due to the lack of integration between their community association management software provider at the time.

That's why, after transitioning to Vantaca in mid-2024 across all their associations and gaining access to new, valuable partnerships and technology through Vantaca, such as their integration with GetQuorum, she was quick to turn the idea of adopting the full-service electronic voting and virtual meeting provider into a reality.

"I always saw the value in the GetQuorum platform," says Erika. "Once we transitioned to Vantaca and the integration became possible, I was eager to finally make it happen."

The integration between Vantaca and GetQuorum was a game-changer, automating the entire roster extraction process throughout the campaign. Rather than having to manually reformat or update roster data before sending out notices, the process of extracting information would be completely automated and compliant with Florida Statute requirements.

The GetQuorum platform provided Alliant with a dynamic, all-in-one platform that could accommodate the unique requirements of each community to execute their meetings or elections, resulting in a user-friendly experience throughout every stage of the campaign for both administrators and owners.

This level of automation, combined with the capabilities of the GetQuorum platform and its full-service approach, has improved meeting efficiency, enhanced data security, significantly reduced costs previously associated with paper-based voting, and made the election process seamless for both the Alliant team and owners.

“I was able to bridge the gap between what managers needed and what the homeowner experience should look like”, says Erika. “We’ve been fortunate to receive strong support from the entire GetQuorum team—everyone has shown a real commitment to making this partnership successful.”

A New Age of Community Governance Meetings and Elections

The success Alliant has seen among its associations, which have begun using GetQuorum, has been very promising.

Owners have appreciated the increased accessibility and convenience, resulting in a significantly higher owner participation rate during meetings and elections; especially amongst those who don’t reside in the community full-time. Associations have also noticed a more seamless and efficient execution of voting processes seen across the board.

"Partnering with GetQuorum has been a game-changer for us," says Erika. "Their platform simplifies the voting process, their team is incredibly responsive, and their understanding of industry nuances makes them an invaluable resource."

Are You Ready to Make Your Next Meeting or Election a Success?

Whether you're a current Vantaca client or simply a community association looking to adopt a full-service virtual meeting and electronic voting solution, contact us today to receive your custom demo and a free quote!